Do you want to know if Gatorade is vegan-friendly?
Gatorade is an American sports drink created in 1965 to provide energy during sports games. The drink is currently sold in the USA, Canada, Asia, Europe, and Australia.
It was developed at the University of Florida, for student-athletes suffering mid-game fatigue and dehydration. The drink is named after the University of Florida “Gators” sports team and is now a successful sports drink brand, marketed to athletes.
The Gatorade Endurance product line includes:
- Gatorade Thirst Quencher
- G Zero
- G2
- Organic Thirst Quencher
- Gatorade Juiced
- G Endurance
If you’re a vegan, can you use Gatorade as your energy drink? Read on…
Table of Contents
Are Gatorade Sports Drinks Vegan?
The Answer is: No
No, Gatorade is vegan from a dietary perceptive.
There are concerning ingredients in the drink like, sugar, natural flavors and artificial colors. It is usually hard to determine where these ingredients are sourced from and they may have been tested the negative impact on animals.
We found some info on Reddit that also states that “Bone char is at times used in filters to whiten sugar”
What is Gatorade Made Out Of?
Nutritional Facts
Gatorade Sports Drinks are made out of the following ingredients:
- Water, for fluid to help hydrate
- Sugar, for fuel
- Dextrose, another type of sugar added for fuel
- Citric acid, for flavor
- Salt, for electrolyte replenishment
- Sodium citrate, the sodium salt of citric acid to improve the flavor
- Monopotassium phosphate, adds potassium for electrolyte replacement
- Modified food starch, stabilizing agent
- Natural flavor, for flavor
- Food dyes, for color
- Glycerol ester of rosin, stabilizing agent
- Caramel color, food coloring, used in some products
Why is Gatorade Not Vegan Friendly?
Gatorade contains natural flavors and artificial colors. Thus, the ingredients are not cruelty-free. It cannot be determined that natural flavors are purely plant-derived, as this is not stated on the packaging, and there is a high risk that they are animal-derived.
To ensure that artificial colors like blue 1 & 2 and yellow 5 & 6 are safe for consumers, they are tested on animals first.
As you can see, these ingredients compromise veganism. The following ingredients are also not cruelty-free:
- Red 40: Extracted from the beetle cochineal, red 40 is used as a source for products of a red color.
- Caramel color: A miniscule amount of bone char is used in the production of caramel color. Depending on the sweetener it has been caramelized from, it may be vegan, but if it has been caramelized from white sugar, it is not vegan. Therefore, this is an ingredient to be careful of.
- Sucrose: It is not confirmed that sucrose is vegan-friendly, therefore it is better to stay away from it. Bone char may be used in the sugar bleaching process.
Final Thoughts – Can Vegans Drink Gatorade?
Gatorade is a temporary source of energy used in high-intensity sports. The drink is high in sugar content and is meant to replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates.
Due to the sugar content that is subject to a filtration process that sometimes uses bone char, as well as natural flavors, natural and artificial colors, Gatorade is not cruelty-free, is not a recommended drink for vegans.
For more information, see the Gatorade website: Gatorade: Sports Science to Fuel Athletes