Powerade: the benefits and harms of an isotonic drink for the body

Many men and women spend a significant amount of time in the gym. Some of them do traditional exercises on weight machines, and some do an entire workout in the cardio zone. In any case, the exercises performed by people are quite varied in nature. And when training is completed, the body needs fluid to replenish lost mineral reserves. One of the drinks that allows you to replenish lost substances is Powerade.

Composition and health problems

Thirst quencher Original Gatorade

Gatorade complete 02

The original Gatorade is based on oral rehydration therapy, a mixture of salt, sugar and water with citrus-based flavoring and added food coloring.
The ingredients in individual Gatorade products vary depending on the product in question and the country in which it is sold. Gatorade Thirst Quencher contains water, sucrose (table sugar), dextrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate and flavoring/colors. Some Gatorade flavor variations contain brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer. The production of brominated vegetable oil was discontinued in 2013 and was replaced by sucrose acetate isobutyrate. An 8-ounce (240 ml) serving of Gatorade Perform 02 (thirst quencher) contains 50 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 110 mg of sodium and 30 mg of potassium. Gatorade is a thirst quencher sweetened with a sucrose-dextrose mixture. For some time in the 1990s and early 2000s, high fructose corn syrup was used to sweeten Gatorade distributed in North America, but as of 2011, the drink was again sweetened with a combination of sucrose and dextrose, which the company describes as "consumer preference." " G2 and G2 Natural, labeled as "low-calorie" options, are partially sweetened with PureVia, an extract of the stevia plant.

One 20-ounce bottle of regular Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar (8 teaspoons). The maximum amount of sugar a person should eat per day is 25 grams for women and 37.5 grams for men. According to the American Heart Association, the maximum recommended amount of sugar for women is about 6 teaspoons and about 9 teaspoons for men. Family Education says the AHA says children should consume even less sugar, no more than about 3 to 4 teaspoons per day.

A 2012 study of nearly 11,000 teenagers found that "teens gain even more weight if they drink a bottle of sports drink every day, with an average of 3.5 pounds for each sports drink consumed per day." The researchers concluded: “We need to educate parents and clinicians about what constitutes a sugary drink... Sports drinks are promoted by professional athletes as a healthy drink, but in reality children should not consume them unless they exercise regularly. for long periods of time or in hot climates."

The USDA states that the average American will consume 160 pounds of sugar per year; almost half a pound of sugar a day. One of the most common ways to consume sugar is through drinks. Most people don't notice how much sugar can be in one drink.

In January 2013, the manufacturer of Gatorade (PepsiCo) agreed to remove brominated vegetable oil from its Gatorade products in the US due to health concerns. The composition of Gatorade in Europe, Japan and India has not changed since BVO was outlawed 23 years ago.

Isotonic drinks from Gatorade

Gatorade isotonic drinks are non-alcoholic, non-carbonated drinks. They include:

• Water.
• Sugar.
• Maltodextrin.
• Lemon acid.
• Minerals (sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium monophosphate, magnesium oxide).
• Emulsifiers.
• Sweeteners.
• Dyes.

In addition to the liquid form, the company produces isotonic drinks in powder form. This option is ideal for people involved in active sports. It is convenient to use and store. The athlete can also choose the flavor he likes from the following:

• Wave energy.
• Icy coolness.
• Fruit punch.
• Lemon-lime.
• Orange.

Fame and commercial success

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Gatorade trademark until 2009

The key to the Florida team's success became public after the Gators' final game of the season beat the University of Miami, and in December 1966, the University of Florida released an official statement about the new drink. At this point, Cade was already considering making Gatorade commercially, even applying to the university's finance department for sponsorship with an equal share of the proceeds, but the application was rejected. However, the victory of the talented Florida team, led by future professional quarterback Steve Spurrier, brought Cade and his drink fame. In 1967, one of his former assistants, who found a job at Indiana University, managed to interest the management of food manufacturers Stokely-Van Camp, whose headquarters were located in Indianapolis, with the idea of ​​​​a drink; by the fall of that year, Stokely-Van Camp had secured national rights to it. By 1973, a series of lawsuits had ended, resulting in a portion of the proceeds going to the University of Florida and Cade's laboratory staff. Over the next four decades, the copyright earned each of Gatorade's inventors $30 million. Another legal problem for manufacturers in the early years of production was the fact that the sweetener used in the drink, sodium cyclamate, was found to be a hazardous carcinogen and banned in the United States in 1969; it had to be replaced with fructose.

