By Dr. Lou Schimmel

A question for all athletes, parents of athletes, weekend warriors and anyone else who works out, do you use a “sports drink”? If so, is it the most advertised and popular one in the world produced by Pepsico? Yes, that would be Gatorade or now called the “G” Series of beverages. If you or your children uses this “thirst quencher” to help you “hydrate, refuel, and push through” your workout as it is promoted to do, you may want to consider an alternative beverage. Why? Consider the following:

1. A 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade (G Perform) contains 34 Grams of simple sugar. That is as much sugar contained in a can of Pepsi! This is way too much sugar unless you need to complete a stage of the Tour de France. And even if you did, you would not want to consume only simple sugar because your blood sugar will spike and then drop commonly called “bonking” in endurance sports. 2. The “key” electrolytes in a bottle of G include 270mg of table salt and a little potassium. Again, this is way too much salt to hydrate your body’s cells. Also, what about Calcium, magnesium, manganese? The body loses more than salt during prolonged aerobic exercise. 3. The other ingredients in Gatorade include: Gum Arabic- a complex polysaccharide indigestible to both humans and animals, Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate- a food additive used as a weighting and thickening agent, Glycerol Rosin of Ester-a food additive used to stabilize and suspend oils in solution (it was banned by the European Food Safety Association because it is considered unsafe ), and Yellow #6- a food coloring. Really? After sweating out all the toxins in a great workout do you really need a cocktail of sugar, thickening agents, some glycerol rosin of ester and food coloring? What is the alternative? It is very simple. If you or your kids are going to work out intensely for over 1 hour choose a high quality sports drink or electrolyte supplement without all the simple sugar, salt and additives. (Please see the attached sport drink lables or check them out in our Daily Essentials Store). If you are working out for less than an hour, drink pure clean water!

Compare the sugar content and Ingredient list here in Hammer Nutrition HEED sports drink to Gatorade. No Simple sugar, food additives, or colorings here.

Hammer Nutrition HEED sports drink label