If anything good ever came out of being poorly as a kid then it has to be a toss up between having a day off school in front of the telly or laying on the settee beneath a blanket with a bottle of lucozade. My mother was a big believer in the medicinal properties of lucozade and as a young child I loved the taste, but money was tight and back in those days lucozade was only sold in chemists and was an expensive treat.
Nowadays lucozade has re-invented itself and moved away from the health market. It is now available in all supermarkets, newsagents, corner shops and garage forecourts where it can be found in the refrigerators side by side with familiar soft drinks like Coca-Cola. It is still marketed as a energy drink high in glucose, but the clever promotional people at Glaxo-Smithkline have taken things a little further, capitalising on a familiar brand name and launching a similar product into a new niche market, they have called this new drink
lucozade sport.
The History
Lucozade Sport was launched back in 1990 and become an instant success. It is aimed primarily at athletes and people who take part in sport.
The Science
Lucozade sport is an isotonic drink which put simply means that it is specially designed to be in balance with your body's own fluids. The lucozade sport drinks are scientifically formulated to provide a rapid boost of carbohydrate and electrolytes to the muscles and maximise performance and endurance. The carbohydrates within the drinks are delivered in the form of glucose and the electrolytes are in the form of sodium. The levels of glucose and sodium have been carefully calculated to help enhance the absorption of the fluid from the intestines into the blood stream, which rapidly provides both fluid and fuel to the body.
The Packaging
Lucozade Sport comes in a 500ml clear plastic bottle, the variety in front of me is Orange so I will describe this for the purposes of this review. The bottle is fairly typical and nondescript, however there is a logo of a runner embedded into it. On the bottle there is a label which has 'Lucozade Sport' written across it in large letters, with the 'Lucozade' word being in yellow and the 'Sport' in white. Above this label it says 'Orange Body Fuel." At the top of the label written in dark blue, on an orange background, are the words 'Before-During-After-Sport'. There are also the words 'keep going 33% longer" The top of the bottle is blue. Lucozade Sport comes also in a blue plastic pouch with the word "Lucozade Sport" emblazoned across the front of it in yellow lettering. Each pouch contains 330ml. On the other side of the label there are the ingredients and nutritional information, as you would expect. It is currently available in the following flavours:
It is also available in a powder form and also as a high energy snack bar.
The Verdict
Well the first thing that disappointed me was that the drink was still. I had expected it to be slightly fizzy like original lucozade and because it wasn't I felt that it lost some of it refreshing ness. The drink itself is a deeper orange colour than original lucozade and it has a thicker more syrup like texture. On tasting it for the second time I decided that I did like the taste but I couldn't help thinking it was a bit like drinking orange cordial. The flavouring was not particularly strong but I suppose that it is sold as an energy drink after all, so flavourings and taste are presumably secondary to performance in the eyes of the research people at Glaxo-Smithkline. The one million dollar question however is did it give it that extra boost that it promised, well to be honest it did. I do a fair bit of long distance running (marathons and half marathons) and have always carried a bottle of water with me as over such a long time and distance it is very important not to de-hydrate, as an experiment I decided to take a bottle of Lucozade Sport with me and as soon as I had a drink of the stuff I suddenly felt invigorated, I could feel the rush of adrenaline go through my body. I am not sure however if this was just a psychological boost however, a case of my mind believing all of the hype or whether it was due to the scientifically proven formula. Whatever the reason it was a good feeling but I did find it oversweet and the taste lingered in my mouth for several minutes afterwards which actually put me off my stride for several minutes. According to the people behind this drink it should be drunk before, during and after sport, personally I have concerns that it will give me indigestion if I drink it before or during a run but I would certainly drink it afterwards to help replenish all of the salts and fluids that have been lost.
The Price
I paid 79p for a bottle in Asda but it costs £1 from the vending machine at my local leisure centre. I have seen the pouches in Makro in multi-packs of 24 but I don't know how much they cost, but I assume that they will work out a little bit cheaper.
It is an expensive option but this is a small price to pay if it really does all that it claims to do. I will however reserve my judgement for the moment and keep an open mind. I will continue to take a bottle of water with me when I am out training, unless of course anyone at Lucozade would be interested in sponsoring me, and if they are, then I will drink it before, during and after every run and I'll wear the T-Shirt.
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