In a new study from the University of Westminster, researchers found that pink drinks can help to make you run faster and further compared to clear drinks.
They found that a pink drink can increase exercise performance by 4.4% and can also increase a ‘feel good’ effect which can make exercise seem easier.
The study is the first investigation to assess the effect of drink color on exercise performance.
In the study, participants were asked to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a self-selected speed ensuring their rate of exertion remained consistent.
Throughout the exercise, they rinsed their mouths with either a pink artificially sweetened drink that was low in calories or a clear drink that was also artificially sweetened and low in calories.
Both drinks were exactly the same and only differed in appearance—the researchers added food dye to the pink drink to change the color.
The researchers chose pink as it is linked to perceived sweetness and therefore increases expectations of sugar and carbohydrate intake.
Previous studies have also shown that rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates can improve exercise performance by reducing the perceived intensity of the exercise.
The team that the participants ran an average of 212 meters further with the pink drink while their mean speed during the exercise test also increased by 4.4%
Feelings of pleasure were also enhanced meaning participants found running more enjoyable.
The findings suggest a pink colorant to an artificially sweetened solution not only enhanced the perception of sweetness but also enhanced feelings of pleasure, self-selected running speed and distance covered during a run.
The team says future exploratory research is necessary to find out whether the proposed placebo effect causes a similar activation to the reward areas of the brain that are commonly reported when rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates.
If you care about exercise, please read studies about this new 5-minute exercise may improve your blood pressure and brain health and findings of for older people, weight training is more important than cardio exercise.
For more information about exercise prevention and treatment, please see recent studies about just 1 hour of this exercise every week may prevent heart attack, stroke and results showing that timing of exercise may be key to your weight loss success.
The study is published in Frontiers in Nutrition. One author of the study is Dr. Sanjoy Deb.
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