Electrolyte products are super trendy right now and while the average sedentary American may not need to be lured into the hype, as sports dietitians, we’re thrilled to have so many options available to recommend to our team and 1-1 clients. At the same time, while we know what to recommend, athletes and active adults can easily feel overwhelmed by the number of products available, the claims some of them make, the amounts of electrolytes that are really best, and even if your product needs to provide you with calories or not. Read on to learn more about how to choose the best electrolyte products as we break them down into smaller categories that pertain to your activity level and goals. Plus, we’ll even let you know which ones we don’t recommend!
Before we dive in, you should know that while added magnesium, potassium, zinc and calcium can’t hurt in small amounts, what most people are actually losing in sweat is sodium. It isn’t until endurance or intermittent exercise lasts 3 hours or longer that those minerals are lost in sweat in amounts that would require additional replenishment. For this reason, we’re mainly discussing sodium and carb content below. At the same time, most Americans don’t consume enough of these minerals, especially potassium and magnesium. Aim to consume more from whole plant foods even if you’re using electrolyte products regularly.
Low and No Sugar Electrolyte Products
Electrolyte products that don’t contain sugar are suited for you if you either don’t exercise for longer than an hour, or you endurance train, but prefer to use other sports products and foods to keep up with your intra-workout fueling needs. At KJN we aren’t going to tell clients they can’t have products with artificial sweeteners, but prefer to recommend those that contain real sugar or “natural” alternative sweeteners like stevia and monkfruit, as reflected below. Below, you’ll even see our first option is a no sugar electrolyte product without any sweeteners.
Skratch Hydration Everyday
Skratch has long been our top recommendation as a sports drink, and recently they introduced their “everyday drink mix” that provides 400 mg of sodium and no added sugars or alternative sweeteners. We also love that the ingredients include lime oil, lemon oil and lime juice for flavors, and the only other ingredients you’ll see are electrolyte minerals and vitamin C. Before they released the “salted margarita” flavor, we posted this reel, so we’d like to think we had some influence! This is great to include in a handheld water bottle on a run in the heat or to sip on during the day to keep up with your electrolyte losses when you’re sticking to your training schedule and it’s hot out.
NOW Sports Effer-Hydrate Tabs
If you like a touch of sweetness without the added sugar and a touch of effervescence, this product is for you. Kelly loves the lemon lime, but you’ll find other berry flavors as well. With 360 mg of sodium and 1 gram of sugar, you can add it to a 16-20 ounce water bottle to keep up with your electrolyte needs during the day to support your active lifestyle. You can find it on amazon, or use code KELLYNOW for 20% off your order on their site.
Nuun Sport Hydration Tabs
Another popular tab product is Nuun, which boasts nearly the same nutrition profile as now, but with a touch less sodium at 300 mg. It also does not have that effervescence which may be a pro or con depending on your preferences. While you can order online, Nuun is also available everywhere from Whole Foods and your local grocery store to CVS, so you can easily restock and support hydration when you’re traveling.
Body Armour Flash IV
While other Body Armour products are very low in sodium, and many other also not providing carbs, our position used to be that this brand did not create products that were adequate for athletes and highly active individuals. However, in 2024 they finally released Flash IV, containing 500 mg of sodium. Still, since it has 1 gram of carbohydrate, this is a sodium replenishment mostly with added micronutrients. We’re still waiting for them to release a true sports drink!
LMNT
While we agree sodium is over-demonized and that an emphasis on more potassium, magnesium, and calcium is great for fluid balance and heart health, we also don’t agree that all people need to be bumping up their sodium intake to the level of LMNT, which is 1,000 mg/day. Their marketing may be totally appropriate for active adults (and maybe teen athletes) who eat a diet based in whole foods with minimal intake of low-nutrient ultra processed foods. LMNT is also a great option for heavy sweaters who want to use the product in water during endurance exercise, and rely on sports fueling products for carbs.
Re-lyte
Like LMNT, Re-lyte is a higher sodium product, offering 1,000 mg of sodium. You’ll also see chloride on their label, while it isn’t on many others. This is one way they promote their use of ancient sea salt as their sodium source. They add more potassium than some other products as well. You’ll see no added alternative sweeteners in their unflavored variety, while the other flavors use stevia. The one drawback of re-lyte may be gut discomfort for those using it during endurance training, who experience exercise induced GI distresss. Sodium citrate may reduce GI distress and be better absorbed, which it’s why it’s used in so many other products.
Endurance Gatorlytes
Coming in at 780 mg of sodium per serving is Endurance Gatorlytes packet. This product has been used in pro sports and by endurance athletes for quite some time, and will feel like you’re having a packet of salt in your water. Intended for those who exercise long and hard enough to start losing significant amounts of other minerals in sweat, it contains potassium, magnesium and calcium, too.
