Tried and Tasted: Sports Drinks

Jon and the WLR taste team find out which sports re-hydration drinks taste good... difficult.

Sports Drinks

In the spirit of marathons and fun runs, we have tried out some sport hydration drinks. Unfortunately we were not able to include a rigorous physical test for all the claims made on the bottles. The Taste Team were clearly distressed by this.

Six high-street energy drinks, the question is: which ones will make your tongue want to run a mile?

Tesco Active Sport Lemon Smelling like "proper lemonade" and feeling the most refreshing, Tesco came in just ahead of the pack. Popular comments were "medicinal" and "homemade" (for better and for worse). Per 500ml Bottle Per 100ml CALORIES 135kcal 27kcal CARBS 32.5g 6.5g FAT trace trace SODIUM 0.3g 0.1g PROTEIN trace trace FIBRE trace trace

Asda Isotonic Citrus Perhaps the most unfortunate of the bunch for a smell resembling "toilet cleaner" but the taste did improve the rating; not too sweet, inoffensive. Seemed a bit dry and not refreshing enough for a sport drink. A fizzy version was suggested as an improvement. Per 500ml Bottle Per 100ml CALORIES 148kcal 30kcal CARBS 35.0g 7.0g FAT 0g 0g SODIUM trace trace PROTEIN trace trace FIBRE 0g 0g

Taut Isotonic Grapefruit & Lime Off to a good start with a promising smell but couldn't deliver with the flavour. Too sour and weak for the team. Although, some felt it was mild enough that they could manage enough of a portion to be refreshed. Per 500ml Pouch Per 100ml CALORIES 125kcal 25kcal CARBS 30.0g 6.0g FAT 0g 0g SODIUM trace trace PROTEIN 0g 0g FIBRE trace trace

Lucozade Hydro Active Citrus Fruits Aimed at 'improving water', particularly the taste, most of our team would prefer nature's alternative; describing it as "powdery" and like a "dissolved tablet". At roughly a third of the calories and carbs, and no worse for flavour, some may just give this the edge over the Sport version. Per 500ml Bottle Per 100ml CALORIES 50kcal 10kcal CARBS 10.0g 2.0g FAT 0g 0g SODIUM 0.18g 0.04g PROTEIN trace trace FIBRE N/A N/A

Lucozade Sport Lemon We assume all the publicised research has gone into osmosis and electrolytes instead of trying for something people will want to drink. Sugary, "like weak sherbet" and too sweet for a few testers while others described it as powdery and non-descript although not as offensive as some. Per 500ml Bottle Per 100ml CALORIES 140kcal 28kcal CARBS 32.0g 6.4g FAT 0g 0g SODIUM 0.25g 0.05g PROTEIN trace trace FIBRE N/A N/A

Powerade Gold Medal Lemon & Grapefruit And coming in last, the ironically named Gold Medal flavour. Quite a bold smell; some compared to a fabric freshener spray. Although not as bad, the taste seemed tired and weak. The most athletic comment being "tasting of swimming pools". Per 500ml Bottle Per 100ml CALORIES 120kcal 24kcal CARBS 30.0g 6.0g FAT 0g 0g SODIUM 0.25g 0.05g PROTEIN 0g 0g FIBRE N/A N/A

Conclusion

As we have mentioned, this was a taste test not an exercise rehydration test and, fortunately, these drinks are not marketed purely on flavour. In terms of palatability the Tesco and Asda own brands go a lot further than the dedicated sport drink companies. In general, with some curious smells and flavours running around the team were disappointed with these performances.

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