Why 20/20?

It's pretty simple; we want to help you find your edge. On the court, off the court, training, recovering, competing, playing, practicing… in whatever your daily activities are, we want you to be and feel your very best.

We looked at the current sports drink landscape and our vision became clear; to help the modern athlete reach optimal performance by using premium all-natural ingredients with none of the BS. We wanted to design a product that we not only love and believe in, but one that would help you unlock greatness every time you compete.

At 20/20, we're deconstructing the myth that sports drinks are the "optimal fuel" for athletes, so why is this false narrative so widely accepted? How have these sugar-filled drinks created a billion-dollar industry while becoming a staple for the American athlete? Why are top tier athletes now realizing how critical all-natural ingredients are to maximize performance?

To understand the seismic shift happening in the beverage industry, we have to go back to the beginning..........

50 years ago. In the 1960s, the first sports drink was created to keep athletes fueled during extended periods of exertion. The goal of the drink was to replenish the electrolytes lost in sweat while also refueling carbohydrates for energy, two things that water alone cannot do.

While this was considered cutting edge at the time, the core ingredients punctuated by 34 grams of sugar in a 20-ounce bottle of the leading sports drink show one of the detrimental aspects of this archaic formula. How much sugar is this? The second ingredient after water is sugar, which is a higher sugar content than the leading brand of sweet iced tea. To give a comparison, imagine eating 7 Oreos in the middle of an athletic competition? Sounds like an absolutely crazy idea, yet some of the current leading sports drinks have MORE sugar than 7 Oreos.

Effects of sugar on high-level athletes?

When you ingest a flood of simple sugars, your blood glucose level rises, resulting in a "sugar high." Your energy levels rise for a short time, but where there is a spike in blood glucose, there is also a subsequent drop, AKA the "crash." Your pancreas is forced to mitigate the high glucose by releasing insulin, a hormone that helps to bring your glucose level down.

Crashing can cause you to feel tired, irritable, and unable to focus. If your blood glucose is chronically high, not only are you going through a daily roller coaster of high and low energy levels, you are also putting yourself at risk for gaining fat and chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 9 teaspoons of added sugar per day for men and no more than 6 for women. When you reach for that 20-ounce sports drink you've basically maxed your daily allotment with one bottle, it has a whopping 8 teaspoons.

What about all the other sketchy ingredients?

Food and beverage manufacturers use additives to increase shelf life, change COLORS and textures to make the product look more appealing, or to improve taste perception. Processed foods and beverages often offer a lot of calories, but little real nutritional value.

There's no doubt that refueling after (or during) a sweaty, grueling workout is essential. But do you really want dextrose, glycerol ester of rosin, and yellow 5 in a drink that's supposed to be replenishing your body?

Dextrose is a simple sugar, usually made from corn. It is broken down quickly by the body and can raise blood sugars even faster than sucrose (AKA table sugar). People who have diabetes or hypoglycemia may carry dextrose tablets if they need to raise their blood sugar quickly.

Manufacturers add dextrose to products as a cheap way to sweeten them. Simple sugars like dextrose as part of processed foods and drinks are an unnecessary part of the diet, provide little to no nutritional value and can spike blood glucose levels in the body.

Glycerol ester of rosin is now used in Gatorade as a "safer" alternative to brominated vegetable oil (BVO). BVO is a controversial ingredient banned in Europe for its potential to irritate the skin and mucous membranes. Long-term exposure to bromide can cause headaches, memory loss, and impaired balance or coordination. Ester of rosin is still considered safe for consumption (for now).

Artificial dyes like yellow 5 contain Benzadine, a human carcinogen allowed in foods at low levels.

The Food and Drug Administration has determined that ingesting benzidine raises the cancer risk to just under the "concern threshold" of 1 cancer per 1 million people. With no positive benefits for ingredients like these, why would you take the risk?

Despite all of the ingredients in Gatorade being approved by the FDA, that doesn't mean consuming them is healthy or optimal for performance. There's no reason for food dyes, excess sugars, or unnecessary additives to be a part of your diet, especially when there are better natural alternatives.

Athletes seeing the benefits of a "clean lifestyle"

What do all elite athletes have in common? They share a singular focus to become the very best. This maniacal drive pushes them to do everything possible in order to develop and master their athletic skill.

The best athletes are just as passionate about their diets, living a clean lifestyle while using nutrition to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Tom Brady is famous for his fanatical diet, focusing on anti-inflammatory foods while avoiding sugar, sweetened drinks, and dairy. Sydney Crosby prefers to eat local, organic food with an emphasis on fruits, veggies, and protein smoothies. Lebron James says he stays away from artificial drinks, artificial sugars, and fried foods during the season. He tries to eat organic and as clean as possible throughout the year.

Phil Mickelson has made a complete transformation of his body and diet over the past year and wishes he didn't wait until his late 40's to adopt a clean lifestyle. "As I look back on my career, probably the one area that I have a little bit of regret is that I wasn't accountable for my own health," Mickelson said. "I ended up eating poorly, I ended up drinking soda, I ended up eating sugar – I just didn't eat the way I should have and I think it led to me getting psoriatic arthritis, and I think it led to me not being overall healthy."

When you look at four who have become champions at the highest level of sport: Brady, Crosby, James, and Mickelson know the difference between winning and losing can come down to 1-second, 1-point or 1-shot. At the elite level, the margin for error is so slim that any advantage can change the entire complexion of a competition. Athletes who carry that same mindset when they step off the field can take advantage of the incremental gains made from living a healthy lifestyle on a day-to-day basis. All those seemingly small choices, such as what you eat to start the day or what you drink to rehydrate after practice, can elevate an athlete from good to great.

Changing the game

Companies marketing their products to athletes should go above and beyond to make sure their consumer is receiving the highest quality ingredients to support the best possible performance. It's time to take back control of your body by enhancing your nutrition. You deserve the most natural fuel for your athletic journey.

At 20/20, we are changing the game of how athletes fuel up. Our products have no sucralose, no dyes, and no corn syrup. We use ingredients like turmeric, ginseng, lemon juice, green tea, himalayan sea salt, and coconut water to help you reach optimal performance.

We're throwing sports drinks in the trash, stripping out all the BS, and providing you with clean formulas to rehydrate your body, improve your focus, increase energy, boost your immune system, and decrease inflammation, all in quick, convenient shots that require no refrigeration and can fit right in your pocket.

We promise to use only real premium ingredients in our wellness shots specially designed to optimize athletic performance. Our mission is to not only improve your performance, but to do it the right way with ingredients you can trust.

About the Authors

Megan Ware RDN, LD

Owner, Nutrition Awareness

Megan Ware is a Registered Dietitian, Writer and frequent 20/20 Contributor. Megan was part of the 20/20 formulation team to ensure these were engineered to pinpoint the needs of the modern athlete. You can find her at nutritionawareness.com and on IG: @nutrition.awareness

George Savaricas,

Founder, Drink 20/20

George Savaricas is the Founder of 20/20 and an all around health nut! George spent the last year with a team of industry experts creating these formulations to make his vision of a healthy alternative to sports drinks a reality.