More and more athletes are drinking pickle juice to avoid cramps. This is what nutritional science says

For a few days now, there has been no other topic of conversation in the world of elite sports: athletes like Carlos Alcaraz or Tadej Pogačar have exchanged the most advanced isotonic drinks in the world for something much simpler and pedestrian: pickle brine.

When we talk about elite sport, the line that separates brilliant ideas, absurd fashions and the most delusional superstitions is very finite. So we’ve asked ourselves… Does all this make sense?

But let’s explain it well. In endurance and high-performance sports, the idea of ​​always carrying “pickle juice” (the brine from pickles) or other products inspired by it has become popular to “cut off cramps when they have already started.”

And it makes sense that it has caught on. To begin with, because cramps associated with exercise are one of the most frustrating things there is. Furthermore, for years, we have missed the mark: we thought they were a product of dehydration and lack of salts, but everything seems to indicate that They are something much more multifactorial than it seemed.

In fact, everything seems to indicate that the main problem has more to do with altered neuromuscular control than anything else.

And in this context pickles arrive. Because yes we have evidence (somewhat limited, it’s true) which shows that brining works. Although not because of what we usually believe: researchers realized that the mechanism works too quickly for it to be a matter of electrolyte replacement. There is simply no time for physiology to do its job.

So? The truth is that the mechanism in question is still mysterious. It seems that the hypothesis stronger right now is that these liquids play with the oropharyngeal reflex: a very acidic/irritant/aggressive taste could stimulate certain receptors and, as a consequence, trigger a neurological reaction that resets and adjusts neuromuscular control.

And this is important because, if so, they do not replace (strictly speaking) to isotonic drinks if they are necessary. At least, not in the short term.

Does it make sense? On a purely scientific level, I think the most reasonable thing to do is to think that we have some evidence to suggest that it works in some people. However, let’s not fool ourselves: to date we have no evidence that it is more effective than the traditional approach (mechanical measures such as stretching or load change).

In this sense, it is worth remembering that superstition plays a key role in elite sport.

Superstition? What superstition? Thanks to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Kinesio tapes became popular. Some brightly colored ribbons that say they can be used for almost everything but whose effects are not proven at all. At the 2016 Rio games, the boom was taken by cupping. As I argued then, athletes are tremendously superstitious beings. A lot.

And they are because it works for them.. From the eightieswe know that sports rituals have a positive impact on their execution. And, curiously, increasing ‘perceived self-efficacy’ It is usually related to increasing effectiveness in actual execution. Ultimately, what studies tell us is that these rituals “helped strengthen feelings of control and confidence that were otherwise lacking” in times of great stress.

It doesn’t matter if they are lucky underwear or a lump of brine: they are things that function beyond their physiological plausibility.

The problem, as always, is another. Whether we like it or not, athletes are role models for the general public. With these fads, they are spreading pseudoscience beliefs in society and generating business in companies with few scruples.

Something, in itself, much more dangerous than drinking pickle juice.

Image | Ketut Subiyanto

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