Add a few ingredients and water becomes Gatorade, but its hydrating effects may not be the same afterward.
For the past five years, Robert Robergs, a UNM exercise physiologist, has been researching Gatorade's claims that the sports drink is superior to water in its ability to rehydrate the body.
"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.
"When our (research) subjects drank Gatorade and drank water, they had to run to the bathroom just as fast," he said.
Research shows that Gatorade provides athletes with carbohydrates needed during exercise. But, unless a person is going to exercise for at least 90 minutes, consuming the carbohydrates is self-defeating, Robergs said, adding there is no need for people to ingest a drink that is basically sugar water.
"You can make the same drink out of table sugar and Kool-Aid," Robergs said. "Sprinkle in some table salt and it is effectively the same, but at one-fifth the cost."
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