Within the comedic, dystopian film Idiocracy, set in 2505, all water in the US has been replaced with a Gatorade-like drink called Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator. They even water the crops with Brawndo because Brawndo supposedly “has what plants crave”: electrolytes.
Well, replacing plain H20 (which, in Idiocracy, is barely utilized in toilets) with Brawndo kills the crops, threatening the long run of humanity. Thankfully, a man from the past (played by Luke Wilson) convinces people living in the long run to start out watering their crops with “toilet water” as an alternative of Brawndo and thus saves society from collapse.
While Idiocracy is satire, if you happen to walk down the drink section of your nearby convenience store, you may get the impression that we’re on the trail to pondering every living creature needs more electrolytes and replacing all of our fluids with people who include them. There are rows and rows of drinks boasting in regards to the amount of electrolytes they contain and the way they’ll quench your thirst. Tweens across America are clamoring for his or her parents to purchase them Prime, an electrolyte drink made by YouTube-provocateur-turned-professional-wrestler Logan Paul.
But will we really need all these electrolyte-infused beverages? Do they boost your health and athletic performance?
To resolve these questions, I talked to Dr. Robert Kenefick, a scientist who has spent his profession researching hydration and electrolytes and even worked for the U.S. Army to assist find ways to maintain soldiers healthy and hydrated on the battlefield. He also heads the research department at Entrinsic Bioscience, which studies and develops electrolyte supplements.
Here’s what I learned from Dr. Kenefick.
What Are Electrolytes and Why Are They Essential?
Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in water. They play an important role in maintaining proper bodily functions. A few of the fundamental electrolytes include sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, and phosphate. These minerals regulate fluid balance, support nerve and muscle function, and facilitate metabolic processes.
Dr. Kenefick said that probably the most significant role electrolytes — particularly sodium — play once you’re sweating bullets helps you keep fluids so that you don’t get dehydrated. “Wherever sodium goes, water follows,” Dr. Kenefick told me. “So if you could have sodium in a beverage, you’ll retain the water to a greater degree than the identical amount of water over a time period in comparison with once you don’t.”
How Do You Lose Electrolytes?
We lose electrolytes primarily through 4 bodily excretions: sweat, pee, poop, and vomit.
The quantity of electrolytes you lose via sweat will depend upon aspects like environment temperature, exercise intensity, and your sweat rate. Some people are likely to excrete more electrolytes of their sweat than others. That just comes right down to genetics. You may tell if you happen to’re an enormous electrolyte excreter by taking a look at dark workout clothes after your sweat has dried; if you happen to see some white streaks, that indicates you’ve let off a variety of minerals.
Dr. Kenefick told me the most important way people lose electrolytes is once they get sick and vomit and have a variety of diarrhea, noting that “You really lose loads more electrolytes through diarrhea than you do through sweat.” Young children lose a variety of electrolytes once they get a stomach bug and have fluids coming out of each ends, which is why doctors typically recommend that oldsters give their kids an electrolyte beverage once they’re sick.
Can You Develop an Electrolyte Deficiency?
The large selling point of electrolyte beverages is that they’ll show you how to replenish an electrolyte deficiency.
But Dr. Kenefick identified that electrolyte imbalances don’t occur all that much except in extreme circumstances like where you’re throwing up and vomiting from an illness or exercising day after day in hot weather.
“The body does a excellent job of maintaining electrolyte balances without you having to do much,” Dr. Kenefick explained. “For instance, potassium may be very tightly regulated within the body. Your kidneys know when to carry on to potassium as an alternative of excreting it and when to excrete more as an alternative of hold on to it.”
Furthermore, you’re probably getting all of the electrolytes you would like from eating. Electrolytes are so strongly related to sports drinks as of late, you’ll be able to almost forget that the identical minerals you get from Gatorade are present in food, too.
“If you could have a comparatively normal American food regimen, you’re going to get the electrolytes you would like out of your food to be healthy,” Dr. Kenefick said. “It’s just in extreme situations where you’re doing a variety of strenuous exercise day after day after day in the warmth or once you’re really sick that imbalances might occur.” That’s because an everyday food regimen isn’t sufficient to compensate for the electrolytes lost in these circumstances.
What Happens When You Run Low on Electrolytes?
So let’s say you sweat bullets for several days in a row and have low electrolytes. What is going to occur to you?
It’s your ability to retain fluids that can be most affected. “The first thing we’re frightened about in relation to electrolytes is that they assist your body stay hydrated,” Dr. Kenefick said. “For those who don’t have enough electrolytes, your body goes to have a harder time keeping the fluids it needs for normal functioning.” Dehydration can result in a lack of strength and stamina and to heat exhaustion.
Over the long run, losing a variety of electrolytes can leave you depleted within the minerals that not only show you how to hydrate, but additionally perform other health-facilitating functions within the body.
