CHICAGO — To help keep athletes safe and performing at their best during the hot summer months, The Gatorade Company, a division of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), has partnered with top professional U.S. sports leagues, including the NFL, MLS, MLB and NBA for the Gatorade Beat the Heat educational campaign. In its 10th year, Gatorade Beat the Heat continues to raise awareness among athletes, parents and coaches on how proper hydration can help reduce heat-related illnesses during athletic activity.
While dehydration is a risk across all types of youth sports during the hot summer months, research conducted by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) found that as many as 70 percent of high school football players showed up for practice inadequately hydrated. Additionally, research shows that dehydration or poor hydration increases the risk for heat illness.
“Athletes often don’t understand the amount of fluid they lose from sweating and how important it is to replace those lost fluids during workouts, practices and games,” said Asker Jeukendrup, GSSI global senior director. “The Beat the Heat program gives us and these great partner organizations an opportunity to educate athletes, parents and coaches about the importance of proper hydration and safety measures while practicing and competing in the heat.”
As a part of Beat the Heat efforts, Gatorade worked with leading experts in hydration and heat safety to compile the Gatorade Heat Safety Kit, an educational go-to resource for heat safety tips and advice. The Gatorade Heat Safety Kit provides easy-to-follow recommendations for athletes, parents and coaches alike to reduce the chances of heat illness this summer. The Gatorade Heat Safety Kit will be available for free download on gatorade.com, nfl.com, mlssoccer.com, mlb.com and nba.com.
“The Beat the Heat program is important because of its focus on providing educational resources that aid in the prevention, recognition and treatment of heat-related illness during the summer sports season,” said Douglas Casa, Ph.D., chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), which is housed at the University of Connecticut. “You can’t change the weather but you can change how you prepare to practice or compete in hot weather. Athletes, parents and coaches do not know that heat-related illnesses are largely preventable with appropriate strategies related to hydration, acclimatization, fitness, cooling and practice modifications.”
“Athletes and coaches on all levels need to pay close attention to the warning signs of heat-related illnesses because safety should not be risked in the name of competition,” said Roberta Anding, sports dietitian for the Houston Texans. “Drinks that contain electrolytes to help retain and regulate fluids are very important. The major electrolyte lost in sweat is sodium, so if your beverage does not contain sodium, it isn’t a sports drink.”
About Gatorade
The Gatorade Company, a division of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), provides sports performance innovations designed to meet the needs of athletes at all competitive levels and across a broad range of sports. Backed by more than a 40 year history of studying the best athletes in the world and grounded in years of hydration and sports nutrition research at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Gatorade provides scientifically formulated products to meet the sports fueling needs of athletes in all phases of athletic activity. For more information and a full list of products, please visit www.gatorade.com.
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo’s people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also, means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo’s promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.
About NFL
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ABOUT NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2013-14 season featured a record 92 international players from 39 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which set a record last year with more than 9.5 billion page views, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 600 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $230 million to charity, completed more than 2.8 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 860 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.
ABOUT MLB
The Major League Baseball Clubs formed Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) in 1966 as the Clubs’ agent for marketing and trademark licensing and protection. Major League Baseball Properties is responsible for managing consumer licensing activities, developing national advertising campaigns, cultivating sponsorship opportunities with major consumer brands and corporations, growing the game and the business of baseball outside the United States and creating national marketing programs in conjunction with Clubs, broadcast rights holders and national sponsors. MLBP also operates a full-service video and audio production unit (Major League Baseball Productions), a publishing division and stock photo licensing agency, and manages logistics for the All-Star Game and World Series as well as all other special events. For more information on Major League Baseball, log on to www.MLB.com.
ABOUT MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. MLS features many stars from the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Major League Soccer’s 19th season began March 8. The League’s 19 clubs for 2014 include the Chicago Fire; Chivas USA; Colorado Rapids; Columbus Crew; D.C. United; FC Dallas; Houston Dynamo; LA Galaxy; Montreal Impact; New York Red Bulls; New England Revolution; Philadelphia Union; Portland Timbers; Real Salt Lake; San Jose Earthquakes; Seattle Sounders FC; 2013 MLS Cup Champion Sporting Kansas City; Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Expansion teams New York City FC and Orlando City Soccer Club will begin play in 2015. An expansion team in Atlanta will begin play in 2017. For more information about MLS, log on to www.MLSsoccer.com.