Is Gatorade Bad For You?
Brian has asked if he can query the "hive mind". His question: Is Gatorade Bad For You?
It's promoted as a great way for athletes to hydrate, but is this true?
I had a teacher in high school tell me that gatorade that comes from a bottle is actually too concentrated to properly re-hydrate a person and requires dilution.I love the drink for after a work out, so I was wondering if this is true or not.
My take on sports hydration drinks
Sports drinks such as Gatorade are good for getting you re-hydrated and energized if you are doing intense or long-duration exercise - especially if in a hot environment.
There are three words to take note of here: intense, duration and hot.
If you are doing light exercise or doing nothing at all (couch-warming) - then Gatorade is a big waste of money. In this situation (and arguably in any typical workout) water is perfectly adequate.
Gatorade provides sodium and potassium. If you are sweating heavily you will lose these two minerals in your sweat.
However, I believe you would need to be doing a serious amount of exercise (hours) before loss of these minerals will become a problem (this is a different story if diarrhea and vomiting are involved).
If you drink a whole bottle of Gatorade you are consuming about 56 grams of sugar -- this is not required in a normal sedentary lifestyle -- and in this situation it could be considered "bad" for you.
What's in Gatorade?
- Water: Good
- Sucrose syrup and glucose-fructose syrup: Just Sugar
- Citric acid: Natural, provides tartness,
- Natural and artificial flavors: ?
- Salt, sodium citrate: Provides sodium, electrolytes
- Monopotassium phosphate: Provides potassium, another electrolyte
- Ester gum: An emulsifier, made from wood
- Sucrose acetate isobutyrate: an emulsifier and for used for orange flavor, artificial
- Yellow 5: Coloring that causes problems in asthmatics, being phased out in some countries.
Gatorade Nutrition Facts
serving size: 8 fl oz; calories 50; total fat 0g; sodium 110mg; potassium 30mg; total carbs 14g; sugars 14g
Let's open this up for discussion. Do you think Is Gatorade is bad for you?
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145 Comments
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Created / Updated: January 12, 2012
I dont think that gatorade is all that neccessary for post workout hydration, but it makes me feel a lot better when i have a cold or the flu. its not the best nutrition but its easy to get down and sweet. I definately think the minerals help when you're sick. but i think its a waste for workouts and is mostly just calories you could spend elsewhere. but if its something you want to budget for, i say go for it.
ReplyI am not a physician or anything related to that but I have experience. Back in the 80's I worked underground in a copper mine in AZ (3000 ft.) approx at its' deepest. When the guys used Gatorade (constantly sweating, lots of humidity and heat) they later became bloated due to being very thirsty after comsuming Gatorade and consuming more water. Later they had to urinate quite a bit because stomach not absorbing needed water. Later some guys would vomit or just pass out. We were told to watch out for our type of fluid intake. The Tech at the dispensary on the surface would recomend we take just bottled water, no soda or Gatorade underground. He did recomend Gatorade if you were severly dehydrated or were experiencing flu, diharreah, high fever while at home but never for normal hydration underground.I have noticed that friends of mine that go for walks and exercise lightly, always get that bloated look when they drink Gatorade or just drink that along with their food for lunch.
ReplyI used to have hyponatremia (low sodium) and I had to drink Gatorade or Pedialyte every day. I don't think it's bad if you need the electolytes, but I agree that after a typical workout, water is enough. With all that sugar you could be canceling out the benefits of exercising (at least the calorie burning).
Replyi agree with you about the whole cancelling out thing but might it give you MORE energy to do MORE ofa workout?
ReplyI had hyponetremia as well and was in a coma for two
Replydays. It's not anything to take lightly, I actually have PTSD now from the trauma. If you're doing more than an hour of exercise, then go for the gatorade.
You are correct, Jim! I however know Dr. Cade and the history of Gatorade. He's a nephrologist and used his knowledge of the kidney,etc to create the original formula of the original sports drink! I'm biased though, cause I'm a Gator Doc, and we do currently hold the NCAA men's championships in both Football and Basketball in the US! The first time this has every been done by a school in the same year, and you can be sure our athletes drink Gatorade. :-)
ReplyI know Dr. Cade was 80, but very ironic that he died of kidney failure?
ReplyWhat is better to drink while doing a work out like treadmil? My buddy drinks diet grean tea. I dont think that is good for him to do.
ReplyI drink propel fitness water? Is that any better. I play atleast 1 hour of hard racquet ball.
green tea is naturally zero-calorie... maybe its diet iced green tea... yeah thats not good... sugar is good to have while exercising to keep the muscles energized.. but diet green tea probably doesn't have sugar in it... some other kind of sweetener that doesnt energize muscles at all... propel is fine... but i recommend water or just orange juice with some salt... or if u have to buy something buy clif bar or gu.. those have worked best for me
ReplyI'm old school! I drink H20 as in water, just water, can we say water??
ReplyPS Don't tell Bob(as in Cade)!
Gatorade and other sports drinks are great for during and post ANAEROBIC exercise. I don't think its a good choice for AEROBIC exercise.
When I am doing my treadmill aerobic walking for weight loss I drink water or propel. When I'm at fight training working at 80%+ of my V02 Max I make sure I have Gatorade while training or I will get sick.
ReplyI run a lot and unless I'm running a REALLY long distance in the heat, water is generally sufficient to hydrate me. I get plenty of sodium in my diet, so I don't think I've ever lost enough sodium that it was an issue. For the average athlete, water is usually pretty sufficient to rehydrate you.
