My sister Liz told me the history of why and how Gatorade was invented. I found it interesting. Maybe some of you knew this already, but here it is.
In 1965 an assistant coach of the University of Florida, Ray Graves, asked the university physicians why his players were affected so badly by the heat. They found it was because of three things: loss of fluid, loss of electrolytes and loss of carbs.
Next they invented a beverage that would replace these missing elements in the body. They called it Gatorade, after their team The Gators.
This story reminded me of Captain Cook, a remarkable man who kept his men from dying of scurvy. In those days sometimes more than half the crew would die of that disease. I read a book about one of his voyages and it was fascinating.
"Specialists have corrected the popular view that Cook discovered the cure for scurvy - rather he applied with unusual thoroughness all suggested remedies. He ensured cleanliness and ventilation in the crew's quarters, and insisted on an appropriate diet that included cress, sauerkraut, and a kind of orange extract. Even so, his epitaph in a medical journal claimed that Cook's success in keeping his crews alive 'added more to his fame, and is supposed to have given a more useful lesson to maritime nations, than all the discoveries he ever made'."
Three cheers for Captain Cook!