In 1983, Stokely-Van Camp was acquired by Quaker Oats, which launched a large-scale advertising campaign that included basketball player Michael Jordan. Quaker Oats highlighted the science behind Gatorade's restorative benefits in its campaign. To promote this image, the Gatorade Sports Physiology Laboratory was founded in 1985 under the direction of Dr. Robert Murray; in 1988, the Gatorade Sports Research Institute was created from the laboratory.

Gatorade shower

The spontaneously emerging sports tradition also contributed to brand recognition. In 1985, before the NFL game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, New York coach Bill Parcells, trying to motivate his Jim Burt, spent a week tormenting him with stories about how the opposing team's player would deal with him. After the Giants won the game 17-3, Burt grabbed a cooler with leftover Gatorade and threw it on the coach. After the first shock, Burt's teammates appreciated the joke and celebrated the victory in the same way at the next game. Subsequently, Giants player Harry Carson began giving the coach a “Gatorade shower” in every winning game. Seeing the value of regularly televising the ritual, the owners of Quaker Oats rewarded Carson and Parcells with gift certificates. The Gatorade shower tradition was picked up by other teams, and its popularity became so great that Burt and Carson's lead in its invention was even challenged by Chicago Bears player Dan Hampton, who claimed to have first performed the trick the year before them. Over time, water and other drinks began to take the place of Gatorade in the ritual, and during the Giants’ visit to the White House, Carson gave President Reagan a “shower” of puffed corn, poured, however, into a Gatorade bucket.

As a result of the advertising campaign, Gatorade effectively became a monopoly on the American sports drink market: its products accounted for 80% of total sports drink sales in the United States. For a long period after 1983, Gatorade sales grew 20 percent annually, from $100 million in 1983 to more than $2.2 billion in 2001. This year, a new change in ownership of the Gatorade brand took place when Quaker Oats was acquired by PepsiCo.

At what age can you shave your legs and how to do it correctly

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After shaving, stubble begins to grow, that is, harder and darker hairs appear. This happens not because the structure of the hair changes, but because new young hairs break through. They have not yet been exposed to the sun and other external factors, so they stand out very much on the skin, especially light ones.

After shaving, the razor must be rinsed and placed in a glass. There is no need to wipe it dry. Do not use skin products containing alcohol. They will dry out and cause peeling. It is best to use baby cream with chamomile or aloe. It gently cares for the skin, which is why girls and women of all ages use it.

Is it worth it and how to take Powerade isotonic?

At first, active advertising from manufacturers placed Powerade at the top of the list of the healthiest drinks. In fact, it was touted as a superior drink with all the essential ingredients needed to replenish a dehydrated body. Thus, many people grabbed it from the shelves instead of Pepsi and Coca cola. However, today it has been confirmed that Powerade has potential harmful side effects on the body. The reasons why a sports drink may cause more harm than good is because it contains high amounts of unhealthy sugar and calories.

No sports drink exceeds the water needs of a dehydrated body. Therefore, people who exercise can drink several glasses of water and achieve the same effects. Although if you are dehydrated, Powerade can quickly replenish the lost electrolytes and fluids that the body needs. Since the drink contains sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose, it can give a person a quick boost of energy due to the intake of carbohydrates in the body. It's also important to note that a glass of orange juice or other fruit can do the same thing. Read about how to prepare isotonic water at home in this article →

The drink provides energy thanks to sugar, so it is worth taking during heavy strength training. When training for relief , such a product is naturally contraindicated.

• To maintain energy and strength levels , you need to drink the drink before and during exercise.
• If the goal is to restore water-salt balance , the drink can be consumed immediately after training.

