Effects of Pineapple Juice on Hydration Level During Post Exercise Recovery

Maintaining hydration during recovery after exercise is vital for sustaining the athlete's performance. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of pineapple juice on hydration levels during post-exercise recovery. Nineteen males (mean ± s: age 20.8 ± 1.4 years; height 171 ± 4.7 cm; body weight 67.9 ± 8.4 kg) were randomly assigned to drink either pineapple juice (PJ) or plain water (W). Subjects were required to run on the treadmill at 70%-80% maximum heart rate until achieved the targeted weight loss which was calculated by 2% of body weight loss. Immediately after completing the run, body weight, volume of urine output and urine specific gravity (USG) were recorded. Then, subjects were asked to consume either PJ or W at 150% replacement of their total body weight loss. They must finish the drink within 1-h post run at the interval of 15-min. After subjects finished their drink, the 4-h recovery timing was started. During the 4-h recovery, body weight, volume of urine output and USG were recorded at 1-h interval and at the end of 4-h. During recovery phase, the result showed that PJ has significantly retained fluid better than W. Rehydration assessment on volume of urine output showed a significant difference between PJ and W (p < 0.001). PJ (1011ml) produced less volume of urine output compared to W (1497ml) (p < 0.001). This present study also showed that the USG was not significantly difference between both trials (p = 0.85) however the USG level dropped significantly during the 3rd hour of recovery phase for both trials when compared to pre-exercise level (p < 0.001). Therefore, based on volume of urine output finding, this result indicated that pineapple juice has a beneficial effect on fluid retention during recovery phase. Hence, this study concluded that pineapple juice, which is a local Malaysian product and non-carbonated, could be used as an alternative recovery sports drink for maintaining euhydration level post exercise.