uhm … a study that has only 8 samplings? How can anyone take the results seriously?
No, from looking at individual studies on paper I can’t see any bias. In fact, I participated in a GSSI funded study as one of 8 subjects back in 1999
Here it is: http://jap.physiology.org/content/88/1/113.full
I can say that it was not biased in any way and it was very well controlled. I had no idea if I was ingesting Gatorade or the sweetened placebo. Now, they made the conclusion that for a 100km TT the 6% gatorade was faster than water placebo. Which was true in my case and true on average. But here is where it gets interesting. For at least 3 of the 8 subjects it was NOT true. No significant difference between the placebo and carb ingestion for 100K +3hr event. So, as a few people on this forum have mentioned, this might be an individual thing.
Another interesting point is, would the GSSI fund a study to say find out if there was an increased risk of vomiting using Gatorade over water? A risky proposition I’d say.
I also know that there were GSSI funded studies that were not published. This happens all the time of course but it’s naturally the ones that don’t support the hypothesis that don’t get published.
My take away point is there is very little financial incentive to even try to find out if water is advantageous in some circumstances. So we just don’t know…