Are Electrolyte Supplements Worth It?

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Electrolytes are important for our body; specifically, it’s important that they be maintained in balance. Mostly our kidneys and a balanced diet can do this for us, but certain things can throw them off-kilter.

  • While supplementation can help, it is also certainly possible to have too much of a good thing, and we struck gold with a research review (making ours here a meta-review, of course) that outlined in clear terms when to grab the electrolytes, and when to skip them.

• Did you remember to start tracking your hydration this week, per yesterday’s challenge?

  • Today’s sponsor, Hint Water, are offering 10almonds subscribers 45% off and free shipping, on their already very reasonably-priced flavored waters and vitamin waters

    • They are, by the way, free from sugar and artificial sweeteners, so these are different from ones you’ve probably tried before

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

What yoga does to your body and brain (6:01)

Dr. Krishna Sudhir (a cardiologist with over 30 years experience in research, with focus on hypertension and atherosclerosis) explains:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Prefer text? Click here to see TEDed’s text-based resource page for this topic 🙂

💦 MAIN FEATURE

When To Take Electrolytes (And When We Shouldn't!)

Any sports nutrition outlet will sell electrolyte supplements. Sometimes in the form of sports drinks that claim to be more hydrating than water, or tablets that can be dissolved in water to make the same. How do they work, and should we be drinking them?

What are electrolytes?

They’re called “electrolytes” because they are ionized particles (so, they have a positive or negative electrical charge, depending on which kind of ion they are) that are usually combined in the form of salts.

The “first halves” of the salts include:

• Sodium

• Potassium

• Calcium

• Magnesium

The “second halves” of the salts include:

• Chloride

• Phosphate

• Bicarbonate

• Nitrate

It doesn’t matter too much which way they’re combined, provided we get what we need. Specifically, the body needs them in a careful balance. Too much or too little, and bad things will start happening to us.

If we live in a temperate climate with a moderate lifestyle and a balanced diet, and have healthy working kidneys, usually our kidneys will keep them all in balance.

Why might we need to supplement?

Firstly, of course, you might have a dietary deficiency. Magnesium deficiency in particular is very common in North America, as people simply do not eat as much greenery as they ideally would.

But, also, you might sweat out your electrolytes, in which case, you will need to replace them.

In particular, endurance training and High Intensity Interval Training are likely to prompt this.

However… Are you in a rush? Because if not, you might just want to recover more slowly:

Source: Fluid and electrolyte needs for training, competition, and recovery

Should we just supplement anyway, as a “catch-all” to be sure?

Probably not. In particular, it is easy to get too much sodium in one’s diet, let alone by supplementation. And, oversupplementation of calcium is very common, and causes its own health problems. See:

• How Too Much Salt May Lead To Organ Failure

• Vitamin D and Calcium: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

To look directly to the science on this one, we see a general consensus amongst research reviews: “this is complicated and can go either way depending on what else people are doing”:

• Trace minerals intake: risks and benefits for cardiovascular health

• Electrolyte minerals intake and cardiovascular health

Well, that’s not helpful. Any clearer pointers?

Yes! Researchers Latzka and Mountain put together a very practical list of tips. Rather, they didn’t put it as a list, but the following bullet points are information extracted directly from their abstract, though we’ve also linked the full article below:

• It is recommended that individuals begin exercise when adequately hydrated.

  • This can be facilitated by drinking 400 mL to 600 mL of fluid 2 hours before beginning exercise and drinking sufficient fluid during exercise to prevent dehydration from exceeding 2% body weight.

• A practical recommendation is to drink small amounts of fluid (150-300 mL) every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise, varying the volume depending on sweating rate.

  • During exercise lasting less than 90 minutes, water alone is sufficient for fluid replacement

  • During prolonged exercise lasting longer than 90 minutes, commercially available carbohydrate electrolyte beverages should be considered to provide an exogenous carbohydrate source to sustain carbohydrate oxidation and endurance performance.

• Electrolyte supplementation is generally not necessary because dietary intake is adequate to offset electrolytes lost in sweat and urine; however, during initial days of hot-weather training or when meals are not calorically adequate, supplemental salt intake may be indicated to sustain sodium balance.

Source: Water and electrolyte requirements for exercise

Bonus tip:

We’ve talked before about the specific age-related benefits of creatine supplementation, but if you’re doing endurance training or HIIT, you might also want to consider a creatine-electrolyte combination sports drink (even if you make it yourself):

Creatine-electrolyte supplementation improves repeated sprint cycling performance: a double-blind randomized control study

Where can I get electrolyte supplements?

They’re easy to find in any sports nutrition store, or you can buy them online; here’s an example product on Amazon for your convenience 🙂 

You can also opt for natural and/or homemade electrolyte drinks:

Healthline | 8 Healthy Drinks Rich in Electrolytes

Enjoy!

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

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Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

🌎 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• How your microbiome is shaped by your friends, family, lovers and pets

• New strategy for eye condition could replace injections with eyedrops

• Walking and Mediterranean diet may be the ticket to reducing dementia risk

• New drugs have increased survival rates for men with metastatic prostate cancer

• Robotic device could revolutionize how women monitor their breast health

• Octopus-inspired suction patch revolutionizes drug delivery, promising an injection-free future

• Trametinib: potential therapeutic game-changer for Alzheimer's disease

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence – by Gary Mack and David Casstevens

While this book seems to be mostly popular amongst young American college athletes and those around them (coaches, parents, etc) its applicability is a lot wider than that.

The thing is, as this book details, we don't have to settle for less than optimal in our training—whatever "optimal" means for us, at any stage of life.

The style is largely narrative, and conveys a lot of ideas through anecdotes. They are probably true, but whether they occured entirely as-written or have been polished or embellished is not so important, as to to give food for thought, and reflection on how we can hone what we're doing to work the best for us.

Nor is it just a long pep-talk, though it certainly has a motivational aspect. But rather, it covers also such things as the seven critical areas that we need to excel at if we want to be mentally robust, and—counterintuitively—the value of slowing down sometimes. The authors also talk about the importance of love, labor, and ongoing learning if we want a fulfilled life.

Bottom line: if you are engaged with any sport or sport-like endeavor that you'd like to be better at, this book will sharpen your training and development.

Click here to check out Mind Gym, and optimize yours!

Wishing you a well-informed healthy start to the week,

The 10almonds Team