2nd December, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

Had it not been for a team of physicians at the University of Florida, the name of the university’s football team - the Gators - would probably mean nothing to you or I. Thanks to their work in creating one of the world’s most famous sports drinks, however, the team’s name has been immortalised in the drink we now know as Gatorade.

According to an article on the University of Florida's website, the drink’s origins go back to 1965 when an assistant coach - named as Dwayne Douglas - at the University of Florida asked university kidney disease specialist, Dr Robert Cade, why so many of his team’s players were being affected by heat and heat-related incidents.

Dr Cade, who recently passed away at the age of 80, and his research fellows - Dr Dana Shires, Dr H. James Free and Dr Alejandro de Quesada - starting looking into the problem. (Another version says that it was coach Ray Graves who approached team doctor Dana Shires for help and that he and Dr Cade then formed a research team).

Regardless of how the research team came together, their study found the players were running out of steam due to the fluids and electrolytes the players were losing in sweat and the large amount of carbohydrates they were used for energy - neither of which were being replaced.

Based on their findings, the researchers created a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink that would “adequately replace” what the Gator's players were losing and called it, appropriately enough, Gatorade.

The results were impressive and Gatorade soon became a regular feature on the sideline of the university’s football matches. The drink soon attracted commercial interest and it wasn’t long (despite some wrangling over ownership rights) before it was being sold across the US, spawning a whole generation of copycat products.

These days sold by Pepsico, Gatorade, which comes in more than 50 flavours, is now available in more than 80 countries around the globe and is supported by ongoing hydration research at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute.

Gatorade is also renowned for being used in the “Gatorade shower” at the end of sporting events when coaches of winning teams have a bucket of Gatorade dumped over them by the players.

SOURCES AND FOR MORE:

~ www.gatorade.com

~ rgp.ufl.edu/puiblications/explore/v08n10/gatorade.html

~ www.inventhelp.com/Football_Inventions.asp

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