Prime sports drink hype showing in Ballarat

And Ballarat is far from immune to the Prime sports drink phase primarily targeting young men.

KSI and Logan Paul, both building careers of their YouTube influence, are among leaders of social media marketing creating headaches for health promotions teams trying to catch-up.

Their booming brand launched in Australia earlier this year with only the Prime Hydration product available on the market but still flying off supermarket shelves.

One sporting event in Ballarat last month was sold out early and one fan told The Courier he instead turned online to taste the hype only to find bottles fetching an inflated price, four to six times its retail value.

Prime Energy cannot be sold in Australia because its caffeine levels are twice the national standard - think two Red Bulls' worth in one bottle - but there are widespread reports of people buying the drinks online.

Ballarat Community Health dietitian Zoe McClusky, who also works with youth at Headspace Ballarat, said the brand's rise had put into the spotlight how powerful marketing and information can be to young people when coming directly from individuals behind the brand.

Ms McClusky said how to better promote health messaging and awareness was something health organisations had to work on when up against constant access young people could have to a multitude of social channels and platforms via their phones.

Englishman KSI and American Paul are both controversial figures with controversial content, the latter with pranks and daily vlogs, and have tapped into a market.

Ms McClusky said energy drinks were typically popular with younger demographics. While Prime Energy was not on sale in Australia, she often had Ballarat teenagers presenting with caffeine-related issues from other brands.

Often telling signs were increased bowel movements and urination.

"This caffeine content can create headaches, dizziness, restlessness or rapid heart rate," Ms McClusky said. "...Caffeine can make excess anxiety more severe for young people and create difficulty sleeping. For kids having these drinks at school, they can affect ability to concentrate.

"With sports drinks and energy drinks there are no real benefits for the average person participating in sport."

Federation University exercise and sports science expert Brendan O'Brien said most sports people are undertaking in Ballarat do not require anything much more than water - especially in the cold weather when not sweating as much.

Dr O'Brien said generally only when a person was in an endurance event, at least two to three hours long, did they need to seriously consider a little salt or sugar. This was also a balancing act, given everyone's bodies and responses to exercise were individual.

He said an issue with most major sports drinks brands was high sugar content, well above the carbohydrates a body might need for the average basketball, netball or football match.

In taking a look at the Prime craze, Dr O'Brien said the brand's hydration product was primarily coconut water and, in his research, the body did not tend to lose enough potassium to make this a worthwhile post-sport replenishment.

"You're paying for expensive water," is what Ms McClusky said.

She said the branch chain amino acids, known as BCAAs, promoted in Prime Hydration as protein-building blocks had limited evidence of being beneficial, especially in the amount in one bottle's serve. As for the B vitamins, Ms McClusky said any the body did not need it would tend to flush out.

"Research is all very limited in this space and any that has been done is predominantly on the adult population," she said.

"It's a bit concerning from a dietitian's point of view. What I look for is generally promoting nutrition and eating adequately during the day and good sleep hygiene at night."

Ms McClusky said there were other ways to stay hydrated without the added energy kick.

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