Panorama is the UK’s longest running documentary series with a reputation for investigating topical subjects with mass market appeal. It is no surprise therefore to see a programme investigating the sports nutrition market with the Olympics around the corner.

The show bases it’s analysis on a recent study in the British Medical Journal which investigates the impact of sports drinks on performance.

The first thing to note is that the main focus of the show appears to be on the kind of sports drinks that very few people among the bodybuilding or athletic population would use, namely the Iikes of Lucozade and Powerade. We would fully expect that these drinks are criticised for basically being sugar or glucose derivatives mixed in water. Indeed, given the advances in sports nutrition in recent years, these drinks show a very dated nutritional profile with no inclusion of more novel forms of carbohydrate such as Vitargo, waxy maize starch, Karbolyn, and low glycemic index sugars such as Palatinose. Please bear that in mind when watching this show as outside of endurance sports, there is little market for these except among Joe Public who drinks them for taste, as opposed to a dedicated athlete looking to fuel high quality performance in training or competition.

There is also said to be some discussion regarding protein powders with one person consulted basically coming out and saying that protein powder provides nothing which milk does not. It will be interesting to see what they say here as there is plenty of research supporting BCAA supplements, whey protein powder and the like, not to mention that milk in its own right is quite high in carbohydrates and fat which makes it relatively unpopular among athletes whose main focus is to hit a certain amount of protein per meal. Even skimmed milk is more carbohydrate than protein. For someone to hit the 20-40g of protein per meal regarded as the range shown to optimise muscle building they would need to drink a litre which is going to be both unpalatable and difficult for many peoples’ digestive systems to handle without causing flatulence.

Let’s see what the programme says though first before passing judgement. We encourage all readers to watch the show tonight and follow our live twitter updates on the show giving our instant reaction on http://twitter.com/prednutrition where we will also respond to your tweets and RT the best comments.

© 2012, Reggie Johal. All rights reserved.