Story URL:
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=208820
Story Retrieval Date: 6/19/2013 8:52:09 PM CST Sports drinks saw
annual sales of $3.9 billion, a year-over-year 14.9% increase
since spring 2011, but some experts question their health
benefits and many agree that sports drinks are only beneficial
to training athletes. Some believe they may even harm consumers
who drink them unnecessarily. The British Medical Journal’s head
of investigations, Deborah Cohen, published an article on sports
drinks and marketing hydration. After examining over 170
articles from GSK, a UK company that produces sports drink
Lucozade, and the marketing behind physical training and sports
drinks, she concluded that sports drinks are mostly a
combination of water, sugar and salt. Even though a Yale Rudd
Center for Food Policy & Obesity study found that 27% of parents
think sports drinks are healthy for their children, the same
study also reported the nutritional value of the beverages.
Common sports drinks cont