Is Sports Drink Acidic or Alkaline?
Sports drink (prepared) is neutral: PRAL close to zero: hardly shifts your acid-base balance.
Classification
A sports drink comes in at −0.4 per 100 ml, which makes it neutral. It contains water, sugar and a little sodium, but hardly any potassium or protein, so there is little that would carry weight in the PRAL calculation. For your acid-base balance, a bottle makes no difference. The value says nothing about the sugar behind the 18 kcal per 100 ml.
In the Drinks category, sports drink (prepared) ranks #42 of 80, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Herbal liqueur (−0.5), Hugo (cocktail) (−0.5), Fruit tea (−0.5). More acid-forming are Beer (−0.4), Alcohol-free beer (−0.4), Black tea (−0.3).
Acidic or alkaline: PRAL, not pH
On this site, acidic and alkaline refer to the PRAL (potential renal acid load). It estimates what a food leaves behind once it has been digested: a positive value is acid-forming, a negative value is alkalizing. That is different from the pH of the food itself: a lemon tastes sour, yet its PRAL is −4.0, so it is alkalizing. Your diet does not change your blood pH. It does change how much acid your kidneys have to deal with.
Goes well with
Frequently Asked Questions
Is sports drink acidic?
It depends on what you mean by acidic. The pH describes the food itself, for example how sour it tastes. The PRAL describes what it leaves behind after digestion: Sports drink (prepared) has a PRAL of −0.4 per 100 ml, so it counts as neutral in your daily acid-base balance.
Does sports drink count in the acid-base balance at all?
Hardly. At −0.4 per 100 ml, sports drink is in the neutral range between −0.5 and +0.5. You can eat it without shifting your balance.
Sports Drink logged, balance checked.
Basentracker adds up every meal automatically and shows whether your day is in the alkaline range. The same values as on this page, all 977 foods, photo scan, recipes.
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Compare all Drinks: Drinks table. Common questions are answered in Acidic or Alkaline?, and the PRAL calculator adds up a whole meal.
Source: Basentracker food database (PRAL according to Remer & Manz, calculated from protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium per 100 g). This information does not replace medical advice.