Contacting Lucozade or Powerade or any of the other "sports drink" companies is a complete waste of time, they make the drinks sweet because it gets people addicted. They also use the artificial sweeteners etc because they make the drink last longer and are CHEAPER.

Yes Aspartame and Pheonanalynine are used in pretty much every drink, even the evian active waters with a splash of fruit! (strangly in France it's not in their drinks but it is in the UK's). Also these are both known carconagens and in every 5000 aspartame turnes to formaldahide in the body, I know you might want to live long but pickling yourself from the inside out is not the way to do it!

Unfortunately 1 voice is impossible to hear, you might not even get a reply. the power of these companies and the turn overs mean that they are not going to stop and most people (unfortunately) are ill educated and there is not a lot anyone can do about it.

But making a sports drink is the easiest thing in the world, all you need is 1/3 juice and 2/3 water for running.

__________________
It's a funny little world ain't it?! :eek:

www.team-lewis.co.uk

If you want to know a bit more about me and what I do then visit my webiste!

Thank you, a_n_s for the medical insight! REALLY interesting.

And yes, even if it's "frightening" it's something to be aware of and assume as part of life. Obviously we all have lots of people around dying of cancer

About being able to influence the behaviour of companies, I have to say they do care about what people think. It's not an easy task, but pressing the companies about consumers' concerns DOES work. Obviously a big campaign will be more effective, but I don't agree a single e-mail is a waste of time. How long will it take you, anyway? 15 minutes maximum? it might be read by the right person in the right moment and change something. Probably it won't, but it's worth trying. Anything is better than staying passive , I think.

__________________
The more difficult, the more beautiful
The more impossible, the better

Owain, I have used an energy drink called HEED, that is available from a Company called Hammer which works for me and is not overly sweet and comes in 2 flavours as sachets or bigger tubs, site is below

http://www.hammernutritionuk.co.uk

They use 2 sweeteners in HEED - Xylitol and Stevia both are natural; Stevia is non-calorific herb and Xylitol is used in diabetic foodstuffs (googled the names and found the info out, though some info is available on their site under product/nutritional info)

hope this is useful

Moche

That is great! Thanks Moche

O.

Just contacted Lucozade and awaiting a reply!

O.

You are right. If you are exercising hard enough and long enough to require an energy drink, it really doesn't matter if it is sugary. You'll burn it all off pretty quck. Personally, I have never had an energy drink, although I spotted a new energy drink called "Pussy" in a local cafe and was tempted to have a taste

what a stupid thread... seriously...

the reason why drinks have notices that say 'contains a source of phenylalanine' is because of people who have the medical condition phenylketourea who have an enzyme deficiency and so they have to avoid aspartate/phenylalanine in their diet... it is only harmful to this small group of individuals with this condition...

"Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by a deficiency in the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). This enzyme is necessary to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine to the amino acid tyrosine. When PAH is deficient, phenylalanine accumulates and is converted into phenylpyruvate (also known as phenylketone), which is detected in the urine. PKU is found on chromosome number 12.

Left untreated, this condition can cause problems with brain development, leading to progressive mental retardation and seizures. However, PKU is one of the few genetic diseases that can be controlled by diet. A diet low in phenylalanine and high in tyrosine can be a very effective treatment. There is no cure. Damage done is irreversible so early detection is crucial."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria

there is no evidence supporting the fact the levels of these artificial sweetners used in drinks are harmul... countless scientific studies have been done into their safety... do your research... this is a public forum and no offence but you should not be spreading misinformation when you clearly have limited knowledge on the topic...

__________________

Caught me running - Tiesto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOyDWOMqajU

Not sure what direction your career will take you Revenged but I doubt that there's an opening in the Diplomatic Corps for you

BTW: That isn't intended as an insult

joker...

may perhaps be a little harsh but i stand by my point...

this is a public forum...

__________________

Caught me running - Tiesto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOyDWOMqajU

To be honest, if anyone takes [mis]information and acts / relies on it from an internet forum without detailed research.... well, thats more than stupid....

Sadly it does happen, sometimes with fatal consequences...

