# Osmo preload hydration



## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Looks interesting, based on reasonably sound science... but, $2.50 per powdered serving?

Osmo Preload Hydration sports drinks before workout. Buffering salt loading.

Someone with better understanding of ingredients etc help me out - how is this Osmo stuff different from the standard rehydration formula that I found on WebMD?


1 quart (950 mL) water
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt
¼ teaspoon (1.25 g) salt substitute (potassium-based), such as Lite Salt or Morton Salt Substitute
2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar


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## silver7 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Osmo works*

I use all four Osmo products, about six weeks in now. They are awesome, and I have noticed improvement in my training and racing immediately.

The Preload is my new secret weapon. I drink it ice cold starting 90 minutes before racing on a warm day. I go into the races completely hydrated and have not cramped since incorporating Preload into my race routine.

The Active Hydration goes down really easy and is not too sweet. It seems to get out of my stomach and into my muscles more quickly than every other product on the market, and I have tried many. 

I am recovering better than ever with the Acute Recovery immediately after racing and hard key workouts. Goodnight Recovery is a cool concept, although I have not used that as much. Osmo is worth every penney. If you are going to spend money on equipment and race fees and put all the time into training, the cost should not even be an issue.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

These is a lot of snake oil out there.

Does it also regrow hair?
.
.
.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

It looks like nothing special or different to me. Same established science as used by all these companies. Hydrate appropriately with proper concentrations of electrolytes, sugars, carbs, etc.. The only difference is in the packaging and marketing blather. 

This stuff is covered in a number of good sports nutrition books. One I recommend is "Sport Nutrition for the Endurance Athlete" by Monique Ryan.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

I drink Osmo and I can't stop winning!!!!!


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## silver7 (Oct 26, 2005)

looigi said:


> It looks like nothing special or different to me. Same established science as used by all these companies. Hydrate appropriately with proper concentrations of electrolytes, sugars, carbs, etc.. The only difference is in the packaging and marketing blather.
> 
> This stuff is covered in a number of good sports nutrition books. One I recommend is "Sport Nutrition for the Endurance Athlete" by Monique Ryan.



Hey, the OP asked if anybody tried this stuff. It works great. Why so cynical?


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

I can't seem to find the ingredient list on the site...anyone with a link?


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## psycleridr (Jul 21, 2005)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> These is a lot of snake oil out there.
> 
> Does it also regrow hair?
> .
> ...


Only if you have it to start ....


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## technospolar (Apr 5, 2009)

I have also looked as Osmo and am curious about opinions. I have a bad habit of dropping 2-3 lbs of water on my weekend training rides (~3hrs). As for the regular Osmo active hydration, I've used a similar lower cal option that is hydration focused -- Scratch Labs which has worked well. The Orange flavor is my favorite so far.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

chuckice said:


> I can't seem to find the ingredient list on the site...anyone with a link?


here ya go


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

3000mg of sodium!? :eek6:


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## technospolar (Apr 5, 2009)

chuckice said:


> 3000mg of sodium!? :eek6:


Is that bad when we finish rides with salt deposits on our faces? 

The WedMD recipe recommends 2500mg of sodium. They both are mixing potassium and sodium and sugar and generally seam similar at a quick glance. The organic ingredients and flavoring in Osmo sound good but is it worth the cost differential and of course how do they both preform.

Anyone tried the WebMD recipe?


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

What did you find? Any further experience or insight Creaky? I stumbled across Osmo and thought I'd bump rather than start a new thread.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> These is a lot of snake oil out there.
> 
> Does it also regrow hair?
> .
> ...


If you have an erection lasting longer than 4 hours, you're welcome.


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## Alfonsina (Aug 26, 2012)

chuckice said:


> I can't seem to find the ingredient list on the site...anyone with a link?


https://osmonutrition.com/store/media/catalog/product/i/m/imgpreloadpl_back.jpg

Nothing fancy, just sodium potassium mag and a bit of sugar, nothing you can't make in your kitchen. I suspect the key is if you weigh over 130 pounds you are getting over 3 grams sodium per dose.


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## jspharmd (May 24, 2006)

Theoretically, physiologically, and logically it makes sense to consume water, electrolytes, and sugar before a race or hard ride. Whether or not this translates into improved performance is another question. What is your placebo group? No hydration prior to a race or hydration with some other electrolyte drink? If it is no hydration, the stuff probably works really well. If it is a comparator product of greater, equal, or lesser cost, there is probably no measurable difference in performance. When I say measurable, I mean placing higher in a race...as that is the endpoint we are all looking for, right?

