Table 4.

Dangerous Volumes of Some Popular Sports Drinks an Athlete With EAMCs Would Need to Ingest to Completely Replace Sweat Sodium and Potassium Losses During Exercise^a

Sports Drink	[Na+] of Beverage, (g/L)	Volume Needed to Fully Replace Na+ Lost, L (gal)	[K+] of Beverage, (g/L)	Volume Needed to Fully Replace K+ Lost, L (gal)
A-Game	0.49	10.0 (2.7)	0.32	2.9 (0.8)
Accelerade (Pacific HealthLabs)b	0.62	7.9 (2.1)	0.25	3.8 (1.0)
All Sport (Jel Sert)	0.24	20.5 (5.4)	0.25	3.8 (1.0)
Body Armor SuperDrink (BA Sports Nutrition, LLC)	0.09	54.6 (14.4)	1.48	0.64 (0.2)
Gatorade, Original, Fierce, G2, Organic, Flow, Zero, or Frost	0.46	10.7 (2.8)	0.13	7.23 (1.9)
Infuse Thirst Quencher	0.42	11.7 (3.1)	0.13	7.23 (1.9)
K+ Organic Sports Drink	0.25	19.6 (5.2)	0.15	6.3 (1.7)
Monster Energy Hydro Sports Drink	0.21	23.4 (6.2)	0.17	5.53 (1.5)
PowerAde, Original or Zero (The Coca-Cola Co)	0.42	11.6 (3.1)	0.10	9.4 (2.5)
Propel Fitness Water	0.46	10.7 (2.8)	0.12	7.8 (2.1)
SoBe Water	0.13	37.8 (9.9)	0.15	6.3 (1.7)
Sqwincher (Northern Safety Co)	0.23	21.3 (5.6)	0.19	4.9 (1.3)
Staminade (Steric Trading Pty Ltd)	0.38	12.9 (3.4)	0.19	4.9 (1.3)
Vitamin Water, Active Werk It (The Coca-Cola Co)	0.51	9.8 (2.6)	0.18	5.2 (1.4)

Abbreviations: EAMC, exercise-associated muscle cramp; [K+], potassium concentration; [Na+], sodium concentration.

^aEstimates are based on the following assumptions and data from the literature on cramp-prone athletes: (1) an average sweat sodium concentration of 48.4 mmol/L (1.1 g/L),^12,13,51 (2) an average sweat potassium concentration of 5.4 mmol/L (0.21 g/L),⁵¹ (3) an average sweat rate of 2.23 L/h,^12,13,51 and (4) a 2-hour, continuous exercise bout. Based on these assumptions, the athlete would need to replace 4.91 g of Na⁺ and 0.94 g of K⁺. Adapted from Miller.⁴

^bProduct sold as a powder and made per manufacturer instructions.