OpEd: Prime Hydration

Prime Hydration: Worth the Money?

By Micah Newman and David Balzac

Prime Hydration is a new energy drink created by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI. From the beginning, it was clear to me that it was set up for success, with such famous creators, it started out with the best possible advertising, it pretty much couldn’t fail. We compared the Prime with Gatorade, its main competitor, to see which one was the best overall. Our first objective was to see which one tasted better. We conducted multiple blinds and non-blind taste tests to determine a winner. As soon as the Prime touched my tongue, I immediately got a blast of flavor, it was fruity and immediately I realized that there was a problem with it. The flavor was far stronger than the Gatorade’s, however, there was a distinct chemical flavor about it and it also gave me the impending feeling that I was going to throw up, so I would say that this category went to the Gatorade.

The second category was the price. With just a glance, it was clear that Prime Hydration would completely lose in this division. With an asking price of 2.5 dollars per 16.9 fluid ounce bottle, ($29.99 for a pack of 12) Prime Hydration is not cheap. Compare this to Gatorade’s 1.6 dollars per bottle (19.99 for a pack of twelve). “It’s overpriced,” said Brandon Sung, an eighth-grader, which pretty much sums it up.

Our last question was about health and we thought that Prime might finally have a victory in this category. The main point in Logan Paul and KSI’s advertising was the fact that Prime Hydration was good for you. We decided to first take a look at the nutrition facts (there is a picture down below). The first thing we noticed was that Prime had almost no sugar, this was in contrast to the 10 grams of sugar in the Gatorade. I was concerned to see the number of chemicals that were shown in the Prime, other than filtered water and coconut water, almost everything else was a manufactured chemical that substituted sugar and had possible negative health effects. According to Mischa Valencia, seventh-grader, “It tasted like it had a lot of sugar but it didn't.” This sugary sweetness may be caused by the number of chemicals. Furthermore, many of the ingredients labeled as vitamins were actually chemicals that were substituted for natural vitamins. It was hard to decide but I would actually have to say that Gatorade is more healthy than Prime Hydration, though sugar can be dangerous in short term and pose long-term threats if consumed in excess, the many chemicals in Prime Hydration may immediately be threatening to human health.

Overall, it seems as though Prime Hydration is not all it seems to be, it has continuously lost to its main competitor, Gatorade, in our trials, it does not pose the taste or health benefits that are shown in advertisements, and it may be a better idea to grab a healthier, tastier and cheaper Gatorade.

Credit: vitaminshoppe.com