I have tried several electrolyte products and I "thought" they worked wonders, that is until I tried plain old powdered Gatorade and realized that I didn't perform any differently on the Gatorade.

Final thought...If you "believe" these products work, they likely will. Is that because they were formulated to work or because your mind is so powerful that the placebo effect can cause clinically significant outcomes?


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## dave morris (Mar 24, 2007)

I've been doing some research work in hydration lately and we have had good results with sodium loading before exercise. When its really hot out and a person is working really hard, they can lose water from sweat almost twice as fast as they can empty it from the stomach. So, even if you do drink the same amount of fluid that you lose in sweat, you can still eventually become dehydrated because you just can't get it out of the stomach fast enough. This is why it is important to hyperhydrate and expand body water levels prior to exercise in the heat.

The problem that we have found working with athletes and soldiers in the field, is that they just don't drink very much BEFORE they go out and work in the heat. If they are not thirsty and they are preoccupied with preparing for an event or deployment, they simply don't drink enough to get hyperhydrated. We recently found that if you give someone sodium a couple hours before exercise, it makes them thirsty and they drink more water. High blood sodium levels promote release of a hormone that stimulates thirst. This hormone also promotes fluid reabsorption in the kidneys so we hold on to more of the fluid we drink instead of using it to make water. We gave subjects 60 mg of sodium chloride (table salt) per kg of body weight 2 hours before exercise and then let them drink as much or as little water as they wanted in the time prior to exercise. Subjects drank 70% more water and retained ~ 6x more of the water they drank when they consumed the salt vs when they consumed a placebo. Time trial performance in the heat improved by ~ 10% after consumption of the sodium vs placebo. For all of you stats guys out there, all of these results were statistically significant (p<0.05).

So you can by the osmo preload, it's definitely a good product when used properly, or you can buy table salt for 50 cents a pound and probably get similar results. A couple of caveats - about 10% of our subjects got a stomach ache from the sodium ingestion. So, if you are going to try this type of strategy, don't wait until race day to experiment. Also, if you have high blood pressure and are sodium sensitive, you may want to avoid the extra sodium consumption.

Hope this helps,

Dave Morris
RacersReady.com


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## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

I've tried this many years ago, adding salt to my Gatorade or water. For myself, I tend to become bloated and feel like crap if I consume any extra salt. I believe the heart actually has to work harder to move blood throughout the body when you are "hyper-hydrated". In fact I've had heart issues in the past, and removing water from the body is needed to go easier on the heart.
All's I could say is try it when you're training and see how it goes. Personally it made the beginning of my rides less tolerable, so I stick to consuming what I can during.


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## jspharmd (May 24, 2006)

dave morris said:


> I've been doing some research work in hydration lately and we have had good results with sodium loading before exercise. When its really hot out and a person is working really hard, they can lose water from sweat almost twice as fast as they can empty it from the stomach. So, even if you do drink the same amount of fluid that you lose in sweat, you can still eventually become dehydrated because you just can't get it out of the stomach fast enough. This is why it is important to hyperhydrate and expand body water levels prior to exercise in the heat.
> 
> The problem that we have found working with athletes and soldiers in the field, is that they just don't drink very much BEFORE they go out and work in the heat. If they are not thirsty and they are preoccupied with preparing for an event or deployment, they simply don't drink enough to get hyperhydrated. We recently found that if you give someone sodium a couple hours before exercise, it makes them thirsty and they drink more water. High blood sodium levels promote release of a hormone that stimulates thirst. This hormone also promotes fluid reabsorption in the kidneys so we hold on to more of the fluid we drink instead of using it to make water. We gave subjects 60 mg of sodium chloride (table salt) per kg of body weight 2 hours before exercise and then let them drink as much or as little water as they wanted in the time prior to exercise. Subjects drank 70% more water and retained ~ 6x more of the water they drank when they consumed the salt vs when they consumed a placebo. Time trial performance in the heat improved by ~ 10% after consumption of the sodium vs placebo. For all of you stats guys out there, all of these results were statistically significant (p<0.05).
> 
> ...


Excellent post. A quick question. If you are not the person that is preoccupied with other activities before a race and actually focus on hydrating before a race, what is your suggested concoction of fluid intake? Your post suggests that the sodium consptiom triggered thirst and thus caused drinking and better hydration. Was this only because the increased serum osmolality stimulated thrist and injestion of water or is the sodium consumption important in retaining that ingested water?


