{"id":506406,"date":"2026-03-01T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506406\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T01:41:13","slug":"are-electrolyte-supplements-really-beneficial-experts-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506406\/","title":{"rendered":"Are electrolyte supplements really beneficial? Experts weigh in"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Social media is filled with influencers rating electrolyte supplements or even telling followers how to make their own. But experts say many of the claims about the health benefits<\/a> of these drinks need to be taken with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n

Electrolytes are electrically charged substances that help regulate chemical reactions in the body. In the context of hydration, they balance fluid levels inside and outside of cells, said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic. <\/p>\n

We lose some electrolytes through sweat, primarily sodium chloride \u2014 which is what is in table salt. Drinking too much plain water when sweating very heavily can dilute the salt in your body even further, throwing things out of balance. Electrolyte drinks and powders are meant to hydrate and replace the lost salt. They often contain other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium. Many also contain some form of sugar. <\/p>\n

In general, the kidneys in a healthy person do an excellent job of keeping our electrolytes in balance. Extras simply come out in your urine, said Vanderbilt University nephrologist Hunter Huston, who also consults for a UK-based company that provides electrolyte replacement plans for endurance athletes. <\/p>\n

Taking \u201can electrolyte-enriched drink, just for health purposes, probably isn\u2019t doing much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Today \u201crapid hydration\u201d and \u201cadvanced hydration\u201d drinks are taking off, but who actually benefits from them and when?<\/p>\n

This article is part of AP\u2019s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.<\/a><\/p>\n

It all started with Gatorade<\/p>\n

It was 1965 at the University of Florida and then-assistant Gators football Coach Dwayne Douglas had something on his mind. As Robert Cade, the school\u2019s first kidney researcher, later explained, Douglas asked him, \u201cDoctor, why don\u2019t football players wee-wee after a game?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat question changed our lives,\u201d Cade said. <\/p>\n

The obvious answer was that the football players couldn\u2019t urinate because they were losing so much fluid through sweat. Cade\u2019s research team determined a player could lose as much as 18 pounds (8.16 kilograms) during a game. But it wasn\u2019t just water the players were losing. They were sweating away sodium and chloride and losing both plasma volume and blood volume. The losses were sapping their strength and stamina. <\/p>\n

Cade mixed up a briny solution to replace the water and salt players were losing. Sugar would help the gut absorb the sodium. The first batch made him vomit. Some lemon juice made it taste a little better. It still wasn\u2019t delicious, but soon the team\u2019s performance improvement could not be ignored \u2014 especially in the second half of games when the opposite team\u2019s players were starting to wilt in the Florida heat and humidity.<\/p>\n

Cade, who died in 2007, said he never dreamed Gatorade would be purchased by regular consumers.<\/p>\n

No one-size-fits-all<\/p>\n

While it seems that everyone is drinking electrolyte supplements these days, not everyone actually needs them. <\/p>\n

A good rule of thumb is that if you are exercising<\/a> for less than two hours, plain water is probably fine, said Vanderbilt\u2019s Huston. The average healthy person can tolerate losing around 2% of their body weight in sweat before they really start to feel it, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s increased thirst, it\u2019s fatigue, it cramping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone is different, though. Some people sweat very heavily or have sweat that is especially salty. <\/p>\n

In the world of extreme sports like ultramarathons<\/a>, athletes often get professional help to test how much they sweat and get a tailored nutrition plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost folks that are exercising, that are, say, doing a marathon, are gonna be way past that two hours, and it does then make sense to be thinking about, \u2018What\u2019s going to be my fluid and electrolyte replacement plan?\u2019\u201d Huston said.<\/p>\n

Aspirational athletes<\/p>\n

Darren Rovell has followed the rise of sports drinks from a niche market to the mainstream. He is the author of \u201cFirst in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon\u201d and was an investor in the sports drink Bodyarmor.<\/p>\n

When he was a runner in high school, he said, they were given Gatorade to drink and told the reason it tasted bad was because it was good for you. \u201cAnd then at some point in the nineties, it got to be sugary.\u201d After PepsiCo purchased the brand in 2001, \u201cthat really became the first time where you see Gatorade everywhere in front of your face including in a pizza place, and it starts to be, \u2018OK. Is this just a different type of soda?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rovell says electrolyte brands market the idea that drinking their products will either make you an athlete or, if you already are an athlete, give you a performance edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all starts in the aspiration of being better, but you know we do have to check ourselves,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

A flood of newer options<\/p>\n

The supplements out today have an incredibly wide variety of electrolyte concentrations, said Patrick Burns, who practices emergency medicine at Stanford Health Care and occasionally runs in ultramarathons. With some having five times the sodium of others, consumers should not assume all supplements are the same. <\/p>\n

Burns also warned that people should be careful about supplementing potassium, because it can be dangerous in large amounts.<\/p>\n

He noted that many brands now offer zero sugar varieties, even though the glucose in sugar is what allows for rapid absorption of the sodium. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not internally consistent, at all, with what they\u2019re trying to sell you,\u201d he said. \u201cFor optimal absorption, you need some sugar in with your salt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/p>\n

\u201cElectrolytes can help, especially with heavy sweating or exercise, but for most people, they\u2019re not something you need every single day, and you definitely don\u2019t need large amounts of it,\u201d the Cleveland Clinic\u2019s Zumpano said.<\/p>\n

For a healthy person who is not sweating intensely, the beverages probably won\u2019t hurt you, but they won\u2019t help you either. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting extra sugar, and there\u2019s no reason (for) rapid absorption of sodium because you\u2019re not sodium depleted,\u201d said Mark Segal, a professor of nephrology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Most people get all the salt and potassium they need from food, he said.<\/p>\n

As far as making your own electrolyte powders, the experts said it can be done, but you have to know what you are doing. They advised against using a recipe from an influencer. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know how much you need?\u201d Zumpano asked. \u201cThere\u2019s a large margin of error there. I\u2019d probably just avoid it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Social media is filled with influencers rating electrolyte supplements or even telling followers how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[27299,49,3335,48,4850,201796,13425,201795,8638,6388,84,201798,890,395,23467,6376,201797,5296,201799,82,1445,31174],"class_list":["post-506406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-be-well","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-cleveland","tag-darren-rovell","tag-domestic-news","tag-dwayne-douglas","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-julia-zumpano","tag-lifestyle","tag-nutrition","tag-oh-state-wire","tag-ohio","tag-patrick-burns","tag-physical-fitness","tag-robert-cade","tag-sports","tag-tennessee","tag-tn-state-wire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}