There is a large, growing and highly competitive market for electrolyte powders, drinks and tablets. In 2024, the electrolyte drinks market was valued at approximately US$38 billion.
The products are designed to be consumed before, during and after exercise – and manufacturers claim they optimize hydration, health and performance. There are even options to supplement your daily hydration, whether you exercise or not.
But do we really need to replace the electrolytes lost in sweat? And are sports drinks, electrolyte powders, and salty supplements really the best way to do this?
What are electrolytes used for?
Electrolytes are minerals – like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium – that have an electrical charge that influences how water moves in the body.
— They help maintain fluid balance — explains Dr. Amy West, specialist in sports medicine at Northwell Health.
They help transport fluids in and out of cells and regulate blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle and nerve functions.
Although they are found in supplements and sports drinks, they are also present in the foods we eat daily.
— When we talk about potassium, it is present in a banana — explains Heidi Skolnik, nutritionist at the Hospital for Special Surgery. — When you eat a pretzel, it contains sodium.
When you sweat, you lose fluids and electrolytes, and if you lose too much fluid, you can become dehydrated. The volume of blood in your body decreases, and “your heart has to pump harder to circulate the same amount of blood,” Skolnik explains.
Do we really need to replace them?
When you lose an unusually large amount of water and electrolytes, as can happen with severe diarrhea, you need to replace them. In these situations, doctors often recommend an oral rehydration solution, which typically contains more sodium and potassium than a regular sports drink.
But experts say you probably don’t need to consume a sports drink during your regular workouts. Even if your workouts are intense or take place in hot weather, drinking water when you’re thirsty is enough to stay hydrated. The sugar and carbohydrates in many sports drinks can certainly help competitive athletes maintain energy, but electrolytes have little impact.
In the 1990s, the standard medical recommendation was that athletes consume high-sodium beverages during any exercise lasting more than an hour. However, more recent research has shown that even with the loss of sodium through sweat and urine, the body maintains the concentration of sodium in the blood. In several small-scale studies, athletes reported no difference in performance between training with water and electrolyte drinks, even after five hours of running at 30°C.
It’s been well established for at least a decade that electrolytes don’t contribute much to performance, said Ricardo Da Costa, associate professor of sports dietetics at Monash University in Australia.
— But the marketing strategies of sports drink companies are more effective than those of researchers — says Da Costa.
—Everyone thinks you need to replace lost electrolytes immediately—emphasizes Tamara Hew-Butler, a sports medicine scientist at Wayne State University. – It’s not necessary. Typically, you replace what you’ve lost with meals.
Most of the time, just drink water when you’re thirsty. If you spend hours outside in the heat for several days and start experiencing symptoms of dehydration, such as dizziness, you may want to turn to a sports drink or supplement, especially if your diet doesn’t contain enough electrolytes, said Robert Kenefick, professor of biomedical and nutritional sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
In rare cases, you may have too much fluid and not enough sodium in your blood, a condition called hyponatremia, which can cause nausea, fatigue, and in more severe cases, seizures or death. This is more likely to happen if you have certain medical conditions, such as heart, liver, or kidney problems.
For athletes, this can happen if they drink too much fluid before, during and after long workouts, diluting the electrolytes in their blood. However, most sports drinks don’t contain enough sodium to prevent this, says Da Costa.
Are there any disadvantages?
Besides cost, experts say there are few downsides to drinking electrolyte drinks. As long as you’re healthy, they don’t have enough electrolytes to overload your body (called hypernatremia), says Kenefick. And the sweet taste can motivate you to hydrate.
However, like most supplements, electrolyte products are not well regulated and can even be contaminated, says Hew-Butler. In 2015, she and her team discovered dangerous levels of arsenic in Muscle Milk and Gatorade powder drinks that had been given to college athletes. The athletes showed no signs of being harmed by the exposure.
You won’t see “arsenic” on a supplement’s label, but you should check the amount of sugar in drinks, which may be about the same.
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