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Gatorade is a non-carbonated sports drink marketed by Quaker Oats Company, a division of PepsiCo. Originally made for athletes, it is now often consumed by non-athletes as a snack beverage. The drink is intended to rehydrate and to replenish the carbohydrates (using sucrose and glucose) and electrolytes (sodium and potassium salts) depleted during aerobic exercise, especially in warmer climates.

Contents

History

Gatorade was created by Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Alex DeQuesada, Dr. Dana Shires and Dr. Jim Free at the University of Florida in 1965 for the school's football team and given the university's athletic nickname, the Gators. Dr. Cade entered into an agreement with the Indianapolis-based fruit and vegetable canning company Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. (S-VC) to produce the product, which he had already patented. In 1973 Cade and S-VC settled a lawsuit with the University of Florida, which had claimed the University owned the rights for the drink's formula. Since that time the University has received more than $80 million in Gatorade royalties.

Only a year after its commercial introduction Gatorade was reformulated, as its initial recipe contained the sweetener cyclamate, which was banned by the FDA. [link]

The Gators football team used Gatorade officially in 1967 and went on to win their first Orange Bowl title. They beat Georgia Tech, whose coach, when asked why they lost, replied: "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference." Gatorade was used officially in 1969 by the Kansas City Chiefs, who attributed their Super Bowl title of that year to the University of Florida sports drink.

Marketed with dramatically perspiring athletic imagery, the drink became popular with non-athletes, and dietetic and low-sodium versions were added to the Gatorade product lineup.

The Quaker Oats Company bought S-VC in 1983, after a bidding war with rival Pillsbury. Quaker licensed manufacturing of Gatorade in some worldwide markets to PepsiCo, but sued Pepsi in Australia in 1998, alleging Pepsi had misappropriated Gatorade trade secrets to manufacture its own sports drink, All Sport. Quaker won the Australian case [link]. In August 2001, Pepsico acquired Quaker (after another bidding war, this time with arch rival Coca-Cola). Both bidders valued Quaker largely because of the Gatorade brand.

In 1998, Gatorade switched from using glass bottles to using plastic bottles in the United States. Glass bottles are still used in some markets.

Along with Johnson & Johnson, Gatorade is one of the founding sponsors of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. It is also the official sports drink of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, Women's National Basketball Association, NBA Development League, and many other pro and college organizations, providing supplies of the drinks to the teams in all flavors available.

GatorGum

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Gatorade sold a brand of chewing gum called GatorGum. The product was manufactured by Fleer Corporation, was available in each of Gatorade's two original flavors (lemon-lime and orange) and was rather sour-tasting by normal chewing gum standards.

GatorGum's foil packaging advertised that the product "Helps Quench Thirst". This claim was highly suspect as (like all chewing gums) the product would not actually rehydrate the body.

The Gatorade dunk

The Gatorade dunk is a sports tradition involving dumping a cooler full of liquid (most commonly Gatorade) over a coach's (or occasionally star player or owner's) head following a meaningful win. The tradition began with the New York Giants football team in the mid-80s. According to several sources, including Jim Burt of the Giants, it began on October 28th, 1984, when Burt performed the action on Bill Parcells after being angered over the coach's treatment of him that week. The Gatorade website claims the tradition began during the 1985-87 Giant season, although this is more likely the time the phenomenon gained national attention. Parcells would be doused after seventeen victories that season, culminating with Super Bowl XXI.

In 2005, ESPN sports business writer Darren Rovell, published a book entitled First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat into a Cultural Phenomenon, a history of Gatorade, in which he, among other things, documented the story behind the Gatorade dunking phenomenon.

In this context, the word Gatorade is often used as a verb, as in to "Gatorade the coach".

Composition

The original Gatorade contained water, sucrose (table sugar) and glucose-fructose syrups, citric acid, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, and flavoring/coloring ingredients. It supplies 127 mg/l of potassium and 464 mg/l of sodium, and 59 g/l of carbohydrates (in the form of sugars). The current (2006) Gatorade panel claims that Gatorade rehydrates athletes better than water because the flavor makes it easier to drink. The Gatorade also contains carbohydrates that are needed that water does not have along with needed electrolytes, potassium and sodium.

