Gatorade runs plenty of commercials boasting on how it helps athletic performance. There is truth to this advertising. For athletic activities lasting more than 90 minutes, drinking a sports drink can help performance. Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, replace electrolytes and provide much needed calories. In the current heat wave, consuming a sports drink for an fitness activity for lasting more than 60 minutes may help.

The average person consuming sports drinks, however, is not engaging fitness activities lasting more than 90 minutes. A lot of people are consuming sports drinks simply because they like the taste. Some think these drinks will help them workout harder in the gym. These people should be drinking water instead.

Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, are great for what they are designed for – providing nourishment for lengthy sporting events and athletic activities. However, they are not ideal for consumption outside of this rather narrow range.

The most obvious reason is calories. During a 60 minute workout in the gym, the positive impact of drinking a sports drink is negated by the calorie consumption. In other words, your are not burning enough extra calories to compensate for what is contained in a sports drink. Outside of a fitness activity, sports drinks are mostly just unnecessary calories. A 32 ounce bottle of Gatorade has 200 calories. Some Lean Cuisine meals roughly the same amount of calories!

The less obvious reason is dental health. Some studies have becoming out showing that Gatorade and Red Bull, as well as other sports drinks, erode tooth enamel. Both drinks are worse than Coca-Cola, which is not well-liked by dentists either. The potential damage is so bad that our dentist recommends at least 30 minutes between Gatorade consumption and tooth brushing. (Brushing teeth right after drinking Gatorade may compound the damage caused by the sports drink.)

If you going to consume Gatorade, have some water handy. Rinse out your mouth as quickly as possible. Also make sure to practice good dental habits: brush your teeth regularly, after every meal (factor in a 30 minute break if you drink soda with the meal) and floss every day.

And remember, it's water that you want in you.