| Type | Nutrient-enhanced sports drink beverage |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company with creative control under Glacéau. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1988 |
Powerade is a sports drink manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in 1988, its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade. As of December 2010[update], Powerade has grown to take 21.7 percent of the United States market in its category, compared to Gatorade's 77.2 percent.[1]
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In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, another sports drink made by Coca-Cola. It is a rival of another sports drink, Gatorade.[2] In July 2001, The Coca-Cola Company launched a new formula for Powerade including vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which play a role in energy metabolism.[3]
In July 2002, The Coca-Cola Company updated the bottles of the standard Powerade (previous logo styling) to a new sport-grip bottle.
In 2002, The Coca-Cola Company introduced Powerade Option to the United States, in response to Gatorade's popular Propel. Option is a "low Calorie sports drink" that is colorless and sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium, to provide sugar-conscious consumers with another rehydration choice. Powerade Option took 36% of the Fitness Water category behind Propel's 42%.
In June 2007, The Coca-Cola Company bought Glacéau, owner of brands such as VitaminWater and SmartWater, for $4.1 billion, a price tag that signaled the company’s seriousness in pursuing growth of non-carbonated beverages. Since then, the company has also given its Glacéau management team control of its Powerade sports drink brand.
In 2008, Powerade Zero, a zero-calorie sports drink with electrolytes and no carbohydrates was released.[4] Powerade Option was subsequently discontinued.
In 2009, Powerade was relaunched as Powerade ION4, a formulation that contains four key electrolytes in the same ratio that is typically lost in sweat.[5] PepsiCo sued The Coca-Cola Company, after ads were released claiming that Gatorade was an incomplete sports drink, since it only contained two of the four key electrolytes. The presiding judge ruled in favor of Coca-Cola, for a number of reasons: the ads were no longer running, Gatorade had made similar claims about their Endurance line, and Pepsi failed to show any harm or damage caused by the ads, which were only designed to run for sixty days.[6]
Currently, there are nine flavors of Powerade available in the United States:[7]
In addition, there are also six flavors of Powerade Zero:[8]
Flavors that were previously available in the United States, but have been discontinued:
| Serving size 8 fl oz (244 g) | |||
| Servings per container {{{#_servings}}} | |||
| Amount per serving | |||
| Calories 80 | Calories from fat 1 | ||
| % Daily value* | |||
| Total fat 0 g | 0% | ||
| Saturated fat 0 g | 0% | ||
| Trans fat g | |||
| Cholesterol 0 mg | 0% | ||
| Sodium 100 mg | 4% | ||
| Potassium 24 mg | 1% | ||
| Total carbohydrate 19 g | 6% | ||
| Dietary fiber 0 g | 0% | ||
| Sugars 14 g | |||
| Protein 0 g | |||
| Vitamin A | 0% | Vitamin C | 0% |
| Calcium | 0% | Iron | 0% |
| *Percent daily values are based on a 2,000‑calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. | |||
Ingredients:[10]
Note: Standard 8 ounce servings meet the FDA definition of 'low sodium' and have less sodium than a glass of chocolate milk. [11]
Ingredients may vary from flavor to flavor and by country with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) not used in Australasia and other regions where sucrose is substituted.
Powerade's main competition is Gatorade marketed by the Quaker Oats Company, a division of PepsiCo. Gatorade, which was branded at the University of Florida in 1965, was the first commercially available sports drink in the United States. It now holds a commanding share of the market.
All Sport is a competitor marketed by All Sport, Inc and distributed by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001, when Gatorade's maker, the Quaker Oats Company was acquired by PepsiCo. All Sport was sold to the Monarch Beverage Company soon after. It was subsequently purchased by Gary Smith, the Chairman & CEO of All Sport, Inc. based in Austin, Texas.
Outside the United States the Lucozade energy drink (manufactured since 1927 by the pharmaceutical company now known as GlaxoSmithKline) competes with Gatorade. Lucozade's formulation differs in that it uses primarily glucose and contains caffeine. The more direct competitor to Gatorade and Powerade is Lucozade Sport.
Like its main competitor, Gatorade, Powerade is made with sugar syrups and salt.[12] One Powerade ad campaign saying that Powerade ION4 is superior to Gatorade has been accused of being deceptive and false by Pepsi, the parent owner of Gatorade.[13] The courts ruled in favor of Powerade as of Aug 2009.[14]
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