Depending on your busy schedule, a little bit of extra energy never hurts. But if it added up to costly medical bills later on, would you still savor the taste of a quick, cheap, and highly addictive energy drinks? Considered a healthy drink option for aspiring athletes, runners, and active individuals worldwide, the owners of Gatorade, PepsiCo, are indirectly asking the general public if toxic colorings, chemical additives, and copious amounts of sugar are sensible health solutions to an already ailing society.
So what else is inside a serving of Gatorade? For starters, a single serving of Gatorade contains 14 grams of sugar. This isn’t the simple table sugar your familiar with, but a potent mix of heavily refined sucrose syrups, think liquefied empty calories, and glucose-fructose. According to modern statistics, Americans already eat 2.5 pounds of sugar weekly. Diseases, including conditions of the heart, joints, bone, brain, blood, liver, and connective tissue, have all been implicated in the use of various sweeteners.
What about all those important electrolytes? Yes, Gatorade does have them, but in unreliable amounts. Gatorade, which actually contains more than twice as much sodium than potassium, is an unlikely candidate for any beneficial electrolyte restoration. When the body experiences short periods of exhaustion and fatigue, the last thing it needs is more sodium. Add loads of colorings to the growing list of ingredients, and you have mystery cocktail of unknowing health consequences. In fact, yellow number 5, used in many tropical flavors, have been implicated in asthmatic health issues.
Like other sugary drinks on the market today, Gatorade uses bromine brominated vegetable oil (BVO). BVO, used to increase fluidity and uniformity, is also used to create lead dissolving additives for gasoline, photographic paper films, fire-extinguishing materials, and agricultural fumigants. And if that wasn’t a call for alarm, more than 100 countries have outlawed the substance altogether.
Whether you play sports or just love to stay active, it’s important to eliminate all dietary toxins including so-called sugary sports drinks from your diet.
