Dr. Stacy Sims, Osmo Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer, MSc, PhD, Exercise Physiologist-Nutrition Scientist, CISSN, Stanford University professor and pro elite cyclist, today released the world鈥檚 first women-specific sports hydration line.聽
It鈥檚 not a gimmick鈥攖here is real science behind Sims launch.
Sims, whom we wrote about earlier this year when she launched , says that the estrogen and progesterone in women’s bodies impact their performance as athletes. So she created three Osmo products formulated specifically for women to help them improve power output and endurance, avoid premenstrual performance decline, and optimize training adaptations聽
If you鈥檙e a dude who can鈥檛 handle reference to a woman鈥檚 menstrual cycle, stop reading now, because it turns out that a lot of the differences in what men and women when they exercise is directly related to that time of the moth.
If you鈥檙e a guy who likes to run, bike, ski or recreate with your female partner鈥攚hether wife, daughter or girlfriend鈥攔ead on. And get your credit card out.
Women鈥檚 different hydration needs haven鈥檛 been recognized until now because while women鈥檚 participation in sports has increased significantly over the last several聽decades, research on women in sports has lagged. Until very recently, most of the data collected in case studies regarding nutrition and training were conducted largely on men. Women were deemed 鈥渢oo difficult鈥 to be included because of female hormone fluctuations.
Women have an altered energy metabolism during exercise, which impacts how they recover. Their recovery window is smaller and they have a predisposition to become overtrained if they go for too much intensity at different parts of their periods.聽
During the menstrual cycle, women have two hormone phases: high and low. During the low聽hormone phase, women鈥檚 carbohydrate metabolism and recovery are closer to men鈥檚 and they are聽able to complete high-intensity workouts.
During the high hormone phase, estrogen聽reduces the availability of carbohydrate and increases the amount of fat used for fuel; thus women have problems hitting intensities. Elevated progesterone increases women鈥檚 core temperature by聽~0.5鈥機, it increases their total body sodium losses, and increases women鈥檚 muscle breakdown鈥攁t the same time, reducing a woman鈥檚 ability to synthesize muscle. The combination聽of elevated estrogen and progesterone drops a woman鈥檚 available plasma volume by ~8%, and with聽concurrent shifts in baseline thresholds, makes females more predisposed to , abnormally low blood sodium.
Finally, the recovery window for men and women is different. Women have 30 minutes for acute recovery and only 3 hours to eat a balanced meal for glycogen recovery.聽So鈥攜our girlfriend, wife or daughter may not just being unjustifiably moody when you take her on that five hour mountain-bike ride. She may not have the juice because her hormones are wreaking havoc with her ability to perform.
To address women鈥檚 physiological realities, Sims developed and tested three formulas that Osmo launched on its today. counteracts a hormone induced drop in body water, increases power and endurance, reduces muscle fatigue and improves recovery. (Available October 2013, $25.) for women increases Power Output, improves Endurance, and helps women avoid premenstrual-related performance decline. (40-serving container, available now, $20.) promotes muscle synthesis, reduces hormonal influences on recovery, and optimizes training adaptations. (16-serving container, available now, $35.) And if this sounds good, check out the Sims created for men.