In 1965, University of Florida researchers led by Dr. Robert Cade set out to stop football players from wilting in the heat and ended up creating a global sports drink. This episode explains the science behind the original mix of water, sodium, sugar, potassium and lemon juice, and how pairing sugar with sodium speeds absorption.

We follow the early skepticism, the 1967 championship win that made the drink famous, the spelling change that kept it from being treated as medicine, and the 1973 royalty settlement. Then we examine Cade’s shelved recovery drink and TQ2 formula, along with controversies over sugar, brominated vegetable oil, overhydration and the 1994 Rwanda cholera response.

• How Cade’s team formulated a drink to replace fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat
• Why changing aid to ade kept the drink from being classified as medicine
• How the dispute over ownership shaped university technology transfer
• Why Cade accused corporate owners of burying his improved TQ2 formula
• Health concerns over sugar, BVO, overhydration and using sports drinks to treat cholera