What was gatorade made for

Cade worked with UF's College of Medicine to develop a drink to replenish what these athletes were losing through their sweat: carbohydrates aka sugar , salt and electrolytes. Electrolytes are a set of minerals that your body needs to maintain healthy fluid levels and regulate its muscle function [source: MedlinePlus ]. By the time Cade -- the drink's inventor -- was ready to test his concoction, the Gators the UF football team had a new coach: Ray Graves. Cade and his research team formulated a drink that was essentially water with salt and sugar in it.

Makes sense, right? Your salt and sugar are depleted, so drinking a salty, sugary drink should help get things back in balance. The only problem was that the drink was disgusting, so Cade's wife proposed adding lemon juice to make it a little more palatable. In , the Gators started drinking Gatorade during hot summer practices and not only did the weight loss problem improve, but they also saw a significant drop in the number of players hospitalized for heat exhaustion.

Cade also credited the drink with his team's record that season [source: Kays ]. In the fall of , Stokely-Van Camp Co. The impact on the body of this upheaval in chemistry was profound. Also, give them sugar to keep their blood sugar up, but not so much sugar that it would upset their stomachs.

According to legend, the first on-the-field tests of Gatorade came in a scrimmage between the Gators B team and the freshmen. They scored two or three touchdowns in the third period and five or six more in the fourth period. Cade says Graves witnessed the turnaround and was impressed enough to ask him if he could make up a supply for the varsity to use the next day in its game against heavily favored Louisiana State.

Cade and his colleagues worked through the night, scavenging their labs for the ingredients and hand-squeezing lemons. The next day, Florida came from behind to defeat LSU in degree heat when the Tigers wilted in the fourth quarter. After the first scrimmage that August, seven Gator players were brought to the Shands Hospital emergency room with heat-related illnesses.

The next day, 17 players went to the hospital and eight were admitted. Deeply concerned, Graves asked Cade for enough Gatorade to keep all players supplied during both practice and games. Over the next five years, only one player. Turns out, he had not drunk any Gatorade.

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