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Number
97: April 20, 2005
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This week in Katydid:
Balance
Not So Cut and Dried
Last week, the New York Times ran an article on the front page
with an ominous headline, "Study
Cautions Runners to Limit Their Water Intake." The article
discussed the dangers of drinking too many liquids during long exercise.
Now, if you were Gatorade,
the maker of the most popular sports drink, how would you react to the
news that it's dangerous to use your product as intended?
The article caused one Katydid reader to write in, "Have
you seen the Gatorade ads where a person is running and they stumble and
collapse, breaking into a pile of rocks? This research is going to turn
that ad campaign on its head!"
I've seen no reaction from Gatorade. In fact, the
concerns addressed by the article are old news and Gatorade has
already addressed the problem in an interesting way.
First, the NY Times article is based on recently published
results from the New England Journal of Medicine, "Hyponatremia
among Runners in the Boston Marathon," which reported that 13
percent of marathoners had hyponatremia, and less than 1 percent had
critical hyponatremia.
Hyponatremia
is low blood sodium; many factors play a part in the condition. The
article addresses one cause, over-hydration from drinking too much while
exercising.
The popular wisdom is that you can't drink too much. So, many people,
especially neophyte athletes, drink
more fluids than the body can handle and end up essentially diluting
their blood to the point where there's not enough sodium to function
normally. To make matters worse, the early symptoms are similar to
dehydration, leading people to drink even more fluids, which worsens the
condition until their brains swell and they fall into a coma and die.
Given the severity of the consequences, you would think that Gatorade
would have pulled their recent ad campaigns, which depict athletes
avoiding crumbling from dehydration by sucking down liters of Gatorade.
However, they did nothing of the kind.
It turns out that over-reacting would possibly have been
irresponsible because the
concerns may be inflated. Fluid and electrolyte balance in the body
is moderated by too many factors. Dehydration is a real concern,
especially with so many people imbibing caffeine on a regular basis.
Athletes and sports physicians have been dealing with this issue for
some time now and know how to assess emergencies. In fact, Gatorade
sponsors their own research on hydration and has
published advisories on the subject.
I always thought that the Gatorade
Sports Science Institute was a fiction created for advertising. It
turns out that it's a real research facility that contributes to the
field of sports science. Of course, it's good for Gatorade's marketing,
supporting their value messaging and their story; and their materials
make an attempt at neutrality whenever they mention drinking plenty of
'water or sports drinks'.
Still, Gatorade sidesteps the issue in its marketing of drinking too
many fluids during exercise. Taking in sports drinks while hyponatremic
can be fatal. Their brand story is that they replace the electrolytes
and nutrients that your body eliminates during exercise, but their
product doesn't have enough sodium to make up for what the body normally
sweats out. According to a
bulletin from the National Park Service, "Sweat can contain as
much as 90 mEq/liter of sodium. Compare that with Gatorade which
contains only 10 mEq/ liter."
Instead, Gatorade has introduced a product called Endurance Formula
that without directly naming the problem, seems to address all the
concerns. The product, according to their press
release (PDF) is "designed to meet the needs of athletes during
their longer, more intense workouts and competitions when fluid and
electrolyte losses become substantial."
Even at twice the sodium and three times the potassium of their
Thirst Quencher product, though, it is still far below replacing what
the body sweats away. It couldn't hurt for the weekend athlete taking
advantage of the spring weather to take some along on a hike; but it
would be far better if they became more aware of their body's unique
fluid intake requirements.
The Grand Canyon National Park sees its share of hikers both
dehydrated and over-hydrated and Sherrie Collins, Chief of the Emergency
Service Branch of the National Park Service gives the following advice
from the same NPS bulletin:
"Prevention is the key. Stay hydrated and nourished. Once
hiking, keep a steady intake of water or electrolyte replacement drink
and eat. I cannot emphasis this enough. Sport physiologists assume
people are eating and therefore do not need commercial electrolyte
replacement. The truth of the matter is that people don't eat when
they are hot, and they don't eat once they become dehydrated and sick.
Gatorade, which contains the highest sodium concentration, doesn't
even come close to the 35 mEq/liter/ hour needed to replace lost salt
through sweat. What kind of food? My personal preference is a salty
snack food. This is not a time for power bars. Leave the health food
behind. Junk food is great. Stock up. The rangers now routinely give
out saltine crackers, pretzels and cheezits. Stay ahead of the sodium
curve!"
Gatorade is probably safe from product liability, but introducing
this new product could be proof of their awareness of the problem.
Encouraging people to guzzle fluids is not always the best advice; and
their marketing targets not professional athletes, but people who would
like to think they are athletes. These are the folks most likely to slow
down, over-exert, and drink too much. Their messaging continues to focus
on the need to stay hydrated, tapping into what the market thinks is
true rather than what may be fact.
Without making a big deal of this recent study, Gatorade could use
their research to influence the education process. Materials for
students in high school and college could encourage young athletes to
become aware of their hydration needs. Marketing is education after all
– even if the topic is dry.
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Kind regards,
Kevin Troy Darling
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