All you need is water

Another entry in the Fitness Marketing Hall of Shame.

Last night Paul and I saw this commercial:

We were both dumbfounded.  Seriously, Nestle, you don't just lose water.  You lose salts.  Gatorade addressed this nearly 50 years ago, and since then, many others have worked on perfecting it.  Not replacing your electrolytes can lead to cramps in the short term and hyponatremia in the long term.

In 2002, a woman died of hyponatremia at the Boston Marathon.  A 2005 study of amateur Boston marathoners found 13% of their sample had hyponatremia at the finish line.
Do the girls depicted on the soccer field actually require electrolytes?  Probably not (a recent study found that for adults who cycled an hour, water or gatorade performed equally well).  But by making a blanket statement that you should just be replenishing your water, you increase the likelihood of hyponatremia amongst other athletes.  For shame.