Beyond sports: PepsiCo highlights new opportunities for active hydration beverages in APAC – Growth Asia Summit 2024
With the rise of health and wellness awareness and the importance of fitness post-pandemic, more and more consumers across the Asia Pacific region have been adopting healthier and more active lifestyles to varying degrees – which has in turn also led to an increase in the need for beverages to suit these lifestyles.
According to PepsiCo Life Sciences Sr. Scientist Teena Badshah, one key beverage category here has been active hydration which covers a variety of items from functional vitamin-infused drinks to sports drinks.
“One thing that many people tend to get wrong about hydration is thinking that this just means drinking more water – it really isn’t, as there is so much more to hydrating when taking in vitamins and electrolytes and other factors” she told the floor at our recent Growth Asia Summit 2024.
“Consumers today are very adventurous and really want it all when it comes to hydration beverages, [plus] they are really living lifestyles that are varying widely in terms of activity, exercise and so on.
“Regardless of the level of activity, it is absolutely crucial for everyone to remain hydrated as research has shown that when the human body loses 2% of its water weight, there is a risk of negative cognitive impacts from this dehydration.”
That said, the needs of these consumers performing different levels of activity daily also can differ greatly, e.g. competitive athletes are likely to need more hydration beverages with higher electrolyte content than those leading a regular but still active lifestyle.
To this end, PepsiCo has developed various different active hydration beverages to meet these varying needs, from Aquafina bottled drinking water to the Gatorade sports drinks.
“Even within the Gatorade brand there are different products to meet different needs,” she added.
“For example, the Gatorade core product is meant for performance and to help athletes play and perform better at high intensity sports; whereas in markets like South Korea we have the low calorie version with a focus on electrolytes for hydration and recovery from sweat loss, suitable for those that do everyday running or marathons.
“Then there’s also the Gatorade No Sugar which can help the everyday consumer with just hydrating their bodies well, in order to prevent dehydration from affecting their cognition.”
Gatorade also operates the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) which specialises in research on hydration, thermoregulation, metabolism and other related areas.
“To better understand and customise Gatorade products to local Asian consumer needs, sweat composition, GSSI conducted a study with Thailand’s Mahidol University to obtain localised data based on local consumers,” Badshah added.
“This included things such as the average whole body sweating rate of Asian men and women, and this data is being used for better and more customised product innovation”
Flavours play a role
It is common for beverage companies like PepsiCo to receive queries regarding the use of flavours in their products, and according to Badshah this has remained important till date due to its influence on consumer motivation.
“First of all, most of these hydration beverages contain sodium and this will affect taste but must be there as it plays a key role in the body’s water absorption,” she said.
“It is also a simple fact that there are many consumers out there who simply find it difficult to drink enough water because it is just water and does not taste good – but research has in fact shown that flavours can help with this.
“Flavours help to stimulate consumers to drink more liquid, which thus helps to ensure that they are better hydrated in the long run.”
