First there was Lucozade...then Gatorade (Britvic Gatorade)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Britvic Gatorade
Date:	31/08/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent release of energy, no artificial chemicals and low sugars, calories and fat

Disadvantages: Poor taste, High Price, Powerade is better

Having heard a lot about "Gatorade" I was interested, but hadn't actually managed to see any, the drink is regularly put across as the premier Isotonic drink and is often advertised on ESPN's website. The product has found it's self in many product placements and is regarded as the greatest Isotonic out there, having been around for over 40 years there's more history here than with any other Isotonic (unless you run with Lucozade Sport's history dating back via Lucozade Energy to 1927). Though it has yet to break into the UK on the same scale as it has in the USA, often it has been the rival "Powerade" that has been the dominant Isotonic in the UK (though with some Supermarkets having their own and the aforementioned Lucozade Sport having a large market shape). Thankfully I did finally come across the drink last week in Wilkinson's for 99p a bottle, as I was that interested I got 2 (The Orange and The Raspberry flavours).

Isotonics then for those that are unfamiliar with the term are a type of sports drink that started with Gatorade back in 1965. They are a form of energy drink that concentrates on a scientific approach to rehydration of the body and as a result re-fueling of it, this involves the drink having electrolytes and carbohydrates and fluids. For those familiar with other energy drinks they are one of the three mainstream types with Glucose drinks being the oldest (Lucozade Energy uses high amounts of Glucose syrup to give the drink a lot of energy) and of course the newly popular Caffine drinks. Caffine drinks release energy in a near instant boost from caffine, though they often also have high amounts of vitamins, drinks such as Red Bull, Rockstar, Relentless and Monster are a regular on shop shelves now a days. With out a doubt however the health problems from caffine are highly debated (they've been banned in some mainland European countries) and high sugar is never going to be a great idea in the long term, so Isotonic drinks are seen as the way forward.

So instead of reviewing each one separately I'll just give my general views on them as they are quite similar throughout. The bottles are "sports" friendly, meaning they are easy to hold with sweaty hands and has a sports cap lid, with a an external cap that will give your fingers a work out (I had to bite it off so maybe this isn't so sweaty hand friendly). The bottle also has a small label on it giving out a load of information on the product like any good label should to be honest.

Inside the bottle is a drink with a strong colour however it's all natural as the drink contains no artificial colours or flavours and is therefore 1 up on Powerade which is coloured with chemicals. However colour is nothing important in all honesty the thing that Powerade had was a great taste (especially the cherry flavour) so how does Gatorade compare? Well in both of them it was weak and rather poor tasting, in fact it was more like a cheap cordial than a high quality sports drink. Maybe I was too used to great taste to forgive this but when compared to things like Red bull, Lucozade and Powerade this tasted cheap and poor. Both flavours I had lacked real body to the taste they just seemed to tasteless, there was something there but no where near enough.

Though as the taste definitely wasn't the drinks forte, nor the reason that many people buy it, the customers of Gatorade obviously buy it for it's "rejuvenating" qualities, so this is how it has to be rated. Does it do what it claims? Thankfully I work in a call centre talking to answer phones, a simple test can be done on energy drinks, what I've termed the "yawn test". After drinking a drink do I yawn on the next few answer phones I get, if yes the drink fails, if no the drink passes. As I had both drinks one after the other I'd like to think I gave Gatorade 2 chances to pass the test. Well after drinking it I did feel fresher than I was previously how ever I wasn't hyper or in a rush and the yawns did stop (for an hour or two). So that's a pass as far as I'm concerned.

Nutritional Information (per 100ml)
24 Calories (amazing in all honesty)
0g Protein
6g Carbohydrates (6g Sugars)
0g Fat (0g Saturates)
0g Fibre

Electrolytes per 100ml
0.05g Sodium
12mg Potassium
47mg Chloride
5mg Magnesium

Gatordade to me seemed like the cheaper tasting version of the Isotonics which is definitely not what it was meant to be, the premium price was totally undeserved and sadly the effect didn't last very long. I'm finding myself more in love with Powerade than Gatorade so well done to the Gatorade company for proving how unimpressive you are. Overall a poor option.

Summary: Powerade and Lucozade are better