What Does Gatorade Actually Do? | Fine Print | Epicurious 

Gatorade was a lifesaver when I was doing heavy field work in southern Illinois in the summer. I'd sip dilute Gatorade (something like 1 part Gatorade to 3 or 4 parts water) all day to stave off dehydration, and to this day, the only time I'll drink Gatorade is on hot summer days after long times spent outdoors - and then, only diluted. Drinking Gatorade just because isn't something I understand, it's basically soda when you don't genuinely need it.

Keep bringing this dude back, he portrays so much passion and is great at breaking this stuff down for regular peopel

Okay, think we can all agree, ‘Fine Print’ series needs more!

Probably one of the most important series this channel has... solid science and chemistry of food products and how they metabolize in the body. Keep this going!! Topher could also venture into fruits and vegetables, like "How good for you is spinach?", also fruit and vegetable groups like citruses, melons, orchard fruits, berries, brassicas, legumes, etc.

I don't drink gatorade when I exercise, I drink it when I'm sick and losing a lot of fluids. WIth high fever, intense sweating and secretions, you loose a lot of fluids and it really helps

I work in a kitchen where it normally becomes 30-40C. I sweat a lot, and drink a lot of water, but I feel at a point I start to get bad brain fog. I randomly was given a Gatorade one day, and I found it really helped with my brain regaining clarity.

This guy explained this so well and made it actually worth watching

Beyond high performance endurance athletes I would think people who do heavy physical labour in hot conditions for hours are far more in need of electrolytes

I live in Florida. Excess sweating is par for the course when doing stuff like mowing the yard. And I can genuinely say that there is a real and discernable difference between drinking water and Gatorade in terms of getting a pick me up after being outside after an hour and a half. It's probably just the salt and sugar but when your shirt is absolutely saturated with sweat you kind of need those things.

As an avid ingredients label reader (I always have been because I find them interesting.) this is pretty much the conclusion I came to about Gatorade. Considering it was invented by scientists at University of Florida College of Medicine for the Florida Gators football team it shows that it is intended for high-intensity workouts but not as intended for the average consumer.

This should be a series!

For the electolytes part, there are also times when they might be needed beyond workouts. With a lot of stomach issues, Gatorade is something doctors will say to get and drink because it's also something that's easy on the stomach, to the point where other things being vomited out. A few years ago, I'd ended up in that kind of situation, where it's the main reason that I didn't end up in the hospital with an IV drip because everything was coming up...even ice and water. Another thing that gatorade is good for is with hiking or longer walks, though not the bottles as such, but the powder version. It's an option for some energy and a different flavor added to a bottle. I tend to prefer other powdered drink options such as crystal lite, but I have used it.

“Fine Print” is my favorite Epicurious series! So incredibly helpful and informative - please please please keep making more of these videos! 💯💯💯

Great work Epicurious. Would love for this series to explore other food products like candies, soda and what not.

The explanation of the thickeners make sense to me so much more now! I usually only drink G Zero since I can't stand the thick texture of regular Gatorade. (I feel like it almost has a mildly gelatinous flavor.)

Gatorade is a lifesaver if you have the cold or the flu. This works so well for me. When I had coronavirus back in November 2019. This was all I could drink and hold down. I do not drink this all the time but my body will crave something other than water. And this will be the only thing that was satiate me. Gatorade has its uses.

*Electrolytes. It's what plants crave*

This fine print series is FANTASTIC! More please:)

I almost never drink the stuff for workouts, but I have used it as a rehydration solution whenever I had really bad bouts of diarrhea that basically had me excreting everything and anything I ate.

More episodes of fine print please!!

Love this type of video. Please do tons more of these scientific analysis videos.

Soooo is this a new segment?? I love it! Please continue!!

"blue is a colour not a flavour" and yet, we all know what blue tastes like

Gatorade is a wonderful for elite athletes, marathoners, and... construction workers, land scapers, farmers, and soldiers. Gatorade kept us alive in the summers in Iraq. When we'd get back to base at night and take off our clothes, they'd dry stiff as boards with all the salt from our sweat. You could stand up your t-shirt, which would have white salt rings.