__________________
The Edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

it's a public forum for discussions... which is what I would say the thread is... if you read it all the way through you'll see the topic is covered from multiple angles/points of view and therefore I'd disagree with your comment that the thread is stupid.

If every thread where someone thought someone else was ill educated on a matter was deemed stupid then there simply wouldn't be any threads posted - kinda defeating the whole purpose of a forum?!

Ultimately I've learned a fair bit about the topic by reading the thread - so it's served a purpose! It's also given info to those who'd perhaps prefer to avoid the chemicals/additives.

__________________
Runners Forum Winter Social @ Castle Combe - Been, Gone, a complete success
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk - 'Lady Godiva Half Marathon' Race Report Added 27/10/08

fair enough, i'll try and be nicer next time ...

__________________

Caught me running - Tiesto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOyDWOMqajU

Well, the point, for me, is that companies pack these products full of sweeteners where it's not necessary or useful. For me this really puts me off buying the drinks, because they are full of artificial chemicals, and not "entirely" honest about the fact.

The scientific details about whether aspartame makes you run faster, gives you cancer, makes your arse glow in the dark etc etc all seem fairly suspect to me; I could find some more reliable information than a web forum, or just stick with my current plan of not drinking lucozade...

I have had a reply from Lucozade so firstly I would like to thank them for their speedy response, it would have been easy enough for them to ignore my email.

Here it is:
Thank you for your recent email regarding the use of Aspartame in our Lucozade Sport range.

As a company, GlaxoSmithKline believes that the safety of our consumers is absolutely paramount and, to this end, will use only permitted food additives and only when these are necessary to help keep our products wholesome, available and acceptable.

Intense sweeteners are food additives which are used in many foods and drinks to replace some, or all, conventional carbohydrate sweeteners. Because sweeteners are hundreds of times sweeter than conventional carbohydrates, only very small amounts are needed to achieve the same level of sweetness. In the UK the use of intense sweeteners is subject to regulation by “The Sweeteners in Food Regulations, 1995" as amended. These regulations permit the use, in food, of six intense sweeteners, namely Acesulfame K, Aspartame, Saccharin, Sucralose and Aspartame / Acesulfame salt. These regulations require each sweetener to comply with a statutory specification and certain general restrictions.

As in the case of all controlled classes of additives, intense sweeteners are subject to a lengthy and vigorous evaluation procedure before they are approved. The sweeteners which we use, namely Aspartame and Acesulfame K are permitted in soft drinks, not only in the UK but also the US and many European countries. They have been approved by the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of FAO/WHO. Indeed the EU SCF recently re-examined the safety of Aspartame, and in its report, published in December 2002, concluded that on the basis of both animal and human data, they consider Aspartame safe to take at levels currently approved in foods and drinks.

While some of our products do contain intense sweeteners, we do also manufacture products that do not contain intense sweeteners, thus allowing our customers the freedom of choice.

Hopefully, the information above has answered any queries you may have had regarding the use of Aspartame in our products, however please do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of any further assistance to you.
----------------

So basically they are saying because tests have been done and everyone is OK with using it then they will continue to use the sweetners.
The main reason I started this thread was because I know personally when I drink or eat anything with Aspartame in it my heart rate increases and I don't feel great, combine this with running a 1/2 or full marathon and its not going to end well.
I can't be the only person running these marathons / 1/2 marathons who has issues with artificial sweetners and I would almost guarentee if you stopped eating / drinking foods that had aspartame in it for a couple of months, allowing your body to get rid of the chemical, then the next time you ate / drank something with it in, you would also notice the difference but because we are constantly eating things or drinking things with sweetners in it your body is constantly hyped up. This was my case, I stopped and now I dodge the stuff as much as possible.

Sorry if you think this was a stupid thread but as said, read the full thread and you will see its been quite interesting, well, it has been for me.

O.

It's nice that you've bought this issue to our attention and we can decide for ourselves whether to believe it or not but why not just bring your own sports drink along to the race? Most of the big races let you know what brand will be used to it shouldn't have been a surprise to find lucozade at the station.