Does Having High Levels of Electrolytes Boost Athletic Performance?
Possibly. We do know that adequate hydration is crucial for athletic performance. In case your muscles aren’t hydrated, you’re going to feel sluggish. A 2007 review article suggests that inadequate hydration can reduce strength by roughly 2%, power by about 3%, and high-intensity endurance by as much as 10%.
Just a few studies have shown that athletes who devour an electrolyte + carbohydrate beverage perform higher than those that hydrate with water. But these studies are limited. In some instances, the difference in performance wasn’t statistically significant. It looks like the most important performance boost from drinking an electrolyte beverage comes if you happen to’re dehydrated. For those who’re already well-hydrated before an athletic event, drinking a sports drink might be not going to enhance your performance.
You might have also heard that electrolytes prevent muscle cramping — is that true?
Researchers still aren’t sure what causes muscle cramping. Just a few studies have shown that drinking an electrolyte complement will help keep your muscles hydrated and thus reduce the likelihood of cramping, but that evidence is restricted. It’d help; it may not.
So Do I Have to Take An Electrolyte Complement?
For those who’ve read every little thing above, you recognize the reply might be no.
As Dr. Kenefick told me multiple times, electrolyte supplementation is barely crucial in extreme circumstances. For those who or your kid is sick and are losing a variety of fluids, drinking an electrolyte complement could be useful for rehydrating. It will even be useful if you happen to’re doing a variety of strenuous exercise or working day in and time out in the warmth.
For those who’re just lifting weights indoors or running just a few miles every other day, you most likely don’t must take an electrolyte complement. Your regular food regimen and water consumption will likely be sufficient to present you the electrolytes and fluids that you must stay healthy and hydrated. If you devour sports drinks in these circumstances, you’re probably just peeing out the electrolytes — you’re pissing away your money.
Can You O.D. on Electrolytes?
Dr. Kenefick noted that a growing concern that has provide you with the proliferation of electrolyte supplements is people overdosing on them.
“For probably the most part, your kidneys do job handling excess electrolyte intake,” Dr. Kenefick told me. “Your body has certain hormones that tell the kidneys to eliminate excess electrolytes that it doesn’t need.”
He did say, nevertheless, that folks with hypertension should be careful with drinking electrolyte supplements because they’ll increase their sodium levels.
What’s the Best Form of Electrolyte Beverage?
Alright. So let’s say you end up in a circumstance where consuming a sports drink or electrolyte complement could be useful. What’s the most effective kind to take?
Dr. Kenefick recommends on the lookout for one that mixes electrolytes with glucose; sugar is essential for the optimal absorption of electrolytes. As Dr. Kenefick explained, “Glucose is a sodium cotransporter. When glucose goes through the intestinal wall, it pulls sodium with it. And as I said earlier, where sodium goes, water goes with it. So a glucose plus electrolyte beverage is absolutely good at helping you hydrate.”
With that said, you’ve got to watch out with this. “Pedialyte puts way an excessive amount of glucose of their drinks. They’re principally sugar bombs,” Dr. Kenefick said. “Yeah, the sugar helps make the salty-tasting electrolytes go down easier, however it’s probably way an excessive amount of sugar.”
What’s more, in some instances, glucose can actually stimulate your gut to not absorb nutrients like electrolytes, which is why Dr. Kenefick is working on developing an electrolyte complement that uses amino acids to hold sodium and water to the body: “You avoid the problem of glucose getting in the best way of absorption, and also you don’t must worry about drinking excess sugar. Using amino acids in electrolyte supplements is the following revolution in hydration science.”
Before that revolution arrives, search for an electrolyte beverage that has a bit but not a variety of glucose — around 13 grams.
What should the electrolyte makeup of that beverage or complement appear to be?
Dr. Kenefick noted that back within the Fifties, scientists thought a rehydration beverage must have the identical concentration of electrolytes as you lose in your sweat. “Those electrolyte levels were too high. You didn’t need that much, and it just resulted in a nasty-tasting drink,” he said.
The WHO has a suggestion for the best composition of a rehydration drink:
- Sodium chloride: 2.6 grams
- Trisodium citrate: 2.9 grams
- Potassium chloride: 1.5 grams
“A lot of the popular electrolyte beverages available on the market have greater than this, “Dr. Kenefick observed. “Again, it won’t hurt you to drink an electrolyte beverage with greater than the WHO suggestion, however it probably won’t do much for you either.”
Bottom Line
Electrolytes are essential for a variety of bodily functions. They play a key role in keeping you hydrated. But unless you’re sick and losing fluids or doing a variety of physical activity in the warmth, you most likely don’t must devour electrolyte-fortified beverages.
And you actually shouldn’t water your tomato plants with them.