The history of Powerade: how Coca-Cola's isotonic drink became a symbol of sports life

The birth of a legend

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1965, University of Florida, one of the hottest states in America

The team's football coach, Dwayne Johnson, noticed that his players lost up to 8 kilograms of weight during practices and games, and some constantly fainted from heatstroke. Joining forces with Dr. Robert Cade, Johnson created a drink designed to help football players. To compensate for what the athletes’ bodies lost through sweat and to support muscle function, the coach added mineral salts, glucose and electrolytes - potassium and magnesium - to the water.

This is how the history of isotonics began.

“People realized a long time ago that during prolonged physical activity a person needs something more than just water,” explains fitness trainer Denis Semenikhin. — It is clear that 100 years ago there was no brand that would produce sports drinks in bright bottles and sell them in regular grocery stores. But they guessed that an athlete running a marathon needs not just water, but a drink with a certain content of salts and sugar.

Intense physical training is accompanied by several problems at once: depletion of energy reserves, dehydration and vitamin deficiency. In response to these physiological limitations, sports drinks were created to help athletes be more resilient and stronger.

Years of work and doubt

It took almost 50 years for the scientific community to begin to treat functional nutrition for athletes with the same care as their treatment. Scientists began to think about what substances necessary for a person should be added to water so that he could withstand physical activity longer and recover faster after training.

“In the 1950s–1960s, they experimented a lot,” says Denis Semenikhin. — For example, we tried to give syrups to runners. But syrup is food. After drinking it, the athletes noticeably slowed down instead of speeding up.

Within a few years, ineffective syrups were replaced by drinks. Scientists and doctors have concluded that athletes need mineral salts to restore water-salt balance, sugar to quickly replenish energy losses, and electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium and calcium. New drinks began to be called isotonic because of their ability, no worse than saline solution, to nourish the blood plasma with the necessary moisture.

“Glucose, on the one hand, can be regarded as an optimal energy supply, and on the other hand, as a means of creating favorable conditions for rehydration,” explains S.A., an employee of the Department of Physical Therapy, Sports Medicine and Physical Education of the Russian State Medical University (Moscow). Parastaev in an article published in the Journal of RASMIRBI (Russian Association for Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Sick and Disabled). “The glucose concentration in Powerade is 5.6 g per 100 ml of drink (one bottle approximately corresponds to the glucose consumption of 40-60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical training).”

The same Powerade: timeline

1988

— Entering the North American market. Powerade immediately becomes a partner of the Olympians and begins to gain popularity. A little later, FIFA will also choose it as its official sports drink. This cooperation has been going on for almost 30 years.

1993

— The drink is entering the international market, consumers are accepting it as favorably as athletes.

2001

— A new Powerade formulation has been created with vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which support energy metabolism in the body.

2002

— The bottle takes on a classic shape, a “sports grip,” which makes it more comfortable to hold in your hand.

2003

— The famous basketball player James LeBron, three-time NBA champion and four-time most valuable player of the League, becomes the drink’s ambassador.

“I’ve been drinking Sprite and Powerade for a long time,” James commented. “And I’ve always admired how these brands talk to young people and athletes. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

2008

— For those who count calories, the new Powerade Zero has been released: six classic flavors - and zero calories!

2014

— Specially for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, a new Powerade ION4 “Snow Gold” with Lemon-Lime flavor was released.

In the same year, 2014, the famous Spanish football player Andres Iniesta became the ambassador of the drink, thanks to whom the Spanish team won the World Cup for the first time in history. After the official part, the journalists tried to train like professional athletes with Andres - and they could not do without the support of Powerade after an intense game.

Powerade is the enemy of weight loss and fat burning

The aforementioned sports medicine professor Tim Noakes argues that without drinking sports drinks, the duration and effectiveness of your workout is likely to be higher than after drinking a bottle of Powerade containing about 25-30 grams of fast carbohydrates (1). Not to mention, you'll burn more fat.