Gatorade also markets an Energy Formula and an Endurance Formula. The Energy Formula was introduced in 2000 and contains more monosaccharides and carbohydrates for quick available energy needed during athletic competition. As a result, this formula is sweeter than regular Gatorade. It comes in 12-fluid ounce plastic bottles in the U.S. The Endurance Formula, introduced in 2004, contains more of the electrolytes than the typical Gatorade formula. The additional electrolytes replenish what the body sweats out during extended periods of physical exertion, especially in hot weather. Because of this, the Endurance Formula tastes saltier than original Gatorade. In 2006, Gatorade introduced its Rain flavor line, which features a lighter, watery taste similar to its Propel line.

In 2000, Gatorade introduced Propel Fitness Water. Propel Fitness Water is sweetened with sucrose syrup, sucralose and acesulfame potassium, so as to have less food energy per serving than Gatorade. It was marketed for those who are more concerned with simply rehydrating than with gaining energy. Propel has the same electrolytes as Gatorade, along with some vitamins. Propel Fitness Water with Calcium was introduced in 2006.

Gatorade revealed the Gatorade line Energy Bar in 1999. This energy bar was Gatorade's first foray into solid foods, and was introduced to compete with PowerBar and Clif Bar. Gatorade Energy Bars contain a large proportion of protein in addition to its carbohydrates. The bar is mainly made up of puffed grains and rice syrup, common components of energy bars.

Gatorade Sports Science Institute

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) is a facility for researching athletics, hydration, and the "science of sweat". The headquarters are in Barrington, Illinois and were established in 1988. The facility has laboratories especially for studying nutrition, exercise physiology, and biochemistry.

Competition

Gatorade's main competition is POWERade, made by the Coca-Cola Company. Kool-Aid also holds a fair share of potential sports drink consumers. All Sport is a competitor marketed by Monarch Beverage Company, of Atlanta, Georgia. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001, when Gatorade's maker, the Quaker Oats Company was acquired by PepsiCo. All Sport was sold off to the Monarch Beverage Company soon after.

Outside the United States the Lucozade energy drink (manufactured since 1927 by the pharmaceutical company now known as GlaxoSmithKline) competes with Gatorade and Powerade. Lucozade's formulation differs in that it uses primarily glucose and contains caffeine. The more direct competitor to Gatorade and Powerade is Lucozade Sport.

Flavors in the

  • Lemon Lime (yellow)

  • Orange (orange)

  • Fruit Punch (red)

  • Frost Glacier Freeze (light blue)
  • Frost Riptide Rush (purple)
  • Frost Alpine Snow (white, discontinued.)
  • Frost Whitewater Splash (green, discontinued in favor of High Tide)
  • Frost Clear Melon (colorless, discontinued)
  • Lemon Ice (colorless, discontinued)

  • Fierce Lime (green, discontinued)
  • Fierce Melon (orange)
  • Fierce Berry (red, discontinued)
  • Fierce Grape (dark blue-violet)
  • Midnight Thunder (black, discontinued)

  • Passion Fruit (pink, discontinued)
  • Starfruit (light green, discontinued)
  • Frost High Tide (green, discontinued)

  • Strawberry Ice (colorless, discontinued)
  • Lime Ice (colorless, discontinued)
  • Orange Ice (colorless, discontinued)
  • Frost Cascade Crash (blue, discontinued)

  • Cool Blue (blue)
  • Extremo Tropical Intenso (red)
  • Extremo Citrico Vibrante (yellow, discontinued)
  • Extremo Mango Electrico (orange)
  • Watermelon Ice (colorless)
  • Berry Citrus (red, discontinued)
  • Fierce Strawberry (dark pink)

  • ESPN the Flavor (red, discontinued)
  • X-Factor Fruit Punch + Berry (red)
  • X-Factor Orange + Tropical Fruit (red-orange)
  • X-Factor Lemon-lime + Strawberry (yellow-green)

  • Lemonade (light yellow)
  • Raspberry Lemonade (very light pink)
  • Strawberry Lemonade (pink, discontinued)
  • All-Stars Grape (dark blue-violet, discontinued)
  • All-Stars Lemon-Lime (yellow, discontinued)
  • All-Stars Berry (blue)
  • All-Stars Strawberry (red, discontinued)
  • Cooler Orange (orange, limited edition, discontinued)

  • Berry Rain (light purple)
  • Lime Rain (light green)
  • Tangerine Rain (light orange)
  • Fierce Wild Berry (blue)
  • Cherry Rain (light red ) 32 oz

Year unknown

Flavors available outside the U.S.

Energy Formula flavors

Endo orange is another flavor

Endurance Formula flavors

Energy Bar flavors

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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