The Effects of Fruit Punch Gatorade On The Human Running
Ability
By Alex Torres, Derek Ho, and Jakob Warner
Observation:
Many athletes are now drinking Gatorade because they want to be able to perform at
the highest level possible. They also say that Gatorade is essential in their performance.
Gatorade is also being endorsed by many professional athletes in big ad campaigns
claiming Gatorade is allowing them to perform better.
Abstract:
Why are athletes making the switch from water to Gatorade? Does it actually improve ones
athletic abilities? To test if Gatorade made a difference on human’s running ability, we created a
procedure. We would have two groups, a control with water and the experimental with Gatorade.
Each group would run 1/2 a mile and then record their times. The results were that Gatorade
made the 1/2 run time slower. This rejected our initial hypothesis that the subjects with Gatorade
would have a faster time. There were also some hidden variables such as different clothes,
weather and being sore that could have affected our experiment.
Focus Question:
Why are athletes making the switch from water to Gatorade? Does it actually improve ones
athletic abilities?
Research:
Gatorade is a very glorified drink. Many athletes say it is one of the causes of their success
while some scientists say it doesn’t do that much. Gatorade does contain essential nutrients for
exercise and movement. However, humans have been drinking water for thousands of years, so
why is it that we’re making the switch to gatorade now?
Things that cause a person's physical capability to go down over time
When a person participates in physical activity they lose salts (and electrolytes) through
their sweat. The human body can’t continue to do vigorous activities such as running without
replacing these electrical transmitters. Gatorade contains electrolytes such as salt and
potassium for a total of 70 mg per 4 oz (1/2 cup). That comes down to 55 mg of sodium and 15
mg of potassium. In addition to sodium being an electrolyte, it also helps muscles contract and
relax, making for a better recovery with salt. Finally, by having salt in gatorade, it helps replenish
the salt being lost through sweat. After drinking gatorade and getting your salt levels back to
normal, you are able to continue at generally the same physical level as you were in the
beginning.
Other ingredients in gatorade that affect your performance
Gatorade also contains a hearty portion of sugars (7 grams in 1/2 cup) and carbs (7
grams in 1/2 cup). This helps give you a relatively quick energy burst that you can use faster
than other types of energy. So in conclusion, from drinking gatorade you are also able to obtain
quick energy to allow you to perform after a short period of time, but after a short time, you hit a
sugar crash, making it harder to keep going at the same level as you were before.
Gatorade doesn’t contain a significant source of other nutrients, so it passes through
your system fast, and the energy is available relatively quickly. This may affect your
performance later on as you come down from the sugar high, because you have no long term
energy in your system.
Other things you lose while doing physical activity
You lose a lot of water when you exercise vigorously. A normal person can lose
anywhere between 0.8 to 1.4 liters of water per hour of exercise. It is very important to replace
this water that you lose. Dehydration can lead to headaches, muscle cramps, tiredness, and
loss of concentration. Extreme cases can lead to loss of appetite, constipation,
unconsciousness, and even death in some rare cases. As you can see, it is crucial to replace
water lost through sweat when you exercise by drinking fluids such as Gatorade and water.
Consequences of not maintaining a proper electrolyte concentration
Drinking a lot of water without replenishing electrolytes can lead to your body pulling
electrolytes out of your cells to maintain a proper balance for absorption. On the flip side, taking
in a lot of electrolytes without taking in fluids can lead to your body taking water out of your cells
to maintain the proper balance for absorption. Your body likes to maintain a constant internal
environment (homeostasis). Either way, taking electrolytes or fluids out of your cells is not good
for your body overall.
The human body's ability to run
Humans are naturally good runners, they have always been this way. They have
evolved and adapted for running to survive and to obtain food. The human body’s ability to
sweat helps cool them off and continue. Research also shows that the human ability to run
short distances at a fast pace is slow compared to other animals. However, our ability to run for
long distances is phenomenal. This is how humans have been able to kill prey before
developing weapons. They chased their pray for hours even days, before the animal died from
exhaustion and heat stroke. Humans also only having two legs helping them to have longer
strides and not take as many steps. This then helped them not to tire as easily allowing them to
run longer distances.
How muscles work
Muscles have two different forms, being relaxed and being contracted. Muscles receive
electrical signals from the brain, telling the muscle weather or not it should be contracted (to
make smaller) or relaxed (to go back to normal length). Electrolytes help to quickly carry these
messages from the brain to the muscle, and so electrolytes are crucial during exercise, when
you are relaxing and contracting your muscles rapidly. Mitochondria convert carbohydrates into
ATP, the energy source for muscles.
Citations:
Bernhardt, Gale, Mr. "Cracking the Code on Sweat Rates." Active.com. Active, n.d. Web. 06
Oct. 2013. <http://beta.active.com/health/articles/cracking-­the-­code-­on-­sweat-­rates>.
Co, Pepsi. "Fountain Calculator." Nutrition Info For Pepsi. Pepsico.com, 27 Aug. 2013.
Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/infobyproduct.php?prod_type=1026&prod_size=20&prod_
catg_id=1068&brand_fam_id=1043&brand_id=1002&product=Gatorade+Fruit+Punch>.
Freudenrich, Craig, Ph.D. "How Muscles Work." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n.d. Web. 06
Oct. 2013. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-­biology/muscle1.htm>.
