England's players are using a sports drink developed by double Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee to help control their body temperatures at the World Cup. The Football Association placed a large order of CoreCtrl, a new product from Brownlee's sports nutrition company truefuels, before the tournament to take to the US.
Heat Management in World Cup Preparations
Refuelling and heat management has been a key part of Thomas Tuchel's preparations for the World Cup, with players wearing cooling vests and palm-cooling devices during training in Kansas City. While England's past two matches were played in mild and rainy conditions in Boston and New York, and their last-32 meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo will take place under the roof of Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, heat could be more of a factor if they progress.
Potential Heat Challenges Ahead
Having qualified for the knockout stage as group winners, England's last-16 tie would take place in Mexico City at altitude, and if they get to the quarter-final, Tuchel's side would play in Miami. Two World Cup matches were played in 'severe heat', analysis finds.
How CoreCtrl Works
CoreCtrl is an electrolyte-based powder taken with water designed to support the body's natural thermoregulation by adding the key ingredient L-taurine, a naturally occurring amino acid-like compound. Scientists have found that L-taurine helps reduce the temperature at which the human body begins to sweat, facilitating heat loss.
The FA has a commercial deal with Lucozade as official supplier of sports drinks and sports nutrition for all 24 England national teams, but it does not prohibit the use of other products. Truefuels say that CoreCtrl is a unique product, with a member of the FA's sports science department understood to have placed a private order for use by the players.
Alistair Brownlee's Inspiration
“The idea for CoreCtrl came from some scientific work that was done on taurine,” said Brownlee. “The work was done by a scientist called Jennifer Peel who found that, over eight days, using about 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight for participants improves exercise performance in the heat. Its main impact seems to be that it lowers the point at which the human body starts to sweat and increases the sweat rate, and ability to lose heat through sweat.”
Brownlee has taken a close interest in combating the effects of heat since his brother Jonny collapsed whilst leading a World Series Triathlon event in 2016, with the older sibling helping him across the finish line. Brownlee retired two years ago after winning four world titles in addition to two Olympic golds, and formed truefuels in partnership with Goran Vasiljevic, a former tennis player turned businessman.
“It’s very exciting,” Brownlee said. “I obviously used a lot of it myself and tested it out regularly. I definitely noticed that I started sweating sooner.”