When I was in college, I worked out in the desert in the summer; when I needed the electrolyte boost after a few hours of sweating hard, Gatorade tasted wonderful; in the evenings, when it was cooler, the same Gatorade tasted nasty. This is still how we judge whether we need it or not on hot days…

i work in labor, i spend 6-8 hours of my day sweating, sometime pretty heavily. i usually have a zero sugar or half-the-sugar gatorade or powerade with lunch, whatever was on sale that week. when works picks up i treat food like it's medicine, since that's really important to the longevity of my body. this video didn't really tell me anything i didn't already know, but still really informative, definitely need more content like this.

He made this very comprehensible. Thank you.

this series is amazing!!!

I do a lot of field work in Louisiana during the summer, and I personally find other products do a better job of keeping me hydrated. Sometimes I like gatorade for the sugar if I'm losing steam towards the end of a day, but it is almost totally lacking in electrolytes beyond sodium. I have also talked to other people who feel similarly, and most of my coworkers prefer something like Nuun, liquid IV, Trioral, etc.

Trying out for soccer in high school, doing 3 days of 2 a days. One day I drank a Gatorade before practice and I noticed a considerable difference in my energy levels and general feeling of being hydrated. And if I remember correctly that was on the third day when I should have been the most tired and worn down.

Such a well done video. Thank you!

I'm in the process of getting diagnosed with pots and one recommendation was to increase my salt intake, I drink heavily watered down Gatorade and its helped my vitals have become more stable

Absolutely loved this!!! More please!

Please make more "Fine Print" videos - I love this series!

yes more of this guy!!! thank you!!!

Love the series!

I work in a desert wearing protective clothing and respiratory protection I cannot understate the importance of electrolytes. Sometimes when getting out of coveralls all of my clothing is visibly wet with sweat. The work I do isnt intense cardio and at worst is walking around and up/down stairs or a ladder at a slow pace and bending over at the waist to move things on the ground. Still you sweat a lot due to walking around with a plastic bag over your head (PAPR hood) in a pair of tyvek coveralls. You can drink all the water you want but at some point you just still feel terrible even if you pee clear and often. It means you sweat out all your electrolytes and need some more. Dilute liquid IV is my go to when I need some electrolytes and quick. Its not cheap but it works well and even though the package says put it in one 16.9 Fl oz bottle it really is better if you split it in 2 both for taste and function. I probably drink 2 packs a day in 4 bottles of water plus probably an additional 8 bottles of plain water on average. You dont need to be some elite athlete to need electrolytes you only need to sweat enough.

More fine print videos please.

Rehydration is good but it's just one of many benefits Gatorade (or similar sports drinks) provides. Many studies have shown that ingesting carbohydrates in ~6% solution while performing intense physical activity has positive effects on performance and recovery. Among other things, it can increase the duration of high-intensity bouts of resistance training, inhibit cortisol, and limit immune system suppression that follows extreme exertion such as marathons. I am an author on one of those studies and have assisted with others. Gatorade itself does not have a magic ingredient, ingesting any drink that provides carbohydrates in a 4-8% solution will elicit the same positive response. In fact, I recommend people save themselves some money, and just make their own at home with a simple recipe of water, sugar/maltodextrin, salt, potassium, and whatever flavoring they choose to add.

so, after doing some research, i found that the idea is to hydrate with electrolytes BEFORE major amounts of exercise, and hydrate with water as you exercise so you maintain healthy hydration levels. this way you're not dying of dehydration when you snap a gatorade. you can also get electrolyte tablets that desolve in water like crystal lite at many sports stores....however, gatorade is designed for taste.

Since I started goalkeeping for soccer back in highschool, Gatorade was a mainstay in my diet especially during the upper highschool to collage years. The start of our seasons consisted of 3-a-days till the second week. I’d drink it only after practice to help replenish the body. If you want something that does the same job but is less sugar try Life Water or Schweppes Club Soda.

