With the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the horizon, athletes like American gymnast Simone Biles and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt are on a quest for Olympic Gold on the world’s biggest stage. Although the average person might not aspire to be an Olympic-caliber athlete, more consumers are quenching their thirst and powering up with sports and protein drinks, according to industry experts.
A mixture of carbohydrates that supply energy and electrolytes that maintain fluid balance, sports beverages, like Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co.’s Powerade, are the fifth largest New Age category by dollar sales and third by volume, according to New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation’s (BMC) October 2015 report titled “U.S. Sports Beverages through 2019.” Among the brands, Gatorade and Powerade comprise 90 percent of the volume in the sports drink industry, it adds.