Product Review: Body Armor Sports Drink

In the past I've recommended to stay far away from the temptation of popular sports drink, simply for the reason that they are mostly just sugar water with a few vitamins thrown in, but in terms of athletic performance and your overall health they don't have much to offer.  Today though I found a sports drink that I've never seen or heard of before, so after a brief perusing of the nutrition and ingredients label I decided to test it out.

Where and How much:
Like I said I've never seen, heard of, or known of anyone who has used this so I don't know where else you can find it but I first found them at a 7-Eleven in Mesa, AZ.  On their site they do have a store locator, although on my first attempt it landed me in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but maybe you'll have better results than me.  As a new product they were being offered for $2 a piece.

The Pros:

For a sports drink at only 16oz it only boasts 140 calories.  I guess you could call this the silver lining.  It isn't ideal but it could be much worse. 

It claims to have 2x the amount of the electrolytes than the leading brands with a total blend of about 600mg.  That was the first draw that I noticed on the front label.  It also contains 50mg of polyphenols (antioxidant) from blueberries, and is 10% coconut water.

The Cons:

For all those extra electrolytes it packs in, most of it is for naught.  It is clearly labeled on the ingredients list that the source of magnesium in its electrolyte blend is in the form of magnesium oxide which is essentially useless since your body can't readily absorb it.  Since it is a low sodium drink at about 15mg per serving and 30mg per bottle you aren't really getting all you need from the electrolyte department.  Ideally the sodium:potassium ratio should be between 3:1-5:1 (based on sweat content), where as BodyArmor's ration is 1:20.  Oh and those polyphenols apparently are 75% derived from apples according to their ingredients list.

The Results:

I suppose you can't really "feel" the difference if you did a blind taste test, but as far as how you perform with it versus other sports drinks would still vary on a lot of factors so it would be very difficult to determine its benefits.  You should feel a bit of a "boost" which I'm assuming is coming from the B-Vitamins and green tea extract (although they claim on their website that it is a trace amount of only ~1/2 mg), so be sure not to mistake this from the electrolyte formula.

Overall it didn't taste bad, and it wasn't overwhelming with sweetness.  It didn't have any artificial colors from what I could discern although it does contain "natural flavors" on the ingredients list which is always a cause to pause (find out more about "natural" flavors here).  Even if you aren't gaining much from the electrolytes it is still a decent substitute if you forget to make your own batch at home and are your way to practice or a tournament.  It says to have superior hydration and nutrition but superior is a relative term.  You may still be better off making your own sports drinks but it is probably better than anything else you can find in a supermarket.

Extra notes:
On their website they are vehemently concerned with not being confused as a "sports drink" but rather being called a superdrink.  But unless I drink this product and wake up tomorrow with a black cape, utility belt, hoarse voice, and a tank in the driveway, I'm going to just call it a sports drink (unless of course they sign Dwight Howard to their team, then I may change my mind).

Drinking BodyArmor may or may not allow you to do this