Does gatorade really do a better job at replenishing vital fluids in the body after strenuous sports than water?
My understanding is that the only ‘vital fluid’ in question is water. Water does a marginally better job of replenishing water than GatorAde. Insofar as GatorAde bills itself as an ‘energy drink’ it also has ‘carbohydrates’ (sugar) and ‘minerals’ (salt) which give you a small boost but then drop you off a little lower than you started. I’ve heard that doctors generally recommend drinking water during strenuous activity, and in greater amounts than you might guess. People might be more inclined to drink a lot of GatorAde because it’s sweet and it makes you thirsty (my experience, anyway).
There may be some small benefit to the additives in GatorAde, but probably not enough to affect one’s ability to exert oneself more than any of a number of other factors. In competition where the slightest edge can make the difference, it could have a greater psychological value than it’s real value. If you told your team that you had a magic elixer in your cooler that would give them superstrength, they might believe you enough to perform more confidently.
As an aside, I think the makers of GatorAde would be doing themselves a real favor if they pulled the series of commericals showing gritty athlete’s sweating bright-colored GatorAde from their pores… It’s a patently unappetizing image. It gives the impression that what you buy in the store is harvested from playground asphalt and gym socks.
I have read that Gatorade is the best thing for you if your electolytes are low. Though, they recommend a 1/2 water and 1/2 gatorade mix.
For just rehydrating after work-outs and such, water is much, much better.
I guess it would depend on the activity you are participating in. If the workout is particularly strenuous, Gatorade would be a better choice of beverage.
From the “Sports Drinks vs. Water” link I found:
I think it just tastes better…guess if you are into sports you’ll more likely drink the gatorade then water because it tastes better.
Water is best absorbed with electrolytes and a small amount of carbohydrate. Gatorade and other sports drinks seem to have too much carbohydrate, so it’s generally advised to cut them 50-50 with water. See this site for more details.
As for what endurance athletes take, I’m not sure about runners, but I believe cyclists usually take Cytomax or something similar. Cytomax is a powder that you mix with water. It contains more sodium and potassium than Gatorade plus various other stuff like carbohydrates and amino acids. It’s been formulated based on various sports medicine studies of what rehydrates and improves athletic performance (they even cite the studies on the label).
This is not something to be taken casually, but I can tell you that after drinking it during a long, hard ride, I’m much better hydrated than when I was taking a regular sports drink.
There is a doctor married into my family and when Gatorade came out, he investigated it and started pushing the stuff. It is even in hospitals now. He stated that Gatorade is an isolyte solution, which not only contains some sugars and salts to replenish what you loose but small amounts of minerals and vitamins. He stated emphatically that it is a great thing to drink (I, however, don’t like it. The stuff gives me heartburn) when exercising heavily. He does. In hospitals, it is often given cut with water.
I do like the taste of Gatorade better than water. I drink it a lot, especially when its hot.
If I recall correctly (applies for all of this), the top-dollar sports drinks use sugars that convert to glycogen more easily in the body. This might help reduce cramping or might be psychosomatic; I don’t know. In any case, you don’t need sports drinks during competition unless you’re an endurance athlete, who runs out of stored carbohydrates during a race.
Personally, when I took a break during a longish bike ride (way back when), I’d usually go for Yoo-Hoos, followed by water. Carbohydrates, potassium and water…it worked for me! 
A few years ago, I was camping at a festival in the States. This was during a heat wave, when the high temperature was 104 F. We carried water bottles around with us as we walked about the festival site–I learned how important this was the hard way: I became dizzy walking uphill to my tent because of dehyration.
Gatorade was Officially Recommended at the first-aid tent to help ward off “heat prostration” (not sure of name) --the condition where one sweats and loses not only water, but other things as well.
This was one of the first times I’d needed Gatorade and drunk it. Since then, I’ve noticed an interesting thing about it: if you need what’s in it, it tastes really good. If you don’t, it tastes horrible…
SPAM is the same way… after a 10 hour hike on a 98 degree day, culminating in a rain-soaked tromp along a mountain ridge with temparatures suddenly dipping into the mid 40’s and hypothermic symptoms beginning to take effect, a panfull of fried SPAM tastes like heaven itself…
Back to the topic, I can look at myself and tell that if I’m burning any carbs during exercise, I’m doing myself a big favor. H20 is the best way to rehydrate unless you’re doing something unhealthy with your exercises, like trying to outrun a bunch of Kenyans over a 26 mile course.
The experts on America’s Health Network all agreed: Sports drinks are good if you’re doing hard, physical exertion for over an hour at a time, and you need to continue to perfom.
If you’re only jogging for 30 minutes, or playing baseball (where there’s a lot of rest periods)… then you don’t need it. Water and a good diet are sufficient (even better than sports drinks in this case).
The reason is that it takes over an hour of continued, hard exertion to really deplete electrolytes and blood sugars to the point where your body can’t keep up any more.
If you’re doing aerobic exercises to loose weight, don’t drink sports drinks*. Throwing sugar into your body isn’t teaching your body to ‘burn the fat’ (making it’s own sugar from stored fat).
Peace.
Gatorade was named for the University of Florida’s athletic teams. It was developed there.
My High School football coach used to make Lime Koolaide with salt instead of sugar. We just called it ‘juice’. It tasted surprisingly good after a couple of hours of heavy activity.