ReplyI had a coach in high school that said you were better off putting a pinch of salt in your water bottle rather than drinking all that sugar.
Replythat was a stupid idea. I think putting salt in your water is very unhealthy....i know it is!!! the only tijme you should pit salt in your water is when your goggleing and you have a missing tooth. Like its bleedind or something. Want more info
ReplyBurtonparissa@yahoo.com
It's not a bad idea to add salt to water for rehydration, this is basicly what the electolytes in gatorade are! I small amount of salt and a small amount of glucose, as far as I know, are the best things to add to water to aid gastric clearing and the maximum absorbtion of water into the body. Amounts should really be calculated by body weight but you are only talking about a little over a gram of each in 1 litre of water.
Replytry learning basic spelling and grammar before calling other people or their ideas "STUPID".... after reading what you wrote I NEED A GATORADE... READ a book or better yet, Strunk and White.... LMAO... I'm quite sure you'll have to look that up... so sad
ReplyPeople are also stupid when they don't understand a typo. Smart people will ignore things like that. Maybe you should read more.
ReplyI consider myself to be smart; however, I DO NOT IGNORE TYPOS, Lisa. Not only are they ANNOYING, but it's pretty funny when the people who critique others' comments fail to critique what they type.
Back to the topic: I kind of like the idea of adding a touch of salt to your water. I will have to research it first, because I have never heard of doing that before. But thanks for the tip, Dixie!
ReplyMaybe your just anal and feel the need to scrutinize people because you have low self-esteem.
ReplyI find it unnecessary, and annoying to see someone pick out an obvious typo or mistake someone has made. I have to agree that the only purpose this serves is to bolster your own self esteem.
ReplyUm....what do you think is in gatorade. Salts.
Replywow we need some more intelligent people responding.
Keep in mind that Gatorade is a processed product. You get a lot of artificial stuff. If you are in need of additional sugars and minerals I suggest tibetan salt and fruit like apple, blooberries, strawberries. Bananas only in case if you need more energu very soon. Avoid sports nutrition as it often contains additives. It is still much better than most supermarket food, especially since you consumre sports nutrition much less than regular food, but still the less additivies and artificial products you take the better. As the Diet-Blog.com says - use sports nutrition only if you are doing a lot of exercise.
I train for Ironman triathlon and therefore many times I depend on products like Gatorade (although Gatorade is one of the worst there is) but even with the 25+ hours a week of training in the heat I try to avoid these things as much as possible.
There are attempts on producing organic sports nutrition but its hard to find.
If you do want or have to consume isotonic and energy drinks than I suggest you check out some in poweder form: EAS has a nice one with glutamine and taurine added, GU is good and PowerBar as well. All much better than Gatorade.
ReplyI like a water with a higher mineral content when I'm working out in very hot weather, but sugar gives me reactional hypoglycemia and makes me sleepy. If I had Gatorade, I wouldn't feel energized, I'd feel the need to take a nap.
Replygatorade tastes like sweat in a bottle, its disgusting. You are gross
ReplyGatorade is good when im palying in a basketbal game but when your done you should brush your teeth after because the sugar can rotte your teeth.You also shuldn't drink it all the time.
Replywater is very good for you because your body need 12 classes aday and your body is 80% water think adout that.
ReplyCalling someone gross for enjoying a drink you dislike is stupid. You're rude.
Replyur right dude.....and my friends says that it is good for u but only when u sweat alot....im 13 and i know that u should call people gross like that
ReplyAre you retarded?? It's sweet not sweaty. And
Replyif u don't like it then why do u look it up. Stupid biased people. Anyways I always take Gatorade and water right after my martial arts classes which is a pretty intense class of an hour thirty minutes of sparring jumprope strechting those legs with some high kicks, and wrestling while getting thrown down by your partner
Wait, that's not what it is? I thought the theory was that you drink sweat so you can replace the sweat you lost. Duh! And they even dye and flavor it so they can give some variety to it.
Replyno its not!!:)
ReplyWe drink WATER and lots of it while we exercise and throughout the day. On really long bike rides in the summer (where we are sweating a lot), my husband throws together iced green tea with honey for a mid-ride break. Mostly that's just for a little caffeine boost tho. In my opinion, sports drinks are no better than soda or juices as they are mostly simple carbs. Your body needs water...so give it water.
ReplySorry Ashley, if you read my earlier comment you would know it's actually PEE in a bottle. Enjoy!
ReplyFor normal workouts I drink water... I don't need the extra calories to fuel 20 minutes of weightlifting or a light intensity dance class. But any time I'm sick, gatorade is awesome. Often I can keep down ice cubes made of gatorade better than I can keep down water.
ReplyI run 2 marathons a year. During my training I use very diluted Cytomax and rehydrate with it during my marathons.
It's advisable when doing long runs (anything over 8 miles or so) to use only one of these types of drinks. Why? Because you might get diarrhea.
It's not the best thing in the world for your body (either is running a marathon but it's a better addiction than smoking... I hope) so I'd rather see a non athlete drink some water and eat some fruit.
Endurance events break rules because our bodies are pushed to such extreme limits.
So is Gatorade bad for you?
I think it could be eliminated from most diets... anything that might give you the runs can't be that good (and I include Cytomax and other like drinks in this comment).
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