My gator dances every day. (Britvic Gatorade)

Member Name: Cutecandy

Product:	Britvic Gatorade
Date:	21/10/09 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty refuelling power after exercise

Disadvantages: Have to do the exercise!

**Drink or Medicine?**

Many studies have shown the need to keep our bodies watered. Apparently studies have also shown that we are more likely to successfully hydrate ourselves using flavoured beverages - more power to the manufacturers of soft drinks!

I would have expected my doctor to adhere to the "water is terrific for you" principle, and I'm sure he does really, so I was surprised when recently he advised my daughter to buy some Gatorade. My daughter is (like her poor ole Mum) a migraine sufferer. She has several triggers, one being over tiredness, and this can be infuriating in every day life. Just as you're getting stuck in ... vomiting and severe headache stop you in your tracks. It was whilst trying to isolate specific triggers that my doc suggested we keep an exercise diary (as well as all the others!) and lo and behold - a trigger! Over exertion links with migraine. Poor girl - she loves her dance and could not countenance giving up or even cutting back (imagine having to tell your offspring to do less activity!). At this point my doc suggested Gatorade and oh what a product it has been.

**What is it?**
Gatorade dates as far back as 1965 when it was invented by scientists to help footballers give maximum performance. Gatorade still run a scientific sports research centre today.

*Product
This review looks at the orange flavour gatorade although there are several other drinks and powders available. The drink comes in a tall sports type transparent plastic bottle with an ergonomic hand grip presumably designed for drinking on the run.

*Inside?

The gatorade website boldy proclaims: If you don't need it it's not in it...... we'll have to take their word for it!

The bottle contains:
An non-carbonated orange drink consisting of:

Water, Sucrose, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Electrolytes (Sodium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Potassium Phosphate, Magnesium Carbonate), Natural Flavourings, Carrot and Blueberry Juice Concentrates, Modified Starch, Emulsifier (Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate).

The important things here are the

ELECTROLYTES: which work to replace the body's mineral loss and prevent cramp and fatigue.

FLAVOUR: as I said, you're more likely to adequately hydrate with an enjoyable flavoured drink and usually drink in greater quantity than plain water even when thirsty.

CARBOHYDRATE: I thought these were in bread etc but I guess the clue is in th hydrate bit. Apparently the 6% carb in this solution is ideal for promoting fluid absorbtion.....no more; no less.

Nutritional Data:

Typical values per 100ml
Energy 103kj
Energy 25kcal
Protein 0g
Carbohydrate 6g
of which sugars 6g
Fat 0g
of which saturates 0g
Fibre 0g
Sodium 0.05g

**Price**
Of course it depends where you're buying from. It's not always an easy product to find so if they have it in Tesco in 4 packs I usually grab a few packs at about £3.30 each.
Buy it at the newsagent or the corner offie and you're likely to be looking at £1.30 for a single.
It's much more readily available in the US but is spreading in the UK too.

**Opinion**

It has certainly done the thing for my daughter. We had in our lay-person wisdom used other sports drinks before but they are predominantly strong flavoured and fizzy and can accentuate her delicate stomach especially following exercise. Although very orange, this stuff has no artificial additives and doesn't taste over strong. It has a nice balance of flavour without being over sweet. It's certainly done the trick as far as the last month is concerned and even if not all of the promises are as good as they seem, the Rehydrate; replenish; refuel motto seems to work!

Thumbs up for the next dance show!

Oh, and if you take a look at the site:
http://www.gatorade.co.uk/
you'll see lots of very sporty looking bods and happily con yourself into believing that the drink you're slugging will make you look like that! :)

Summary: Official sports drink to London triathlon and Premier Rugby... says something.