Well+Good discusses why water may taste sweet with Jason Machowsky, RD, CSSD, ACSM-CEP, CSCS, exercise physiologist and registered dietitian at HSS.

“There doesn’t seem to be any well-researched reasons for it,” Machowsky said. “There are, however, a lot of theories.”

The first hypothesis has to do with the idea of “heightened sensitivity.” Machowsky explained that there are minerals in water that do taste sweet to some people, and so after a strenuous workout, those minerals might taste even more noticeably sweeter.

In a related explanation, your post-workout water could be dredging up old food particles or residue in your mouth that you’re re-tasting in a more dramatic way, thanks to that sensitivity.

“A ‘sweet’ flavor or aroma to [the] breath is a byproduct of the breakdown of ketones for energy,” said Machowsky. So drinking water and noticing a sweet flavor could come from the interaction of water and your own breath. However, Machowsky noted that this would only come about if someone is adhering to a strict ketogenic diet, or if they have done “sustained activity to significantly deplete your glycogen reserves.” So not just any old workout would cause this—you'd likely need to be doing aerobic exercise for about an hour and 45 minutes before hitting this point.

Read the full article at wellandgood.com.