WSJ: The Sports-Drink Upstarts Article

Many endurance athletes carefully craft diets rich in unprocessed foods and organic meats, fruits and vegetables. Then they step onto a marathon course and drink neon-colored beverages with ingredients out of a chemistry book and gobble artificially flavored gels. Some health-minded runners, cyclists and triathletes are refueling during races with newer products that advertise being organic and free of artificial ingredients. While these recent products are still niche, several prominent brands also are retooling their recipes to use fewer and simpler contents. For more than a decade, the Portland (Ore.) Marathon has provided runners with an electrolyte drink called Ultima Replenisher instead of what race director Les Smith calls “certain sugar-based drinks that I will not name.” Ultima touts itself as vegan, non-genetically modified and free of sugar and artificial ingredients. Read the full article here: Written by Rachel Bachman for The Wall Street Journal. Monday, November 30, 2015