By Kirk Blad and Michael Davies
kirk@newsroom.byu.edu
He wouldn't want to drink it before a date, but he doesn't mind burping it up during a football game.
Kilani Sitake, BYU's starting fullback, is one of several BYU football players who has discovered the power of pickle juice.
'I've cramped in every game I've played, but after six games this season, I have yet to cramp,' Sitake said.
He gave pickle juice the credit and said he prefers dill to sweet.
The BYU football team started using pickle juice after a phone call from Chad Lewis, a former Cougar and current tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lewis tipped the Cougar coaches off to the benefits of pickle juice.
'I had heard about pickle juice for years, but I didn't see it as an option until Chad called,' said George Curtis, BYU's head athletic trainer.
Curtis said Lewis was a chronic cramper. He said Lewis was given pickle juice by one of the Eagles trainers to help remedy his problem.
After the call, Curtis contacted the Eagles trainers and got informed.
The power of pickle juice comes from its incredibly high salt content, said Rick Burkholder, head trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Burkholder doesn't know all the reasons why it works, just that it does.
The Cougars tested pickle juice in pre-season practices.
Since it didn't bother the player's stomachs during the trial period, it is now game-day protocol.
The first time the team used their sour power punch was against Florida State in the season opener.
Scared about how it would work, team trainers had extra medical help on hand. No adverse effects were reported, Curtis said, and now most of the regular players use it in every game.
'They take few ounces an hour before the game and at halftime,' Curtis said.
Although BYU was the first to use pickle juice at any kind of national level, they were not the first to use it, Curtis said.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar both loved pickles, and it was used by Napoleon and his troops before going to battle.
Gabe Reid, Cougar tight end, said he cramped up during the FSU game, but after a dose of the pickle juice, the cramping stopped.
Curtis said the Cougars get their supply of pickle juice from the Cannon Center.
Fewer cramps suggest that pickle juice works, but it is definitely not the only juice the Cougars drink.
'No matter how magical the pickle juice seems to be,' Curtis said. 'We would never trade 2-3 ounces of pickle juice for the hydration of other fluids.'
The Cougars also drink Powerade and water during and before games.