This a bloody good video. I'm a gardener and this has been my go drink, besides plain old water.

Thanks for sharing!

I was ready to roll my eyes at this video, but this dude actually gives a pretty solid breakdown and lays things out nicely for your average viewer. Despite this, I still expect there to be lots of ignorant "chemicals are bad" comments in here.

This flavoured sweat may be very useful when you have a viral infection that upsets your stomach so that you do not want to eat, and at the same time also causes mild diarrhoea, without the symptoms being heavy enough for a hospital call. This replenishes some energy and promotes the release of water from the body through urine and not through the guts. You will be more comfortable and do not need to run to the toilet every 10 min if you just drink plain water, allowing you to catch some much needed sleep and rest. At least that is what I have found. We have a bottle of this sort of thing at home always, just for this purpose. It almost never gets consumed, but is useful on those occasions.

I need more of this

More of this style video please. Is this already in a playlist?

I really enjoyed this video, very informative. I’d love to see more like. I will regret this, but is there one like it for red bull

Good series!

Love this series.

I really enjoyed this video somuch.

There was an intensely humid heat wave here in Philly last month, that lasted for weeks. I had a day where I was outside in 100+ degree heat for hours in a dark colored shirt. When the sweat dried in the AC, my shirt was TIE-DYED with salt I'd lost and I had severe dehydration. Whenever I get to the point of replacing electrolytes, I use Pedialyte. You're back to life in ten minutes!

Watching this while drinking fruit punch Powerade has a surreal feeling to it I definitely need more of this series though, Topher has a good RU-vid personality and is very attention keeping while also being informative, big props :)

Great series!

Good video very informative

I was really hoping to find out if Gatorade really helps those of us living with SICKLE CELL ANEMIA(SCA). Or others who are easily dehydrated. Since childhood most of us with SCA have been encouraged by our doctors & our families to drink Gatorade when we're experiencing jaundice, Sickle Cell Crisis, or dehydration. While an average person was said need to drink 64oz (about 2 liters) we're supposed to drink 1 gallon(3.78liters) so we've been told Gatorade is beneficial for quick hydration. From my personal experience, Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice cocktail clears my jaundice quicker than Gatorade. I was also hoping to find out how Gatorade compared to Pedialyte are they basically the same thing but just marketed differently? What about new products like Liquid IV? Daily I drink water 98% of the time like my childhood hemotologist recommended, but I need to prevent & treat dehydration/jaundice without going to urgent care for an IV. I love to know what to keep around the house for sick days --days when I need quick hydration but have zero appetite & sleep most of the day. I'm fully aware that I can ask a better source for thr information I'm seeking, but I just felt the need to communicate that casual drinkers & HIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES AREN'T the ONLY ONES seeking Gatorade's alleged "health benefits".

This video is crystal clear. Explaining the difference between regular Gatorade and zero sugar. I did google the difference b4 watching

Trust me, if you're working construction in the summer time in the south georgia heat, you'll figure out just how important Gatorade actually is.

Love these series! More please!

It's full of sugar but it really helps. When i was hiking I'm about to pass out due to hot weather and this drink helps me to recharge well.

Love this. Nice to hear someone dispel misconceptions of some of these “dangerous” ingredients. 😂

For me it is a lower calorie + caffeine free soda (about half as much as many calories as a standard soda). Plus it uses real sugar instead of corn syrup, and the powder is cheap. I don't need the salts but hey, there is really very little other options out there for a similar product.

The best use of Gatorade is as a hangover cure. Hangovers are mostly caused by dehydration. The ´´electrolytes´´ get digested faster than solid food, and the sugar adds some needed energy.

more of this series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great video. I need to ask, there are occasions where people get sick, diarrhea, vomiting, etc from a stomach bug or the sort for a few days. Everyone always recommends drinking Gatorade during these times, do you agree with that?