"Gatorade Real Ingredients & Effects on the Body." Www.Bio-­Genix.com. Www.Bio-­Genix.com, 10
Nov. 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.bio-­genix.com/gatorade-­real-­ingredients-­effects-­on-­the-­body/>.
Kays, Joe, and Arline Phillips-­Han. "Gatorade: The Idea That Launched an Industry." Gatorade:
The Idea That Launched an Industry. University of Florida, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v08n1/gatorade.html>.
Mcallister, Joseph. "Negative Effects of Gatorade." LIVESTRONG.COM. Livestrong.com, 6 June
2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.livestrong.com/article/485761-­negative-­effets-­of-­gatorade/>.
ONION, AMANDA. "Research: Humans Are Born to Run." ABC News. ABC News Network, 17
Nov. 2004. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=256348>.
Hypothesis:
The hypothesis is that energy drinks such as Gatorade will improve the performance of the test
subject’s running ability because the electrolytes and carbs in the drink will be better for the
body.
Materials:
Running shoes (same ones for both days of testing)
Fruit punch gatorade (room temperature)
Water (room temperature)
Data chart
Measuring cup (1/2 cups)
Pencil
Stopwatch
Same clothing (for both days of testing)
Same food consumption (for both days of testing)
camera
Procedure:
Day One (Control -­ With Water)
1. Drank 1/2 cups of water, and waited one minute
2. Ran 1/2 mile as fast as we could -­ on the track
3. Recorded time in data chart
Day Two (Experimental -­ With Fruit Punch Gatorade)
1. Drank 1/2 cups of fruit punch gatorade, and waited one minute
2. Ran 1/2 mile as fast as you could -­ on the track
3. Recorded time in data chart
After Experiment
1. Compared data
Independent Variable: Gatorade -­ water on the first day of testing (control group) vs. gatorade on
the second day of testing (experimental group)
Dependent Variable: Time of 1/2 mile -­ we were comparing the difference between the amount of
time it took to run a 1/2 mile with water vs. running a 1/2 mile with Gatorade
Results:
People
Torres
Warner
Ho
Gordon
Day one
(water)
lap one: 1:18
lap two: 2:57
Coughing a lot
after the run.
lap one: 1:20
lap two: 2:54
calves tight after
running
lap one: 1:20
lap two: 2:47
out of breath
lap one: 1:30
lap two: 2:48
Tired
Day two
(gatorade)
lap one: 1:20
lap two: 2:54
A little
coughing. Throat
felt clogged and
sticky after and
during run. Spit
was sticky
lap one:1:22
lap two: 2:55
lap one:1:25
lap two: 2:56
lap one: 1:34
lap two: 2:53
Throat was dry
after running.
Felt ok. Throat
was dry and
cracked. Spit
was sticky.
Tired. throat was
sticky but
cleared up while
running.
Average time with water: 2:51
Average time with Gatorade: 2:54
Conclusion:
The results of the experiment rejected our initial hypothesis overall. While Alex Torres did
improve marginally, the other test subjects did worse on average by 5 seconds. This shows that
gatorade had a very little to no effect on the runners (the difference was negligible). In addition
this was not a controlled experiment.
This was not a controlled experiment. There were a few hidden variables (independent
variable that we didn’t account for) that might have influenced our results. One of the
independent variables was that the day before testing the Gatorade, we did our control test.
This may have left us sore, resulting in a slower time. Also, one of the test subjects was wearing
different clothes (even though this was a small difference, the different clothes could have
resulted in a different weight, influencing the time they got). The last hidden variable was the
weather. On the second day it was cloudy and the weather wasn’t as warm as the previous
day. This could have made it easier for a person to run faster, longer because they wouldn’t
have gotten as hot. Allowing their body not to exert as much energy. Over all allowing them to
run faster for a longer period of time.
In biology class, we learned that there are certain enzymes in the stomach that break
down sugars so that they can travel to the liver and then to the muscles. Also, Gatorade
contains a lot of sugar, it is one of the most abundant ingredients. But when we were writing our
procedure, we failed to recognize how slowly it takes to digest those sugars in the stomach and
to get them to the muscles. It doesn't take one minute to do this, it takes more than 10 mins at
times. If we were to do this experiment again, we should wait more like 10 minutes from the time
that we drink the desired liquid to when we actually run.
There were two errors that happened, one of them was how responsive the time keeper
was in pressing the stop and start buttons. If we were to do this experiment again, we would of
have the same person keeping time (not necessarily someone who was running, just the same
person every single time, negating the differences in reaction time from one person to another.)
One timer specifically remembered that he hit the stopwatch late, and this definitely changed the
results. Another timer specifically remember that he hit the stopwatch early, and this also
changed the results. Another error that occurred was when the subjects ran around the track.
On the second (experimental) day of testing, there was a chair in the way, right in the middle of
the first lane. This made the first runner change his course, and this probably made his time
become slower. We could have avoided this by making sure there was nothing blocking the lane
where we were running.
Now that we have completed this experiment, the team has a few new questions that
have arisen. Would there be a difference in the time that it took sugars to go from the digestive
tract into muscles across multiple people? To test this, we would need the test subjects to eat
the same foods and have a sensor that sounds when the sugars have gone to the muscles.
Finally, what would happen if test subjects didn’t drink a liquid before exercising? would this
have an impact on their running capability? To test this, we would need two groups, one with
water and the experimental without water. Then track their speed over a week or so.