Sports drinks industry part and parcel of the Games

LONDON – At Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 Summer Olympic Gamesin London, athletes from around the world will be checking and re-checking their stocks of vitamins, protein bars, and sports drinks. Sports drinks or electrolyte replacement fluids are a major component of an athlete’s training repertoire to provide hydration and increase athletic performance.

Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance can be an athlete’s worst nightmare. Popular media suggests that hours of training will be for naught without fluid replacement supplements – but will it? Since Dr. Robert Cade invented Gatorade for the Florida Gators football team in 1965, there have been numerous brands of electrolyte enhanced beverages, powders, and pills to hit the market, but the benefits have been brought into question recently.

The sports drink industry is so lucrative that from mid-May 2010 to mid-May 2011, sales were up to $3.9 billion in the US alone. Brands such as Coca-Cola’s Powerade and PepsiCo’s Gatorade are two of the leading brands, but it’s worth a mention that the pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Abbott produce electrolyte replacement drinks such as Lucozade (UK) and Pedialyte, respectively. GSK’s Lucozade was touted as one of the world’s leading sports and energy brands in 2009 with global sales around $627m. In 2010, Gatorade grossed $827m while Powerade products brought in $685m in sales.

GSK and Abbott have been in the consumer sports nutrition market for decades, but this remains a market dominated by beverage behemoths, like Coca-Cola. Due to the intrinsic nature of growth in this market, pharmaceutical companies may view the sports nutrition market as a natural extension of their product diversification. It is also likely that pharma companies can use their brand recognition in the health market to leverage themselves above the competition.

One issue that remains a concern is the amount of scientific data and clinical trials that are performed to validate the efficacy and safety profile of these products. Interestingly, when scientific evidence about the sports drinks’ enhancing benefits have been brought into question, GSK supplies their clinical data, but Gatorade and Powerade do not comply with the requests for reasons unknown.

Water remains an athlete’s best solution to hydration, but it has its limits. It cannot aid in electrolyte/mineral replacement, and blood glucose and energy replacement. Gatorade, for example, contains sodium, potassium, and small amounts of carbohydrates for more efficient stomach absorption. Other enhanced replacement drinks contain the essential electrolytes plus glucose, amino acids, such as L-glutamine and L-arginine, vitamins, and carbohydrates. Studies have shown that athletes’ hydration preferences are driven by taste, often leading to an increase in consumption of better-tasting beverages. ThereNike Hypervenom Phantom III