Development and Production of Isotonic Sports Drink From Blends of Date Palm and Water Melon Fruits

Date palm and watermelon fruit with the addition of sucrose, glucose, sodium chloride, ascorbic acid, sodium metabisulphite and water were used in the production of isotonic sports drink and a commercial sports drink was used as the reference sample. The energy, carbohydrate, osmolality and pH of the drink were analyzed using standard methods. A significant difference was observed in the energy, pH and osmolality content of the drinks but no significant difference was observed between the carbohydrate content of the drinks. The developed drink had carbohydrate content of 7.3%, energy of 30.1 Kcal, pH of 3.7 and osmolality of 323 mOsm/kg H2 O while the commercial sports drink had carbohydrate content of 6.7%, energy of 26.6 Kcal, pH of 3.1 and osmolality of 290 mOsm/kg H2 O. The developed drink compared favorably with the commercial sports drink and the correlation of the sensory parameters revealed that colour influenced the appearance of the drink.