According to a new study, adding protein to sports drink improves performance:

Adding protein to conventional sports drinks improves athletic performance and reduces post-exercise muscle damage, says a study in the July issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The James Madison University study compared Gatorade to a new protein-containing sports drink called Accelerade in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with bicycle athletes.

The cyclists drank either Gatorade or Accelerade and then completed an endurance test until they were exhausted. The athletes returned 15 hours later for a second endurance test. At that time, researchers took blood samples to measure CPK, a primary marker of muscle damage.

Those who drank Accelerade had a 29 percent improvement in endurance in the first exercise test and a 40 percent improvement in the second test, compared to those who drank Gatorade. The athletes who drank Accelerade had an 83 percent decrease in muscle damage compared to Gatorade drinkers.

I remember when I played soccer in grade school, all the parents would bring quartered oranges we would devour at halftime. We're a long way from those days I suppose.