GoodSport Aims to Completely Disrupt the Sports Drink Category

In a previous life, I spent some time on the Chocolate Milk account at a PR firm. Yes, chocolate milk has a publicity team, how else do you think it got itself into the finish lines of triathlons across the globe?

“The perfect ratio of carbs and protein to help you recover post workout,” still rolls off of my tongue, and science backs up the milk-chocolatey claims.

So when Michelle McBride was handing out samples of the beverage she created at a gym in Chicago, I was already a believer in the potential of GoodSport. It made perfect sense to me that something derived from milk would be better at hydrating, and could feasibly be packed with the right mix of carbs and electrolytes to help rehydrate an athlete mid-workout. 

Before I took a gulp, the question I asked is the same question a lot of athletes ask, so let’s get it out of the way: Can a lactose intolerant person like me drink GoodSport?

Short answer: yes, through a process called ultrafiltration, GoodSport is lactose free. GoodSport is clear, doesn’t taste like milk, and doesn’t cause me any gastric discomfort. We’ll come back to this ultra-filtration process later because it also adds a surprise benefit. 

Where did this category innovation come from?

The fact that GoodSport exists is the kind of business miracle that’s a mix of obsession, luck, and the desire that Michelle McBride, CEO and Founder of GoodSport, had to do better for her kids.

At her son’s baseball games, a fact nagged at her: a parent or coach would always bring the “traditional sports drinks,” which she told me was filled with “artificial stuff that she didn’t want her son to drink.” 

And after trying natural option after natural option, her son didn’t like the flavor and she’s come to learn that most don’t provide any additional hydration beyond what water provides.

And she’d read the studies about the benefits of recovering with chocolate milk, so she would bring it for a healthier alternative after sports, but it didn’t solve the problem of hydration during sports.

This is where obsession comes in: She figured that there’s got to be a way to harness all of milk’s hydrating properties in a clear, natural, better-hydrating sports drink. An attorney by day, milk-obsessed mom by night, she tried to make an early version of GoodSport at home. That led her to the conclusion that she was going to need to bring in some experts.

And now the luck.

She started strategically asking around, starting with her sports medicine doctor, who directed her to Dr. Bob Murray, who had led the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. McBride shared her big insight with Dr. Murray – that milk could be used to create an even better sports drink – and she recalls him saying that he “couldn’t believe that it had never been done before.” Dr. Murray quickly joined to help in creating the formulation for GoodSport.

From there, McBride spoke with her former neighbor, who worked in the dairy industry. They hadn’t seen each other in years, but he directed McBride to the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin. That connection gave McBride the final ingredient she needed to create GoodSport: the milk, or at least the part of the milk that processors weren’t using.

How GoodSport became an upcycled product

As McBride told the Center for Dairy Research about her plan to extract the electrolyte-rich fluid from milk without letting lactose tag along, she learned that dairy companies already extract protein from milk to produce products like whey protein powder. And often, the liquid gold that McBride was seeking – milk permeate, as it’s known in the dairy industry – was fed to animals or even disposed of.

“In a lot of respects it would have been easier to [ultra-filter the milk] ourselves, because when you’re dealing with a waste stream, it’s not handled in a way you would handle something for human consumption,” McBride shared, before explaining that the company had to create an entirely new supply chain.

Dairy companies, she explained, ultrafilter milk by the millions of pounds every single day. GoodSport works to rescue and upcycle this nutrient rich part of the milk to make the sports drink, sustainably.

How GoodSport is actually linked to better workout performance 

Today, GoodSport touts its benefits loudly: it has three times the electrolytes when compared to a traditional sports drink and 33% less sugar. And those aren’t just great numbers because they all come in threes (although, I’m sure that’s helpful for remembering) – they lead to better athletic performance.

Remember Dr. Bob Murray? He and two other researchers dug in and found that the milk based beverage would actually lead to more rapid rehydration that lasts longer. 

And ultrafiltration has everything to do with that. 

A chemistry refresher from McBride: “To ultrafilter the milk GoodSport adds the Lactase enzyme, which takes the disaccharide lactose and splits it into its two simple sugars: glucose and galactose. So making it lactose-free has two benefits: it’s more easily digested and your body retains the fluid longer.” 

The two simple carbohydrates, she explained, allow your body to absorb the fluid faster, and it provides a more readily available fuel for your muscles that allow your muscles to work harder and longer.

Find GoodSport at more than 1,000 Walmart stores in the midwest, as well as Jewel-Osco. Keep checking the store locator for more stores launching soon and check back for other product innovations.

Eat Nutrition

About Jeana Anderson Cohen

Jeana Anderson Cohen is the founder and CEO of asweatlife.com a premiere wellness media destination that creates content and community to help womxn live better lives and achieve their goals. Before founding health-focused companies Jeana earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison - and fresh out of college she worked on the '08 Obama campaign in Michigan. From there, she created and executed social media strategies for brands. aSweatLife fuses her experience in building community and her passion for wellness. You can find Jeana leading the team at aSweatLife, trying to join a book club, and walking her dog Maverick.