From wine with vinegar to Gatorade, the strange history of the evolution of sports drinks
Long before branded hydration powders, athletes drank wine with vinegar, chewed dates, and sipped on saltpeter. Here’s how sports drinks went from ash to science
It would be almost unthinkable nowadays to consume salted and diluted wine before participating in an athletic event. And yet, a mixture of wine and vinegar was one of the first attempts to create a sports drink. It was a potion evolved from a more rudimentary mixture of water, herbs and honey. An even older form of performance drink was apparently a suggestion from Galen, an ancient Greek physician in the 2nd-3rd century CE. His formula was to eat dates and a plant-ash solution.
“Potassium nitrate or saltpeter, known as niter, became a key ingredient. When mixed with date palm resin, it helped replace the potassium, magnesium and calcium lost in sweat and urine during intense gymnastic training," states a History Oasis article titled The Unknown History Of Sports Drinks.
It all sounds unbelievable nowadays, with electrolytes and IV drips and all sorts of minerals like potassium, magnesium and zinc available either as pills, or soluble powder form and even gels. Some might say things have gone a little too OTT nowadays, with so many choices that it’s tough to know what is good for you and what is just a glorified version of salts and sugars in water.
“The number of electrolyte powders on the market today is quite overwhelming, even for me as a registered dietitian. It can be difficult for the average consumer to understand what’s actually going to be beneficial and what’s just advertising hype," Rachel Gargano tells Lounge. Gargano is the chief dietician at health and wellness brand Live It Up and is a specialist in sports dietetics.
Also Read Why the barbell hip thrust is the perfect exercise for stronger core and glutes
While the main elements to look for in an electrolyte drink is sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, Gargano warns that many of these drinks contain much more sodium than we actually need. “Some have up to 1,000mg sodium or more. Most of us get enough sodium from our diet, and chronically consuming too much may lead to negative health effects. So if an every-day consumer would really enjoy an electrolyte powder—many of them taste delicious and may help someone drink more water—I highly recommend finding one that has minimal sodium and less than 100% of the daily value of the other electrolytes."
The turning point in sports drinks came with the emergence of two famous brands—Lucozade and Gatorade. The latter would go on to completely change the game in this sector by the 1960s.
Lucuzade “was devised by a chemist called William Owen as a way of delivering quick, digestible energy and fluids to anyone made sick by a host of common illnesses. Although the idea was at heart very simple—basically it was citrus flavoured sugar water—Lucozade was a big hit…by the 1950s Lucozade had cemented itself as one of Britain’s best known brands," states an article on Precisionhydration.com titled, A Short History Of Sports Drink (And The Science Behind It).
Also Read 5 lateral exercises for a strong core and enhanced stability
Robert Cade’s emergence at the University of Florida was another turning point. It’s a brilliant story of innovation where a chance question which led to a performance spike after half-time for the university’s [American] football team.
Cade, who studied exercise biochemistry, led the research which showed that athletes were losing a lot more sodium and potassium in their sweat compared to general sweating. In a 2003 article on the University of Florida website, Cade recalled how the coach of the football team asked him why football players don’t “wee-wee" after a game. “That question changed our lives," Cade said.
A drink and a powder form were created in 1965 to battle this lack of hydration, and Gatorade was born.
No one knows if anyone asked Galen the same question around 2,000 years ago, but it’s easy to imagine the same curiosity. What they didn’t know (and Cade found out) was the numbers. “Cade and colleagues determined that a football player could lose 16 to 18 pounds during the three hours it takes to play a game. They further found that 90 to 95 percent of the weight loss was due to water loss, and plasma volume was decreased about 7 percent and blood volume about 5 percent. In addition, the average loss of sodium and chloride was 25 percent of the total body stores of these electrolytes," says the university article, titled Dr. Robert Cade…saga of the world’s best-selling sports drink and the creative physician scientist behind it.
Also Read How to turn your home into a gym with just one kettlebell and 5 great workouts
From salted wine and plant-ash to IV drips, replenishment has come a long way. But all is not lost if you don’t have a sports drink handy. “Foods rich in potassium include many plants, including bell peppers, beans and legumes, bananas, avocado, potatoes, and leafy greens. Plants are nature’s multivitamin, without enough we may be lacking important micronutrients, antioxidants, and fiber," Gargano says.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator, writer and podcaster.
Also Read How to master the drop jump and work with gravity to increase your strength and speed
topics
