[GatorBurger]

I have to drink Gatorade for health purposes (yes really).  Its actually a "treatment" that I happened upon accidentally which is giving me significant relief from my symptoms.  However due to the volume I need to drink, the sugar content is neither necessary nor healthy for me in the long run. 

This got me to thinking about how I could make my own Gatorade with all the same ingredients, minus the sugar. 

Let me say up front I have zero knowledge of chemistry, so I am relying on all of you experts.  Here is what I do know:

Ingredients:
Sodium Chloride
Potassium (unsure exact type?) phosphate, citrate, etc?

The first question is - does anyone know EXACTLY which type of Potassium it contains?

The second question is, how do you combine the two in water?  I found this information:

"The sodium and potassium in Gatorade are added in the form of salts (sodium as the chloride and citrate salts, potassium as the monohydrogen phosphate salt). Thus, both Na and K are ionic, with "noble gas configuration" of electrons about them, hence chemically stable."

1)  Does that mean its not just sodium chloride but also sodium citrate?
2)  Is it possible to combine them like this in a kitchen?

Apologies for being 100% clueless.  Thanks for any help.

[Messi]

Great question! I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about this matter!

[Borek]

Doesn't matter what potassium salt (chloride, citrate, phosphate, whatever) you add - K⁺ is always the same. What matters is that you need to mix such amounts of salts that total concentration of any given ion in the final solution is the one you need.

[GatorBurger]

1)  If the exact formulation is helping with my symptoms, why doesn't it matter what form of Potassium?

2)  The rest of your sentence I completely did not understand because of the punctuation and grammar.  Can you rephrase?

[Borek]

Let's say you need a solution that contains 1 mmol of K⁺, 1 mmol of Cl^-, 1 mmol of Na⁺ and 1 mmol of Br^- (this is just an example). Doesn't matter if you prepare the solution putting 1 mmol of KCl and 1 mmol of NaBr into water, or 1 mmol of KBr and 1 mmol of NaCl - once they dissolve and dissociate, in both cases final solution is identical.

[GatorBurger]

Okay .

1)  If I want to match Gatorade's ingredients exactly, I can use any kind of Potassium and without exception, it will be the same, even if Gatorade starts out with a completely different type of potassium?

2)  Does anyone know what kind of potassium is in gatorade?

3)  How do I combine the sodium with the potassium in water, given the information in the quote I wrote in my first post?

[Arkcon]

Generally, soft drinks and other foods contain a variety of salts -- sodium chloride and sodium citrate, potassium chloride and potassium citrate, and even citric acid.  They're trying to make a simple buffer, so that they can insure the batch stability in the face of slight water differences.  Gatorade and other "hydration" drinks provide a benefit because they, to some extent, are isotonic to body fluids, or maybe to sweat.  You can quickly Google what strength of salts will give you an isotonic fluid.  But I have to warn you, I've done it and without sugar, artificial flavorings and the extra sodium chloride they pt in Gatorade, the resulting solution is pretty unpalatable -- kinda like swilling your own saliva.

[billnotgatez]

I did GOOGLE on
making Gatorade
and got many recipes
guess you could just substitute diet sweeteners for sugar

I would try stivia or splenda

[GatorBurger]

I dont care about the taste being bad.  As part of this wonderful health condition I have to also juice kale and broccoli with no fruit.  So I can handle the taste issue.

What I need is gatorade without the sugar. 

I want to get as close as possible to what they've done.

What would you buy and mix together to accomplish that? 

Simple table salt and simple potassium chloride and thats it?  What about the citrates?

[fledarmus]

What part of the Gatorade is actually helpful to you? If you are finding a beneficial effect from the Gatorade under normal conditions, then my guess would be that you are suffering from a deficiency of some sort, possibly potassium. You may be able to get the same effect by taking potassium supplements or increasing the level of potassium in your diet. I doubt that it is a sodium deficiency (although that is possible), and if it isn't, adding the amount of sodium in Gatorade to your diet may have negative long-term effects on your health. Of course it is possible that your body is removing both sodium and potassium too quickly and that you need the exact mixture in Gatorade to make up the difference, but that is really something that should be tested before you start experimenting on yourself.

Citrates are also used in biochemical processes, but I don't believe I have ever heard of a "citrate deficiency".

Another note - we are not doctors. If you have a medical condition that Gatorade is affecting, please find a doctor to determine the cause and the appropriate treatment.

[GatorBurger]

Well we are doing everything here except actually answering my questions.

Lets not begin a discussion on what it is about Gatorade that is helping, or what the health condition is.

I have come here to ask you guys how to combine potassium and sodium in a liquid formula.

I have come here to ask you how to duplicate Gatorade without the sugar.

Did any of you read the quote in my first post?  I put it there for a reason.  But not a single person has replied to it.

I find myself just repeating the same questions over and over, and not a single person replying to them.

[Yggdrasil]

You should be able to recapitulate the effects of gatorade with a simple solution of sodium chloride and potassium chloride in water.  It won't taste good, but the sodium ions and potassium ions are the main parts of gatorade responsible for its effects.   It doesn't matter what form of sodium or potassium you add, so you could make a solution of sodium chloride + potassium citrate, sodium citrate + potassium chloride, sodium citrate + potassium citrate, etc.  All you have to do is to just make sure you calculate the correct amount of each substance you add to get the right concentration of sodium or potassium in the drink.

According to the following site (http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-gatorade-original-thirst-quencher-i88300), 8 fl oz. of gatorade contains 110mg of sodium and 30mg of potassium, so you would need to add 280 mg of sodium chloride (which is 39% sodium by mass) and 58g of potassium chloride (which is 52% potassium by mass) to 8 fl oz of water.

[Arkcon]

GatorBurger: this forum doesn't dump complete answers -- to anyone, either experts or complete novices, we try to help you learn to help yourself.  You've been given plenty of hints and useful information.  As a general rule, we don't give advice for self-medication, as a liability issue.

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