These days many companies are indulged in developing energy drinks because for effective performance in any sport good dose of energy is required. One of such companies, which gained great popularity in almost every sport around the world, is “GATORADE”. In this article we are going to review the Gatorade Sports drink to see its effective and value for money.
It all started in the year 1965, when the assistant coach of University of Florida discovered that because of lack of electrolytes and water, their players are unable to perform in the game. They found that illness because of heat should be prevented by some means to promote better game and better health of the players. Later, with the experts and after research on various parameters on the energy drink, “Gatorade” was presented to their athletes. Gatorade proved itself instantly with teams performance going up considerably. The team won many matches after the they were introduced to Gatorade in that season. From there on, Gatorade became quite popular and the product was improved considerably since its initial launch.
Today Gatorade is being used widely in almost every sport because of its unique formula which helps replenish the energy and helps body from slowing down due to lack of water and energy. It is available as liquid drink and also as a powder.
Given below are some points to make you understand how exactly it works and its importance in sport:
- In every sport athletes sweat. When this happens, the loss of electrolytes and water takes place. Athlete needs to recover those electrolytes and liquid to continue the activity effectively.
- Our blood contains minerals with electric charge, these minerals helps in sending signals and helps in generating energy. After sweating more, these minerals or electrolytes get removed from body. This weakens the brain signals towards the body parts, which will create hurdles for a person in continuing the given activity. In extreme cases one can completely collapse while performing an activity due to this loss.
- The walls of cells need stability which is provided by the electrolytes. Thus they are highly required when some activity is done where excess sweating takes place.
- For any given activity, the signal from the brain to the muscles is sent through electrolytes. The overall function of the body will get disturbed when the level of electrolytes in blood will decrease.
- The movement of fluids in a human body is also taken care by the electrolytes.
- The transportation of nutrients to various body parts will diminish if the level of electrolytes will decrease.
Gatorade is available in various flavors and colors. The Nutrients in Gatorade sports drink (lemon, Orange and blue bolt flavor) per 100 ml
- Energy 24 kcal
- Sodium 48 mg
- Carbohydrate 6 gm
- Sugar 6 gm
In Gatorade Sports Mix (Lemon and Orange Flavored Powder) sachet: 35 gm can be used to make a drink of 500 ml.
- Energy 126 kcal
- Sodium 215 mg
- Carbohydrate 4 gm
- Sugar 2 gm
This formula is good enough to recover whatever is lost in the sweat.
Who does not need it?
Anybody who does not want to consume sugar should avoid it. But remember, need and requirements are two different things. If someone is off sugar, but sweats a lot, the requirement is high and it should be taken. On the contrary if someone does not sweat much, avoid it. The content of sugar is high which spikes the level of insulin and at many places you might not need it. Especially when you are working out in gym to lose fat, you would not consume anything rich in sugar.
People who are having high blood pressure are often asked to stay away from salt, should not consume Gatorade. However at some occasions their doctor might ask them to consume lemonades, but on a general term, they should not consume anything with lot of salt in it.