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## dave morris (Mar 24, 2007)

Hi Jspharmd: If you already do a good job of consuming fluid prior to exercise, you still need to consume some extra salt, otherwise the fluid just dilutes the plasma and you don't secrete any vasopressin. Without the vasopressin, the kidneys can't hold on to the extra water that you drink and it just turns into urine pretty quickly. Most sports drinks on the market are designed to be consumed during exercise and don't have enough salt in them to be an effective pre-exercise hyperhydration drink. The results we had were interesting in that the sodium consumption didn't stimulate extra fluid intake in one of our subjects, but that subject still retained much more of the fluid he did consumed when he used sodium and performed better in the time trial. So subjects benefited not only from consuming more water, but also retaining more of what they consumed.

What else should be in the fluid? Glucose is important to help supplement the body's carbohydrate stores. I would avoid consuming fructose in any large amounts because it doesn't get absorbed from the intestines as well as glucose and can thus cause bloating and abdominal cramps. Other than that, one of the most important factors in choosing a drink is taste. When I was at Ohio State we did a lot of work with gatorade to try to make the product better. We tried all kinds of concoctions, but none of them really worked. What we did find was that when a person liked the taste of the drink, he drank more of it and when he drank more of it, he performed better. Gatorade took this info and really worked on their flavors, they used to only sell lemon-lime and orange flavors. But now you go to the store and there are 20 flavors of gatorade and only 1 or2 flavors of all of the other sports drinks. 

As for fluid consumption levels, I've seen positive results with as little as 10 mL per kg of body mass. Our subjects in this study consumed closer to 20 mL per kg and retained about 60% of that.

Hope this helps,

Dave


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## dave morris (Mar 24, 2007)

HI Nooky: Yes, the strategy isn't for everyone, especially if you have heart issues. However, for most folks this isn't going to be a problem. You dehydrate so quickly during exercise in the heat that you blood volume isn't substantially elevated for a long period of time. You also have to realize that dehydration can be bad for the heart as well, only in different ways than hyperhydration. During dehydration, plasma volume drops so the heart has to beat more frequently to maintain blood delivery rates to working muscle and the blood itself becomes thicker and harder to pump. So and intervention like sodium consumption may be bad for some folks but be good for others. It just depends on the specific types of health issues you are dealing with. 

We are planning on doing more work in this area looking into cardiac strain, blood pressure, and the varied response between individuals.

Best,

Dave


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

Creakyknees said:


> Looks interesting, based on reasonably sound science... but, $2.50 per powdered serving?
> 
> Osmo Preload Hydration sports drinks before workout. Buffering salt loading.
> 
> ...


Ultimately it comes down to packaging, the target market is most likely writing off the costs as well.


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## jspharmd (May 24, 2006)

dave morris said:


> Hi Jspharmd: If you already do a good job of consuming fluid prior to exercise, you still need to consume some extra salt, otherwise the fluid just dilutes the plasma and you don't secrete any vasopressin. Without the vasopressin, the kidneys can't hold on to the extra water that you drink and it just turns into urine pretty quickly. Most sports drinks on the market are designed to be consumed during exercise and don't have enough salt in them to be an effective pre-exercise hyperhydration drink. The results we had were interesting in that the sodium consumption didn't stimulate extra fluid intake in one of our subjects, but that subject still retained much more of the fluid he did consumed when he used sodium and performed better in the time trial. So subjects benefited not only from consuming more water, but also retaining more of what they consumed.
> 
> What else should be in the fluid? Glucose is important to help supplement the body's carbohydrate stores. I would avoid consuming fructose in any large amounts because it doesn't get absorbed from the intestines as well as glucose and can thus cause bloating and abdominal cramps. Other than that, one of the most important factors in choosing a drink is taste. When I was at Ohio State we did a lot of work with gatorade to try to make the product better. We tried all kinds of concoctions, but none of them really worked. What we did find was that when a person liked the taste of the drink, he drank more of it and when he drank more of it, he performed better. Gatorade took this info and really worked on their flavors, they used to only sell lemon-lime and orange flavors. But now you go to the store and there are 20 flavors of gatorade and only 1 or2 flavors of all of the other sports drinks.
> 
> ...


So, drinking Gatorade (I mix the powder myself so it isn't too sweet) is only getting me 1/2 way there based on your data. 4000-4600 mg of NaCL seems like a good deal of Na and I'm sure it is why you saw GI irritation. I am curious about your results because I live in the Southeast and hydration is key when racing in the summer. I always prehydrate, even in the cold winter months. I'm just curious if I can do it better. 

