Gatorade
Gatorade® Becomes a Reality
Dr. Matt Hermes

Sports Science

Rehydration

Energy  Replacement

Quiz

Problems

Micro/Macro
and Symbolic
Representation

We will see below a molecular model of a molecule of the sweetener, cyclamate.

This is a 'ball and stick model, one in which different atoms are designated by balls of different colors.

The sticks show the relative distances between the atoms.

Color code:

grey=carbon
white=hydrogen
blue=nitrogen
red=oxygen
yellow=sulfur

Dr. Robert Cade's group at the University of Florida understood their football coaches had tried orange juice or a sugar-containing soft drink to quench the thirst and supply fluids during summer football practice. Orange juice and soft drinks offer taste and tang; most people like to drink them. We might expect juice or soft drinks would function well to provide rehydration during exercise. But two things happened. The athletes felt full, the beverages didn't seem to slake their thirst. And if they drank too much juice or soft drink, many of the exercising athletes felt ill. They suffered the inconvenience of vomiting and diarrhea.

Dr. Cade and his associates began with the salt solution used for intravenous replacement of fluids in the body. Then they added glucose for energy. Glucose is the sugar that provides energy most rapidly but is not sweet.  A few athletes tried this concoction but reported it was undrinkable.

The physicians quickly learned that they would have to combine the energy-producing sugars and the salts in a beverage that was enjoyable to drink. That it would do no good if their composition was suitable to provide energy and replenish salts but was not palatable to the athlete in the course of his or her exercise.   Generally, we are attracted to beverages that are cold, have some sweetness but are tart, with the bite of citrus.  We add a slice of lemon or lime to many beverages to get this effect

So the doctors reformulated their beverage.  They added the artificial sweetener, cyclamate to the formulation. And finally, they chose to incorporate some citric acid -- the chemical responsible for the tartness of citric juices.

The reformulated composition contained a slightly higher concentration of dissolved particles per liter that we find in the body.  The inventors reasoned most athletes would put ice in the drink and dilute it down to the approximate concentration of body fluid.

This formulation worked.  Athletes would drink it.   It provided energy and salt replenishment. The invention became Gatorade®, after the tremendous aid it had provided University of Florida, whose team mascot is the (alli)Gator.

Chemical Concepts
The formulation of Gatorade® depended on detailed consideration of the properties of near-isotonic solutions.

Try to relate these concepts to the relationship of exercise, dehydrationand fatigue that we discuss in the accompanying unit.