Read it

Boxing food rankings

The best beverages for boxers

All 33 beverages from the official UK food dataset, ranked by all-round score. Coffee, Tomato juice, Lemon juice lead the group. Open the full explorer to rank them for making weight, bulking or maximum protein instead.All 33 beverages, ranked by Super Score (%Protein per kcal x Nutrient Density x estimated Satiety, each normalised 0 to 100). Switch goals in the explorer to re-rank for cutting, bulking or maximum protein.

Beverages in the CoFID dataset score near zero across all boxing nutrition measures, which makes sense: drinks are mostly water and should be chosen primarily for hydration, not nutrition.

Coffee leads this group on nutrient density only because it contains some potassium and antioxidants for almost zero calories. The real value of coffee for boxers is caffeine, a well-evidenced performance enhancer, not its nutritional profile. Tomato juice and lemon juice score modestly because they carry some vitamin C and other micronutrients, but neither replaces whole food.

The beverages that do matter for a boxer are water and electrolyte drinks, which do not appear in this ranking because they have essentially zero nutritional score. Adequate hydration (water and sodium around training) is one of the most important daily habits for a boxer and has nothing to do with this group's scores.

Commercial fruit juices, energy drinks and fizzy drinks score very poorly because they add sugar calories with almost no protein, fibre or micronutrients. They are not useful for a boxer on a cut and contribute little on a bulk. Choose water, milk (which does score well, see the dairy group), or unsweetened tea and coffee as your default drinks, and treat sweet drinks as occasional.

#	Food	All-Round score	% Protein/kcal	Nutrients	Fullness
1	Coffeecappuccino, latte	1.5	30%	5	71
2	Tomato juice	0.9	20%	4	71
3	Lemon juicefresh	0.7	14%	5	69
4	Fruit juice drinkno added sugar, ready to drink	0.3	25%	1	71
5	Grapefruit juiceunsweetened	0.2	6%	4	68
6	Fruit juicemixed	0.2	5%	5	67
7	Pineapple juiceunsweetened	0.1	2%	4	67
8	Apple juice concentrateunsweetened, commerical	0.0	1%	3	39
9	High juice drinkno added sugar, undiluted	0.0	6%	0	70
10	Smoothies	0.0	4%	0	66
11	Grape juiceunsweetened	0.0	2%	0	65
12	Barley waterundiluted	0.0	1%	0	60
13	High juice drinkundiluted	0.0	1%	0	51
14	High juice drinkdiluted	0.0	0%	0	68
15	Lemonadehomemade	0.0	0%	0	64
16	Cranberry fruit juice drink	0.0	0%	1	67
17	Blackcurrant juice drink/squashundiluted	0.0	0%	0	46
18	Energy drinkcarbonated	0.0	0%	0	67
19	Fruit juice drinkcarbonated, ready to drink	0.0	0%	0	69
20	Lucozade	0.0	0%	0	63
21	Blackcurrant juice drink/squashdiluted	0.0	0%	0	69
22	Lime juice cordialundiluted	0.0	0%	0	58
23	Lime juice cordialdiluted	0.0	0%	0	70
24	Lemonade	0.0	0%	0	69
25	Fruit juice drink/squashundiluted	0.0	0%	0	68
26	Fruit juice drink/squashready to drink	0.0	0%	0	67
27	Fruit juice drink/squashno sugar added, undiluted	0.0	0%	0	71
28	Fruit juice drink/squashno sugar added, diluted	0.0	0%	0	72
29	Fruit juice drink/squashdiluted	0.0	0%	0	72
30	Fruit juice drinkcarbonated, no added sugar, ready to drink	0.0	0%	0	72
31	Barley waterdiluted	0.0	0%	0	70
32	Tonic water	0.0	0%	0	70
33	Cola	0.0	0%	0	67

33 of 33 beverages. Open the full interactive explorer to search and switch goals. Satiety is an estimate. It is modelled from the known drivers of fullness (protein, fibre, water, low energy density, low fat), not measured directly.

Common questions

What are the best beverages for boxers?

Coffee (cappuccino, latte), Tomato juice (), Lemon juice (fresh) score highest in this group on the all-round measure, which combines protein per calorie, nutrient density and estimated fullness.

How is the ranking worked out?

Each food is scored from the UK Government CoFID 2021 dataset and ranked by an all-round score. Switch goals in the full interactive explorer to re-rank for making weight, bulking or maximum protein.

General information for boxers, not medical or dietary advice. For a plan built around you, speak to a registered dietitian or your GP. Food data from the UK Government CoFID 2021 dataset, used under the Open Government Licence.

New to all this? Start with our free 10-week boxing nutrition course or book a free trial session.