I used a concoction of 500ml water, a teaspoon of honey, a teaspoon of lemon juice and half a teaspoon of black salt during workout, which lasted for 2 hours everyday. I found it to be much more effective than regular water and I didn't felt tired as much towards the end. Though the downside was that it gave me toothache due to prolonged exposure to citric acid. So I reduced it's usage to only back and leg day.

enjoyed the video, i wish you guys did one with Energy drinks like redbull, monster and bang, etc

Where does GatorLyte fit into all this? The label says it has more electrolytes, stevia, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, other stuff you mentioned, and fifty calories per 20 ounce bottle. It’s a different product from Frost or Zero. It only comes in three flavors: orange, watermelon, and citrus berry. Does the lack of flavors have something to do with the ingredients or is it just a test market?

Awesome video. Thank you for making it! We're 100% with you on the health messaging here. Eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars, and excess sodium are all great things. Just wanted to clarify what constitutes an appropriate level of sport or exercise where Gatorade might be useful, healthy, and help you perform better... because who doesn't like nerding out in youtube comments. 2:23 You're totally right, too much sodium CAN dehydrate you. But, the concentration of sodium needed to dehydrate you is at least 500% (5 times) what's in that Gatorade bottle. So, even if you were to drink dozens of those, you couldn't get dehydrated. Pro tip: just add salt to regular Gatorade. It's cheaper and works great. Bonus points for buying the powder and just adding your own sugar and salt to a tiny amount of the powder for flavor. Works even better than Gatorade's own formulations. If drinking ocean water (high sodium), why would a high sodium concentration beverage be recommended for increased hydration? Answer: Crazy-high sodium concentrations, like in ocean water (ballpark ~30,000mg/L), causes the kidneys to panic to get rid of some of the sodium in your blood, lest you become hypernatremic, ie. have dangerously high blood sodium concentration. The kidneys can only flush out sodium with at least some water along with it, to produce urine...eventually causing severe dehydration. 2:25 You're also correct that some people's blood pressure is sensitive to too much sodium, and no one likes high blood pressure. But if excessive sodium were going to dehydrate you it won't simultaneously raise your blood pressure. When you get dehydrated, blood pressure often goes down. That's why folks on blood pressure medication so commonly report faintness with dehydration. 2:30 You're mostly right that you don't NEED to replace electrolytes for survival. But in warm settings there is performance enhancement by way of maintaining blood volume and driving thirst mechanisms, which you touched on later. Props for that! It's super important in long endurance stuff, even for novice exercisers. In fact, the less well-trained a person is, the more they'll probably benefit because folks with lower-training status tend to sweat saltier, and sweat more, in warmer environments. 3:48 You say "if you're not utilizing these sugars through your workout" but unless the workout is just walking, for less than 60 minutes, most folks are going to burn 40 grams worth of blood glucose during even very light exercise. It's common for regular exercisers to burn >60-150g of carbs per hour, through exercise, and athletes commonly hit 100-250g/hr with elites sometimes using 350g/hr. For more info here, check out our video on how much carbohydrate to consume during exercise. Hint: it doesn't have to be extreme, or elite, to merit drinking something like a Gatorade, without risk of the liver converting it into fat. You'll burn right through it even in short and relatively easy exercise.

Still remember when the Gatorade bottles had those twist green/orange caps I think in the early-mid 2000s. I would ask my mum to get one because I thought they were like juice or pop LOL.

I would drink diluted sports drinks for my martial arts tests that were multiple hours long, but that's pretty much it. They are otherwise too heavy for normal exercise. They can make you feel really gross.

Interested 👍

The glacier cherry one has no dye and it's a whitish color. I drink it because I sweat so heavy that I've gotten low electrolytes and dehydrated from taking a short nap where I apparently sweated in my sleep several times. I had "low blood sodium" on a blood test which is weird for my age and nothing else they could find wrong, so I started to drink the gatorade. Seems to help. I'm not doing any kind of heavy workouts, the heaviest workout I get is going on hikes for about an hour or two or working in my garden. That gatorade flavor is almost always sold out because I think it's their only one without dye, and it also doesn't have an awful cherry flavor despite the name. It tastes like the one you showed called cool blue. I hope everyone appreciates my gatorade review, it is probably the most un-natural thing I consume.

