You’ve seen the tv and billboard commercials, perhaps you’ve even tried some yourself. Gatorade is the world’s most popular sports drink. Endorsed by the best and most popular athletes on the planet, the official sports drink of the NBA, and found in nearly every cooler of a 7 Eleven or ministop around, you’d think that people might actually consider replacing the water cooler with a gatorade station for fear of missing out on its performance advantage.
Before doing so however, consider a few studies made on the benefits of Gatorade and its performance against water:
Consider the opinion of Robert Robergs (from the Daily Lobo):
“There’s nothing magical about Gatorade that hydrates the body better,” Robergs said. “You put water and Gatorade in front of an athlete and they prefer to drink Gatorade just because it tastes better.”
Robergs said body hydration is tested by weighing a person before and after the drinks have been consumed. He said if the weights are the same, it is obvious that Gatorade isn’t retained any better than water.
The reason Gatorade is thought to rehydrate better is because of the carbohydrates in the drink, which aid the small intestine in absorbing water in the body, he said. The body absorbs water seven times faster with carbohydrates, but Robergs said there is no evidence the body is able to retain that water.
Dr. Bob Murray of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute on the benefits of Gatorade (full article):
“The broad answer is that the benefits that Gatorade provides are related to the individual’s need for water, carbohydrate, and electrolytes. The harder people exercise, the longer they exercise, and the warmer the environment, the greater the benefits they can realize from drinking adequate amounts of Gatorade. In more-sciencey parlance, the greater the water and electrolyte loss in sweat and the higher the carbohydrate oxidation by active muscles, the greater are the differences between Gatorade and water.”
“The obvious question then becomes: when do the Gatorade benefits kick in? In one important regard, those benefits start immediately because physically active people voluntarily ingest more Gatorade than water — and therefore stay better hydrated. As you may recall, this happens for two reasons. The first is that people prefer flavored, sweetened beverages and typically drink more than they do with plain water. In a sense, that’s a no-brainer, although the science behind that is actually quite robust. The second is that Gatorade electrolytes maintain the osmotic drive to drink by assuring that the sodium level of the blood is maintained above the thirst threshold for a longer period of time.”
There you have it. High performance athlete who needs to maintain a sustained level of high quality effort – without a doubt gatorade helps because it’s basically water plus energy giving carbohydrates. Average joe playing basketball on a weekend? It probably won’t make much of a difference, although if you like sweets, Gatorade is probably your best bet.
July 8, 2009 at 5:23 am
Hmm. Is it true?