The results of my experiment were very much as anticipated. Although the data and test proved to show that Gatorade was the better drink for an athlete during workout, Gatorade is also the better-advertised and more popular drink among athletes as well. I tested athletes with different sports drinks and the athletes ranked the drinks on how they did performance wise, how they felt, and how well hydrated they stayed. The experiment was also based on the ingredients in the drinks. To find the best sport drink I put the ingredients up against the rankings of the drinks. The result of this was that Gatorade is the favored and better sport drink for the athlete during and after a workout.

The rating of the athletes ranged from sport to sport. Cross Country runners found the drinks to be helpful but did not rate drinks as high as the soccer players. Gatorade was ranked highest by both sports, while PowerAde finished second and All-Sport third. All-Sport did finish below PowerAde in the rating but ingredient wise it was better for the athlete.

 The carbohydrate range for the optimal sport drink is between 6 to 8 %. The reason for this range is so the drink is emptied from the stomach in a quick manor and the drink is absorbed through the walls of the intestine. The larger the carbohydrate content the slower the rate of the stomach emptying which slows the process of the absorption from the intestines. All of the sport drinks in the experiment were in this range. Gatorade remained the lowest with a mere 6% while All-Sport and PowerAde had an 8% Carbohydrate content. This proves that Gatorade works faster than PowerAde, and All-Sport.

Every drink fell in the range of the optimal sport drink excluding the sodium content in which All-Sport and PowerAde did not reach the suggested amount of an optimal sport drink. The amount of sodium in a sport drink is important because to have a correctly composed sport drink the sodium level of the body must remain at a good rate. By sweating you loose sodium therefore the sport drink should replenish the sodium content of your body. The suggested amount of sodium in a sport drink is at least 100 mg per 8 oz. Gatorade has 110 mg while All-Sport has 80mg and PowerAde has 70mg. This shows that Gatorade is the best drink for keeping the sodium level in your body at its optimal rate.

            While an athlete works out he looses a lot of electrolytes from sweat. Electrolytes contain sodium and potassium as well as other vital components. The objective of the sport drink is to hydrate and replenish the lost electrolytes. This explains the reason of why it is important to drink during and after the workout. Although Gatorade has more sodium, its potassium level is lower than that of PowerAde and All-Sport.

            The three different types of sport drinks were not a factor in this experiment because all three of the drinks were fall in the Isotonic category. The Isotonic Sport drink replaces fluids very quick, and is the preferred sport drink by the athlete. Hypotonic sport drinks replace the fluids lost by sweating but do not contain the amount of carbohydrates that the Isotonic sport drink does. Hypertonic sport drinks are used on a daily intake just to top up muscle glycogen stores. The reason sports drinks are favored over water during a workout is because water can cause thirst suppression, and heavy bloating.

            This experiment had several flaws that made its results a little altered. The sports drinks were given to people who I knew and may have altered the ratings, due to the athletes not really thinking in deep thought about how they were rating the drinks. I also should have tested more people than I did in order to get more of an accurate result. By testing only eight people, with two testing water as a constant, I was unable to really get great results. If I was to do the experiment over again I would test athletes I did not know, and test even more sports drinks, not just the top three.