Building a better sports drink

Henry J. Binder, Professor Emeritus of and Senior Research Scientist in Medicine at Yale, didn't set out to create a better Gatorade-but in looking for a means to help people suffering from dehydration to better absorb nutrients he may have done just that. "Dehydration in patients with diarrhea is due to large amounts of electrolyte and fluid loss stimulated by chloride secretion," says Binder. He wanted to find a way to increase the body's ability to retain fluids when it needed them most. In order to rehydrate patients suffering from cholera, Binder and colleagues from Flinders University in Australia and Christian Medical College in India identified that short chain fatty acids enhance sodium and water absorption in the large intestine. Next, they needed to find a way to induce the body to produce these short chain fatty acids which are not in the diet. They found that resistant starch was key. Resistant starch does not break down in the small intestine but travels to the large intestine where bacteria ferments it to short-chain fatty acids resulting in an increase in sodium and fluid absorption.