In fact, the calories contained in such a bottle are equivalent to a thirty-minute jog at an average pace - and all this time the body will not work in the mode of spending fat reserves or in the mode of losing weight (2). Among other things, the presence of glucose in the blood will practically block fat-burning processes in problematic fat located on the stomach and sides.

Problems with regulatory authorities

The influential European Food Safety Authority has carefully analyzed and tested more than one hundred advertising claims for Powerade and Gatorade sports drinks. As a result, it was found that only six of the advertised benefits were true, and the benefits of these drinks appeared only during high-intensity workouts longer than 60 minutes.

The head of the organization, Professor Albert Flynn, noted in a statement that manufacturing companies deliberately mislead consumers by selling sports drinks in regular supermarkets and featuring football players and other professional athletes in advertising (1). Essentially, Coca-Cola is using every resource available to it to sell more sugar.

Sponsorship of the Olympic Games

Opponents of sports drinks argue that Powerade or Gatorade advertising, which convinces consumers of the close connection between participation in various sports and the mandatory consumption of their products, is openly deceiving people, significantly exaggerating the need and benefits of purchasing “sports water”.

Sponsoring of sporting events such as the Olympic Games and all kinds of football tournaments (for example, the UEFA Champions League), achieved thanks to the billion-dollar advertising budgets of the “sugar concerns”, is intended to convince the consumer that the next high-calorie drink is healthy and “sports”. However, this is absolutely not true.

***

Numerous studies and influential sports doctors have long said that the benefits of sports drinks for sports are highly questionable. The claim that these drinks are necessary for a regular run or for low-impact sports (for example, fitness or yoga) is nothing more than rude advertising.

Scientific sources:

1. BBC Panorama – Powerade – Does It Work?, source
2. Composition of the drink “Powerade ION4 – Ice Storm”, source
3. Sports drinks: the myths busted, source
4. Three Sports Drinks to Avoid, source

History of creation

In 1965, assistant coach of the University of Florida football team, Dwayne Douglas, was faced with a problem: players on his team were constantly being hospitalized during games and practices due to dehydration, while practically not feeling the need to urinate. Douglas turned to Dr. Robert Cade, then head of the department of nephrology and electrolytes, and he determined that the loss of fluids was caused by profuse sweating, during which the players lost not only water, but also potassium and sodium, important for the balance of substances. This also led to decreased energy and stamina levels among players.

Cade turned to the coach of the university team, Ray Graves, with a request to provide him with players for experiments, and received ten players from the freshman team at his disposal. Experiments have shown that during training, the sugar content in the blood of athletes decreased; The total blood volume also decreased, leading to various negative consequences for the body. Cade and his collaborators came to the conclusion that it was possible to quickly restore the balance of substances in the body with the help of water in which the necessary salts and glucose would be dissolved. The first prototype of such a mixture tasted so disgusting that Cade himself, who tried it, immediately vomited, and the rest of the employees could only taste it in small sips, without moving far from the sink. It was clear that players would not be able to drink such a mixture in quantities sufficient to restore the balance of substances. It took a significant amount of lemon juice to drown out the rotten taste of the drink and make it, if not tasty, then at least suitable for consumption.

The product from Cade's laboratory was first tested during a training match of the university's second team against a team of freshmen. The freshmen were allowed to drink Cade's formula, while the second team drank plain water. The more experienced and physically powerful second team led after the first half of the game with a score of 13:0, but the second half was entirely in the hands of the freshmen, who carried out one successful combination after another and did not give up a single point to their opponents. The very next day, Cade provided his mixture to Graves' first team players in a match against the Louisiana State University team. The Louisiana team, considered the undisputed favorite of the match, led after three quarters of the match, but the Florida players managed to snatch victory in the last quarter in a temperature of 39 ° C. The following season of the NCAA Championships, Cade's Coca-Cola was already drunk by the entire first team of the University of Florida, which showed a number of record results that year and finished with an 8-2 win-loss balance, earning a reputation as a "second half team" and winning the championship title . At the same time, the team suffered one of its two defeats when the car with the restorative drink for a mysterious reason did not reach the place of the game. In addition, the team, which had 15 players hospitalized in the first two games of the season, did not lose any more for the rest of the year. By mid-season, Cade's drink had acquired a name that later became a trademark: Gatorade. As the author of the name, Jim Free, recalled, it combined the name of the Florida team - “Gators” - and the word “lemonade”.

