Bananas instead of Sports Drinks

Fruit versus Gatorade for Athletes

Bananas are as effective as Gatorade in providing nutritional support and hydration to athletes during prolonged and intensive exercise, according to a study in the journal PLoS ONE.

Coca-Cola's Powerade is the official Olympic sports drink. The bottles are everywhere, even in the hands of America's biggest stars, from Michael Phelps to Chris Paul.

Besides the stars, another essential part to marketing in the $7-billion worldwide sports drink game is science. In the industry, Gatorade, made by Pepsi, is the market leader by far.

But just as the Olympics games began in London a group of researchers at England's Oxford University published a study of the marketing claims and the science behind them in BMJ, the British medical journal.

"We [found] that much of the science has not been well done," Dr. Matthew Thompson, senior clinical scientist at Oxford, told ABC News. "[It] could have easily been done much more rigorously so we'd actually know whether or not these products work."

The Oxford researchers, independent M.D.'s and clinical scientists, looked at more than 400 advertising claims for sports drinks and could not find scientific backing for more than half of them. They characterized many of the rest as flawed science.

"They've used a lot of industry sponsored scientists to do the research, which makes us suspicious," said Thompson. "There's nothing wrong with having a scientific study funded by a company, and this happens all the time with pharmaceuticals and many products. I think what's key is that the science that is done is of high quality."