Effects of a moderate intake of beer on markers of hydration after exercise in the heat: a crossover study

Background: Exercise in the heat causes important water and electrolytes losses through perspiration. Optimal rehydration is crucial to facilitate the recuperation process after exercise. The aim of our study was to examine whether a moderate beer intake as part of the rehydration has any negative effect protocol after a short but dehydrating bout of exercise in the heat.Methods: Sixteen active male (VO2max, 56 ± 4 mL/kg/min), were included in a crossover study and performed a dehydrating exercise (≤1 h running, 60 %VO2max) twice and 3 weeks apart, in a hot laboratory setting (35 ± 1 °C, humidity 60 ± 2 %). During the two hours following the exercise bouts participants consumed either mineral water ad-libitum (W) or up to 660 ml regular beer followed by water ad-libitum (BW). Body composition, hematological and serum parameters, fluid balance and urine excretion were assessed before, after exercise and after rehydration.Results: Body mass (BM) decreased (both ~ 2.4 %) after exercise in both trials. After rehydration, BM and fat free mass significantly increased although BM did not return to baseline levels (BM, 72.6 ± 6.7 to 73.6 ± 6.9; fat free mass, 56.9 ± 4.7 to 57.5 ± 4.5, no differences BW vs W). Beer intake did not adversely affect any measured parameter. Fluid balance and urine excretion values did not differ between the rehydration strategies.Conclusions: After exercise and subsequent water losses, a moderate beer (regular) intake has no deleterious effects on markers of hydration in active individuals.This study was partially supported by the “Centro de Información Cerveza y Salud” (n° C-2534-00)

Affective semantic space of scents. Towards a universal scale to measure self-reported odor-related feelings

Measuring self-reported affective feelings to odors and odorous products is a recent challenge for the food and cosmetic field, requiring the development of suited instruments. This paper finalizes a line of studies aimed at developing Emotion and Odor Scales (EOSs) in several cultures. Previously available for Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Singapore, new EOSs are presented here for the United States, Brazil, and China. These scales, developed with 350-540 participants per country, have been conceived to allow the measurement of affective feelings (e.g., emotions, moods, attitudes) in response to a wide range of odors including pleasant and unpleasant, food and non-food ones. Several affective categories were recurrent in the countries examined here: Disgust/Irritation, Happiness/Well-being, Sensuality/Desire, Energy, but also Soothing/Peacefulness and Hunger/Thirst, indicating a potential link between emotion and adaptive universal functions of olfaction such as danger avoidance, ingestion and social communication. For these common categories, similarity in affective responses generally reflected geographic proximity indicating also a strong influence of cultural aspects. Exceptions to this pattern were Singapore and China, with affective responses of Singaporeans being closer to those of Europeans. This series of studies allows us to propose a universal scale (UniGEOS) that might be used in the future for examination of other cultures. This scale comprises affective categories that we found to be culturally shared, enclosing the most frequently shared affective terms, and several culture-specific aspects that may be relevant in other cultures. This tool can be used in its complete form (25 affective terms) or as a short version with nine categories entitled Unpleasant feelings, Happiness/Delight, Sensuality/Desire, Energy, Soothing/Peacefulness, Hunger/Thirst, Interest, Nostalgia and Spirituality. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.302128138Swiss Center for Affective ScienceFirmenichSwiss National Science FoundationNational Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Affective Science