Founder

In 1965, Dr. Robert Cade invented an isotonic drink by mixing water with the necessary salts and glucose and began testing it on people. The first experiments were carried out on freshmen who, during a training match with the second team of the university, drank Cade's drink, while the other team drank regular liquid. The first tests have already shown good results. The freshman team was head and shoulders above its opponents in terms of endurance and withstood the load even at an air temperature of 39 degrees.

Soon the sports drink takes on the name Gatorade, which combines the name of the Gators football club and “lemonade” (Gators + Lemonade).

How old are lighters for sale?

Sellers want clarity on trading rules Sellers want clarity on trading rules By Piret Lacson August 18, year-old Marieta Presmann, who came to the store with her dad Uku, shows candies with liqueur, which the Selver store does not sell to minors. PHOTO: Laura Ochs Many large retail chains in Estonia believe that it is necessary for the law to include a ban on the sale of matches and lighters to minors and make clarifications regarding the sale of low-alcohol drinks to children. Now the law prohibits the sale to minors, that is, persons under the age of summer, of alcohol, tobacco products, firearms, pyrotechnics and adult magazines; persons under 16 years old - lottery tickets. But the sale of matches and lighters, as well as non-alcoholic cider and beer - drinks containing a low percentage of alcohol due to production features - is left to the discretion of the stores. Based on recommendations from the Consumer Protection Board, retail chains such as Prisma, Rimi, Selver and Maxima, as well as Kaubamaja's Toidumaailm, have decided not to sell matches and lighters to people under 14 years of age.

If you need assistance of a legal nature (you have a complex case and you don’t know how to fill out documents, the MFC unreasonably requires additional papers and certificates or refuses them altogether), then we offer free legal advice:

Energy drinks and their effect on humans: pros and cons

• An increased drink rate (more than 2 cans per day) will gradually lead to hypertension and diabetes due to the large amount of glucose.
• Not in all countries energy drinks can be purchased publicly. In Europe - only in pharmacies. The ban is associated with frequent cases of death caused by overdose of the drink.
• An increased dose of vitamin B destroys nerve cells (weakness and trembling of the limbs, rapid heartbeat).
• Caffeine is addictive and requires higher dosages to get the desired effect; it also has a diuretic effect, removing beneficial salts from the body.
• Carbon dioxide, together with taurine, irritates the lining of the stomach, causing the development of gastritis and ulcers.

Drinks that increase human energy are becoming more and more popular every year. The products are especially popular among young people and students. They allow you to study for exams all night without getting tired, and dance at discos until the morning. Scientists around the world have been trying to figure out what energy drinks are made of and their effect on the body for several years now.

Composition and health problems

Thirst quencher Original Gatorade

Gatorade complete 02

The original Gatorade is based on oral rehydration therapy, a mixture of salt, sugar and water with citrus-based flavoring and added food coloring. The ingredients in individual Gatorade products vary depending on the product in question and the country in which it is sold. Gatorade Thirst Quencher contains water, sucrose (table sugar), dextrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate and flavoring/colors. Some Gatorade flavor variations contain brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer. The production of brominated vegetable oil was discontinued in 2013 and was replaced by sucrose acetate isobutyrate. An 8-ounce (240 ml) serving of Gatorade Perform 02 (thirst quencher) contains 50 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 110 mg of sodium and 30 mg of potassium.

Gatorade is a thirst quencher sweetened with a sucrose-dextrose mixture. For some time in the 1990s and early 2000s, high fructose corn syrup was used to sweeten Gatorade distributed in North America, but as of 2011, the drink was again sweetened with a combination of sucrose and dextrose, which the company describes as "consumer preference." " G2 and G2 Natural, labeled as "low-calorie" options, are partially sweetened with PureVia, an extract of the stevia plant.