Great host.

I remember being 8 or something, I was dehydrated due to a long lasting diarrhea, and the doctor said I could drink *a lot* of Gatorade, so I would get better faster

I stopped drinking Gatorade years ago but I might reconsider. Thanks for this..

I only drink this at work while I'm sweating a bunch and running around the store 😂 it's so hot this summer that I'm sweating buckets at work

For a while I had been drinking reverse osmosis water and had found that it wasn’t ideal, I’m not sure if the lack of minerals in the water make it less prone to absorption in my body… or as some people claim, that the water strips my body of minerals Any clarification would be nice on the best way to hydrate

It's just sugar and water.

nice video

My plants love this stuff! ⚡️ 🌱

I work at Amazon & have been drinking these more often. I also drink the Zero version because of diabetes.

I'd love to see this "chemistry-ish" process

I remember drinking red Koolaid as a kid. My mom said that stuff had me bouncing off the walls, but grape or lemonaid didn't.

It really annoys me that don’t mention using this when you’re sick. This is a life saver when vomiting where you can’t keep water down.

Feel like the excessive sweat production due to being somewhere super hot was a bit glossed over, just quickly brushed past compared to the exercise discussion. Excessive sweating still dehydrates you even if you're sitting still, keep up the fluids in summer

Please do body armor next! Great vid!

I wish the video included the other uses. In the comments there are mentions of the other uses for Gatorade. Working outside in the heat and medical rehydration for things like vomiting or diarrhea.

Refrain from chugging Gatorade after strenuous work. I’ve seen people get an upset stomach doing that. I also got an upset stomach drinking a bottle before a long hike, just after eating breakfast that included milk, yogurt, and orange juice. Maybe something in the food made me sick, but I only sip Gatorade while on hikes.

I'd love to see one of these videos on energy drinks!

Please do this with Body Armor!

This channel is Dio-genius 🙂👍

I really like this series!!

Really helps if you just had a bout of diarrhea or the sweats from a fever too!

Starches also break down into sugars when they're digested, so you're adding sugar into your diet that way on top of the dextrose, sucralose, or other named sugars. Natural flavors don't necessarily mean that the flavors are coming from fruit, it means that it comes from food components, they could come from meat, veggies, steam, or soil for all we know. Natural and Artificial flavors are bought from a company, that ancestrally were French perfume companies, which use their techniques to translate into the food industry. The ways these companies use to create these flavorings are a secret so classified that even twenty five years after learning about these facts, I still have not heard a peep about their methods. This is why each individual Orange Juice company has their own taste to their OJ, which all say they use natural flavors to enhance the taste of their juice no matter how Natural or Organic, it is because no one really wants to drink old orange juice due to all the nutrients and taste compounds dying out over time.

Fun fact: Natural flavors can be made artificially. As long as their chemical structure is identical to naturally-sourced chemicals, they can be called natural. The most enormous elephant in this particular room is citric acid, most of which is made using certain strains of _Aspergillus niger_ -- a black mold that rots some fruits and vegetables -- but we have cleverly found a way to turn this troublesome creature into an engine that makes all sorts of food taste better.

Need to do this For Prime

When I did high school cross country, we would often have a Dixie cup of chocolate milk after races. I was told that it provided some protein and electrolytes, making it superior to Gatorade.

I think you're undervaluing the word "elite". I usually run at least 90 minutes and I enjoy a 2+ hour run on a nice day, but I am definitely not elite and have never run a marathon. I'm not going to die if I don't drink Gatorade (and honestly, I usually don't), but if it's a hot day and I've drunk all the water I'm carrying I'll duck into a convenience store along the way and some sort of sports drink is usually preferable to buying plain water for the second or third hour of a run.

Topher can you define what extreme workouts are? Does this lead to life threatening electrolyte imbalances?