The only other thing to consider is the lack of data regarding the long-term effects of doing this Na loading. Obviously, the fluid consumed will stay in the extracellular compartment 1/4 of which is the intravascular space. As previously stated, this could affect preload (stretch on the heart). Theoretically, doing this several times a week (around training rides and racing) for a long period could put stress on the cardiovascular system. Although, my guess would be that the effect would be negligible.


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## dave morris (Mar 24, 2007)

The sodium in gatorade is there to facilitate absorption of water and glucose from the gut and there isn't nearly enough in it to promote hyperhydration. We have looked at the efficacy of gatorade as a pre-hyperhydration drink and found that in normally hydrated, resting individuals, they don't retain very much of the gatorade that they consume. Gatorade is more useful as a hydrator during exercise when you are losing fluid to sweat at such a high rate, that your body will be producing very little urine regardless of what you are drinking (with the exception of alcohol). 

Yes, the long term effects of sodium loading aren't really known. However, when you look at plasma volume response to sodium loading, the increase in plasma volume above basal levels that you experience is very transient and returns quickly to baseline when exercise begins, this is likely due to the increase in hydrostatic pressure in the vascular compartment during exercise (at least this is what the limited data suggest) and the quick onset of fluid loss in the heat. As you may be aware, measuring plasma volume accurately is very expensive, so most researchers aren't able to utilze the best techniques, but this is what the preponderance of the evidence is suggesting. So, I think a bigger concern should be reserved for individuals who are salt sensitive and demonstrate measurable changes in cardiac function (ekg) due to large, acute sodium ingestion.

Finally, some of the epidemiological studies that look at the effects of sodium consumption on cv disease suggest that people living in equatorial regions of the world or who work in hot environments (such as deep mines) suggest that, in these populations, consumption of as much as 10-12 g of sodium a day doesn't seem to put them at increased risk for cv disease, at least for the population as a whole. The folks lose so much more sodium due to the higher sweat rates that they need extra sodium in their diet. Keep in mind that these people live very different lifestyles than most Americans who are overweight and rarely break a sweat (who are the type of folks that most MDs in the US deal with), but probably have similar environmental stressors as a mountain biker who routinely trains in the heat of the southeast US. 

Best,

Dave


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## jspharmd (May 24, 2006)

dave morris said:


> The sodium in gatorade is there to facilitate absorption of water and glucose from the gut and there isn't nearly enough in it to promote hyperhydration. We have looked at the efficacy of gatorade as a pre-hyperhydration drink and found that in normally hydrated, resting individuals, they don't retain very much of the gatorade that they consume. Gatorade is more useful as a hydrator during exercise when you are losing fluid to sweat at such a high rate, that your body will be producing very little urine regardless of what you are drinking (with the exception of alcohol).
> 
> Yes, the long term effects of sodium loading aren't really known. However, when you look at plasma volume response to sodium loading, the increase in plasma volume above basal levels that you experience is very transient and returns quickly to baseline when exercise begins, this is likely due to the increase in hydrostatic pressure in the vascular compartment during exercise (at least this is what the limited data suggest) and the quick onset of fluid loss in the heat. As you may be aware, measuring plasma volume accurately is very expensive, so most researchers aren't able to utilze the best techniques, but this is what the preponderance of the evidence is suggesting. So, I think a bigger concern should be reserved for individuals who are salt sensitive and demonstrate measurable changes in cardiac function (ekg) due to large, acute sodium ingestion.
> 
> ...


This is fascinating. So, if we were to attempt this sodium load, I assume we would use NaCl tabs and figure the 60g per kg? Do you recommend just prehydrating with plain water or a sports drink? Finally, 1.5 L of fluid is a good bit to ingest for me. I followed our coaches advice about prehydrating before a hot race last year and ended up so bloated that I did horribly. Would you think the timeline could be adjusted with similar results? Say ingesting the NaCl 2.5 to 3 hours before and then taking in a similar amount of fluid (1.46 L in my case) before racing. Obviously, your study didn't evaluate this, but is extrapolation reasonable?


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## dave morris (Mar 24, 2007)

We used empty geletin caps and filled them with NaCl. Of course you have to have a pretty accurate scale to do that yourself. Sports drink would probably be a better choice as a prehydrator because it also supplies CHO. We used plain water because we wanted to control for CHO intake. As far as the timing, you will just need to experiment a bit. We had are subjects start exercise 2 hours after Na consumption, but the initial exercise was at 50% of max, then they did the hard TT.

Best,

Dave


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## kato1453 (Dec 22, 2009)

I have used the active hydraton and preload and it may be placebo effect, but it seems to work very well to me. I have tried just water and I feel the Osmo work much better. If it is good enough for Peter Sagan then it is good enouigh for me


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