Lifesaver (Lucozade Energy)

Member Name: norton501

Product:	Lucozade Energy
Date:	07/08/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: helps you when you really need it

Disadvantages: sugar content

Lucozade is one of those drinks that used to be sold in Hospital Shops and Chemists as a Health tonic. I first learned about Lucozade after seeing it in hospitals on bedside tables. It was the accompaniment to a bunch of grapes that you took as a "gift" whenever you had the misfortune of having to visit someone in Hospital. The first time I tried, it I was ill myself and had been unable to eat for a good few days when my parents (in desperation and to try to get some sugar into me) produced a slightly medicinal looking brownish plastic 1 ltr bottle of Orange Lucozade. It worked a treat and I drank it constantly over the next two months I took to recover from my virus.

Similar to Coca Cola that was also introduced as a Health Tonic, in recent years Lucozade has been repackaged and marketed and sold as a soft drink in its own right. Recent advertising campaigns "Get your Edge Back" promote the energy enhancing benefits of the drink and Lucozade sponsors a lot of sporting events.

My favourite of all the Lucozade varieties is the orange version. I find the Lucozade original an odd see through orangey red colour and I don't like the syrupy over sweet taste. I like the orange version as it is more easily drinkable, less syrupy tasting and although sweet, I find it more refreshing. Lucozade is sold in large 1 ltr bottles, 500ml bottles and 330 ml bottles and cans. The smaller 330 and 500ml bottles are sold in orange, original, apple and tropical flavours. Lucozade also sells isotonic sports drinks and pouches intended for athletes and people training quite hard at the gym.

A bottle of lucozade will sell for around 69p for a 330ml bottle, 99p for a 500ml bottle and around £1.89 for the 1ltr bottles. Supermarkets sell the 330ml and 500ml bottles in multipacks of four and six so there is a lot of choice.

Although the bottles state the drinks are not intended or to be used to replace fluid lost if you have had diarrhoea, the drinks are a great pick me up. Each contains caffeine (0.012%) and glucose-fructose syrup. The sugar content is very high- 17.2g of sugar (the orange variety) per 100mls. So in a 500ml bottle that is 86g of sugar you are drinking. I would therefore only recommend lucozade if you are active, work out a lot or as a recovery aid if you are run down or have been ill recently. Or alternatively, it is a life saver if you are hungover or ill or have been partying far too much....

Summary: Lucozade is still a health tonic- use it when you need it