Sorry to contradict you andrewj100 but you are quite wrong. Salt is a critical part of an energy drink and to suggest that it is unnecessary is dangerous. This is because if you do not replace the salt you sweat out you are diluting the salt you have left; this has and will kill, look up "water intoxication".

I did some research about this whole subject and basically fiddler you are in the area. The only things that are proven to reduce fatigue are carbohydrate water and salt.

I use 8% carbohydrate split half glucose and half sucrose (table sugar) but it doesn't really matter what type. I use a salt concentration of 20 mmol/L which equates to about 1/2 a teaspoon per litre but higher is okay (see refs).

Here are some useful references:

This (http://tinyurl.com/66jq38) is the EU scientific committee report on energy drinks. Section 7.6 of it is the EU specification for energy drinks. If you can get access to it the document referenced here (http://tinyurl.com/5f7znw) has an excellent discussion of energy drinks... M