One 20-ounce bottle of regular Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar (8 teaspoons). The maximum amount of sugar a person should eat per day is 25 grams for women and 37.5 grams for men. According to the American Heart Association, the maximum recommended amount of sugar for women is about 6 teaspoons and about 9 teaspoons for men. Family Education says the AHA says children should consume even less sugar, no more than about 3 to 4 teaspoons per day.

A 2012 study of nearly 11,000 teenagers found that "teens gain even more weight if they drink a bottle of sports drink every day, with an average of 3.5 pounds for each sports drink consumed per day." The researchers concluded: “We need to educate parents and clinicians about what constitutes a sugary drink... Sports drinks are promoted by professional athletes as a healthy drink, but in reality children should not consume them unless they exercise regularly. for long periods of time or in hot climates."

The USDA states that the average American will consume 160 pounds of sugar per year; almost half a pound of sugar a day. One of the most common ways to consume sugar is through drinks. Most people don't notice how much sugar can be in one drink.

In January 2013, the manufacturer of Gatorade (PepsiCo) agreed to remove brominated vegetable oil from its Gatorade products in the US due to health concerns. The composition of Gatorade in Europe, Japan and India has not changed since BVO was outlawed 23 years ago.

Are sports drinks healthy?

When talking about sports drinks Powerade and Gatorade, it is important to mention that they are produced by Coca-Cola and Pepsi - and the content of these drinks is essentially similar to the composition of regular sugary sodas. The only difference is the addition of “electrolytes” (essentially a minimal amount of salts) and the advertising emphasis on the fact that these products are vital for athletes.

Nutritionists regularly remind us that the above-mentioned sports drinks differ from regular cola only in taste and the absence of gas in them (1). Despite the fact that the carbohydrates contained in Powerade can be useful during training for muscle growth (for example, to close the carbohydrate window), such “sweet waters” cannot be recommended for children or adults who want to lose weight.

Powerade: composition and calorie content

The Powerade sports drink contains plain water, fast carbohydrates (dextrose and fructose), acidity regulators, table salt (sodium chloride, magnesium chloride and others), sweeteners (sucralose), stabilizers, flavors and colorings (2). The total sugar content is about 4g per 100ml - or two teaspoons per glass. Calorie content - 16 kcal per 100 ml.

The key focus of the advertisement - the content of electrolytes in the drink - is intended exclusively for those people who do not realize that ordinary table salt contains many times more electrolytes than brightly colored sweet water. Despite the fact that the benefits of salts for replenishing the mineral balance of the body are clear, they can also be consumed with regular food.

Gatorade in the 21st century

Gatorade series drinks on a store shelf

In the 21st century, four decades after Gatorade was invented, the brand remains the dominant sports drink brand in the United States and one of the leading brands worldwide. This is largely due to the successful positioning of the drinks in this series as having a scientific basis and providing real sports results. Since 2004, under a seven-year contract (backed by $45 million a year in sponsorship), PepsiCo has become the official sports drink supplier to all NFL teams; in the middle of the first decade of the new century, such contracts were also concluded between it and 28 of the 30 NBA teams, and the total amount of advertising contracts during this period exceeded $135 million per year. Although the owners of the brand refused to sign advertising contracts with individual athletes for almost 30 years and only in 1991 signed such a contract with Michael Jordan, who at that time became the only “face” of Gatorade, over time such sports stars began to appear in commercials for drinks of this series, like Mia Hamm (since 1999), Tiger Woods, Dwyane Wade, Yao Ming, Candace Parker, Landon Donovan, Abby Wambach, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams and Usain Bolt.

As a result, the Gatorade franchise maintains near-absolute control of the North American sports drink market. Even though Gatorade products are on average 7-8% more expensive than competitors, they accounted for 73.3% of total isotonic beverage sales in the United States in 2011; for comparison, their main and practically only competitor, Powerade (), which has successfully expanded sales volumes since 2006 due to almost 20 percent discounts, occupied 24.5% of the American market in 2011. Gatorade is also sold in more than 80 countries, controlling 46% of the global sports drink market, according to 2013 research. In 2012, Gatorade was included in Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful brands.

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