Gatorade Endurance Formula - Simple vs Complex Sugars, Gatorade's response

Triathlon Forum
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Following up on a recent discussion here regarding Gatorade’s products, the question of simple vs. complex sugars, and their relative suitability for an Ironman race, I emailed and asked the question of Gatorade directly. Following is their response. Any nutritionists care to comment? Does this adequately address the relevant issues, and does it make sense?

RE: Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula Lemon Lime Instant Beverage Mix

Thank you for visiting the Gatorade website and thinking of us as a source of information.

Gatorade Endurance Formula was developed by scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute based on extensive research with endurance athletes to determine the optimal balance between putting back what athletes lose when they sweat and taste acceptability. A key criterion for a product like this is that it needs to taste good during training or competition, so that an athlete will drink enough to stay properly hydrated. It takes significant know-how and experience to develop great-tasting drinks within the confines of a scientifically appropriate rehydration formula. The Gatorade Sports Science Institute conducts ongoing research with athletes to continue to understand their physiological needs and their taste acceptance during exercise.

Here is the ingredient list you requested: Sucrose, Anhydrous Dextrose (A Flow Agent), Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Monopotassium Phosphate, Salt, Natural lemon And Lime Flavors With Other Natural Flavors, Calcium lactate, Calcium Silicate (A Flow Agent), Magnesium Oxide, Yellow 5

Gatorade has been backed by scientific research since 1965. Gatorade is a 6% carbohydrate solution. Sucrose is a carbohydrate–a simple sugar–that provides the body with energy. During intense exercise, the body prefers to use glucose as energy for muscle contractions. Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose (fructose converts to glucose). And research has shown that, during exercise, sucrose and glucose promote the same positive changes in speeding fluid absorption and improving exercise performance.

Maltodextrins have no specific advantage for a sports drink but are less sweet than sucrose, fructose, and glucose. Some sports drinks such as PowerAde use maltodextrin to keep the beverage from becoming too sweet. Maltodextrins provide no added performance benefit alone or in combination with other sugars. There is no added physiological benefit from including maltodextrin in Gatorade, so that is the primary reason we don’t use it. From a product standpoint, it does not provide the desired level of sweetness we look for and is more difficult to dissolve than the sugars in Gatorade.

Gatorade possesses a combination of characteristics that increases fluid intake. The optimum flavor intensity, sweetness level, saltiness, and tartness all help to insure the highest level of overall acceptance. Research has shown that as product palatability increases, so does fluid intake. Maltodextrins do not provide an advantage in this regard and are not a superior energy source to the carbohydrates in Gatorade.

For more information on maltodextrins and other sugars, please visit the Gatorade Sports Science Institute web site at www.gssiweb.com <http://www.gssiweb.com.

We appreciate your interest in our products.

GSSI

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I would like to see what the response would be of the benefits to ones athletic performance of the addition of “Yellow #5”.

Adding artificial colors to a “sports drink” or anything else for that matter is beyond me. It’s frustrating to me to see stuff like this added to something that is supposed to be a performance product.

DavidH

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Maltodextrins have no specific advantage for a sports drink
Maltodextrins provide no added performance benefit alone

Interesting that Gatorade thought it needed to repeat themselves about Maltodextrin. Perpetuum, H.E.E.D, GU20, Cytomax and Powerbar Endurance mix all have Maltodextrin as the first ingredient. All of them also contain some mix of sucrose, fructose and/or other simpler sugars but they’re further down the ingredient list so presumably they’re a lower proportion of the total carbs. Accelerade contains maltodextin but it’s listed after sucrose & whey protein.

All of those products are powders, and all of them are more expensive per drinkable ounce than pre-mixed or powdered Gatorade. They are designed for the small target market of “edurance athletes” who are willing to pay more for a premium product. I think the scientists at Gatorade weighed a number of factors in making their ingredient decisions, and I suspect that shelf-life, cost per ounce, manufacturing process, and taste were major factors.

I’m not a nutritionist, but I do think they made the right choice for their market. 95% of people who consume gatorade are exercising at energy levels and durations where simple carbs will work perfectly well, and the benefits of long-chain carbs would be marginal at best, and might even be a detriment. Those tens of millions of customers want:
A product that will match their level of exercise/activity,
Which they can buy from thousands of local outlets,
At a low price,
That they can consume immediately.

Gatorade is well formulated to meet those requirements. If I run out of mix on a long bike ride, I’ll happily stop into a 7-11 and grab a bottle or two of Gatorade, and be very glad that you can get Gatorade so widely. No way the gas station on a rural road in the middle of nowhere is going to stock the premium products.

Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn

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Lee - Just to clarify, I think this discussion and Gatorade’s response is specifically about Gatorade Endurance formula, which is quite different and much more expensive (I’m told) than the regular 7-11 variety Gatorade. There was a long thread about this a day or two ago.

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Can someone explain something to me?

I was under the impression that Maltodextrin was a superior sugar for endurance athletes due to it’s “slower release” and lower insulin response.

Unless I’m mistaken isn’t Glycemic index a direct measurement of this reaction? So wouldn’t a lower GI be a better fuel for an endurance athlete?

Then why does Maltodextrin have a significantly higher GI than Sucrose or fructose?

~Matt

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Dire Wolf,

I did see that. The endurance formula is a ready to drink forumulation and is available very widely. The bagel place accross the street from JackRabbit has it, for example. My guess is that “Endurance” in Gatorade’s definition is an afternoon basketball, soccer, or football game in the local park, or a light recreational bike ride on the local bike path, or maybe a 1-hour run. It’s probably not a 4 hour bike followed by a 1 hour run.

“When I awoke, the dire wolf, six hundred pounds of sin,
Was grinning at my window, all I said was come on in.”

Lee

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Lee - apologies. I think the seriousness of the new Gatorade is exactly what people are trying to figure out. I have no knowledge to add, but am interested in the answer.

“I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades,
but the cards were all the same.
Don’t murder me”

8

Gatorade has a definition of what they mean by ‘endurance’ on their website. Their examples include multihour or marathon runs. The difference between the two types is regular gatorade has 110mg of sodium, 30 mg of potassium. Endurance has 200mg of sodium, 90mg of potassium, and calcium and magnesium. They both have 14g of sugar.

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are we a little anal or what?

the stuff tastes pretty good, gives you some eletrolytes and sugars and you can buy it at the grocery store. that’s pretty cool.

so what if it has yellow dye. if they threw some vitamins and amino acids in it that don’t do anything for you would everybody be happier? I think everyone would be happier if it didn’t sell at grocery stores-only by mail order or something. that would make it more exotic.

it’s a great move forward and it tastes good. did I happen to mention that is tastes good?

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“did I happen to mention that is tastes good?”

Interesting how many of these specialty drinks miss the mark on that one. Seems like Coke or Pepsi is palatable to almost everyone on teh planet, but it also seems like 1 out of 2 sports drink I try is just short of revolting. To make things worse I’ve only found a couple that are “really good”.

If Gatoraide does nothing right, it does taste good…IMO.

~Matt

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the two worst are accelerade and cytomax. barf. all IMHO of course.

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I’ve actually used Cytomax Peach and Grape. Peach was just to much and the grape wasn’t terrible just was one of those things that went stale and never really tasted “Good”. Accelerade…yep pretty vile. I also Tried Heed Lime flavor last night. It was a family consesus, not good, ending up with my daughter actually spitting it out.

~Matt

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if it doesn’t pass the kid test, that’s a really bad sign.

I prefer high quality h20 (said like the waterboy) on the bike and running. can’t handle chasing a gel with sweet drink. sport drink is just an after workout chaser for me.