Choose A Pink Drink For Your Next Run

Megan getting ready for her run

If you're lacking some motivation prior to your next run, it may help to consume or even just rinse and spit out a pink drink rather than just clear regular water.

Skeptical? I was. Until I read the article (Brown et al, 2021) where researchers got runners to run at their own desired speed on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Throughout the run, they rinse their mouths with an artificially sweetened drink that was either pink or clear. Yes, just rinse and spitting the drink out, not even drinking. Actually both the drinks were the same, save for a few drops of food dye in the pink drink to get the colour. 

During another treadmill run, the runners had the other drink (pink if they got clear in the first run and vice versa).

When the runners rinsed with the pink drink, they showed more endurance and intensity compared to when they rinsed with the clear drink. When rinsing with the pink drink, the runners ran 212 meters further and ran faster by 4.4 percent. Here's what was even better. The runners reported higher levels of enjoyment while running when rinsing with the pink drink. This result is similar to what previous similar studies reported.

The authors commented that in another taste study, participants reported that the pink drink was sweeter compared to the clear drink even though they were the same except for the colour. There is definitely a relationship between colour and our mental and physical response. This powerful placebo effect can definitely be harnessed for better running experiences.

This effect of colour in sports is not new, with red in particular thought to provide a performance advantage. Remember Tiger Woods always used to wear red when he was so dominant in golf. Well, what we also teach during the Kinesio Taping courses uses similar concepts in the colours available when it comes to taping.

Pink was used in this study because of its perceived sweetness. And we usually tend to associate sweet tastes before exercise in anticipation of using glucose to fuel our exercise.

The authors wrote that this effect is mainly cognitively (acquiring knowledge/ understanding through thought, experience and senses) driven. Once receptors in the mouth detect the sweet taste, this activates the areas in the brain associated with reward and motivation. Once these areas are activated during exercise, it leads to exercise feeling more enjoyable and easier. One can then run faster and harder based on this feeling.

Drinking or even just rinsing like what the participants did will work just as well. This will help for exercise up to an hour. For any exercise of longer duration, there needs to be actual carbohydrates in the drink that you use (unlike this study where the pink drink is artificially sweetened and has no calories). I've written previously on carbohydrate rinsing in 2018 and way back in 2010.

This no calorie pink drink rinsing cannot sustain you for an indefinite period, especially if you are doing a really long training session or race. 

This is especially useful and will work when you're bloated from drinking too much in a long distance race. If you're doing this in a race, there needs to be actual carbohydrates in the drink that you use, unlike this study where the pink drink is artificially sweetened and has no calories.

Reference

Brown DR, Cappozzo F, Roeck DD et al (2021). Mouth Rinsing With A Pink Non-caloric, Artificially-sweetened Solution Improves Self-paced Running Performance And Feelings Of Pleasure In Habitually Active Individuals. Frontiers Nutr. 12 May 2021. DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2021.678105