The Right Stuff
Even higher in sodium, The Right Stuff provides 1,780 mg in a small liquid packet. Very popular in professional sports for rehydration on hot days and for heavy sweaters, you’ll hear athletes say it tastes like drinking sweat, but does the job! We recommend the strawberry lemonade and fruit punch flavors which don’t contain any artificial sweeteners, colors, or flavors. Another benefit of The Right Stuff for those with sports governing body’s who limit their use of sports products to those that are NSF Certified for Sport is that it holds that cert. This is critical for anyone in the MLB and MiLB, for example.
Other options we’d be cool with our clients using: UCan hydrate, Vega Hydrator, Sugar Free Liquid IV
Light Sports Drinks
Lower carb hydration products are right for you if you spend a lot of time moving outdoors for daily activity, but not necessarily exercise, if you want a boost while exercising under an hour, or if you want a little carb in your endurance beverage while also using other sports fueling products. You’ll see a variety with carbohydrate and sodium content below to determine what is best for you and you activity level, sweat rate, and environment. We considered products to meet this category’s standards if they were below 80 calories per serving.
Thorne Catalyte
Thorne is a very reputable brand that creates high quality products, many of which are NSF Certified for Sport, like Catalyte. Providing 30 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrate, it offers a bit of energy for shorter workouts, or when you have another carb source for longer ones. It also gives you 485 mg of sodium, along with a variety of other minerals, several B vitamins, and vitamin C.
Cure
A newer product, Cure electrolyte drink mix provides 6 grams of carbs and 25 calories, along with 240 milligrams of sodium. This may be great for added hydration on a hot, but less active, or to help sustain you during shorter activities, lasting under an hour. If you like to eat watermelon, you have to try the watermelon flavor they offer.
Liquid IV
An option that has become wildly popular in recent years is liquid IV. It’s one of the first options to grow quickly while providing less sugar and more sodium than a traditional sports drink, great for active individuals who sweat, but don’t engage in endurance activities. I even used liquid IV while nursing to keep up with energy needs and stay hydrated. While it’s of course available on Amazon, you can also find it in drug stores and even Costco.
Gatorlyte
One of the Gatorade brand products we recommend is Gatorlyte, which comes in both powdered packet and bottled formats. Clocking in with 490 mg of sodium per bottle, we’re much more fond of this sodium content for active individuals than a traditional thirst quencher. It’s also a bit lower in sugar with 60 calories from carbs in a 20 ounce serving. We recommend Cherry Lime as it’s the flavor free of artificial colors. Find it at your local grocery store and don’t confuse with the endurance gatorlytes mentioned above!
Klean Hydration
Like Gatorlyte, Klean Hydration provides 60 calories of carbs per serving. However, it only provides 180 mg of sodium. This option may be best for those who need to replace adequate energy, but who don’t have heavy sweat rates. Some of the teen boys we work with who are attempting to gain weight come to mind!
Precision Hydration
While used by many endurance athletes, Precision hydration products focus more on electrolytes than maximizing carb intake. Their hydration packets provide 65 calories from carbs with sodium options at 500 mg, 1000 mg, or 1500 mg, so you can tailor them to your sweat rates. Precision also offers reputable sweat testing, though you need to be near one of their locations.
Dietitian Approved Sports Drinks
Sports drinks are products that provide both adequate carbohydrate and adequate sodium to replenish losses during endurance, or long duration intermittent activities. Anyone from track athletes and swimmers, to soccer and tennis players, to cyclists can benefit from sports drinks when activity is over an hour, and especially if it will last over 90 minutes, or there will be another practice or competitive event in the same day. That’s because the stored form of carbohydrate, glycogen, is the most efficient and preferred source of energy for exercising muscles, though the body will pull from blood glucose while you’re moving, too. As exercise goes on and these stores drop, they should be replaced to maintain intensity and support longer duration. A standard sports drink provides around a 6% carbohydrate solution, which is the amount typically well absorbed and tolerated by the digestive tract.
Skratch
Skratch sport drink mix is a top recommendation based on it’s nutrient content and ingredients. Per serving you’ll get almost 20 grams of carbs with 400 mg of sodium. We love the carb sources to lessen stress on the GI tract and the use of real fruit oils, powders and extracts for flavor.
Honey Stinger
Honey Stinger hydration had it’s formula updated a couple of years ago, and they even have a caffeinated option if you’d like to use the product pre-workout, or to get a boost during long endurance training sessions. One serving provides 70 calories and 500 mg of sodium. The caffeinated flavor adds 75 mg of caffeine.
Tailwind Endurance Fuel
With 100 calories, 25 grams of carbohydrate and 310 mg of sodium per serving, Tailwind Endurance Fuel is fantastic for those with light to moderate salt sweat rates, especially when training in moderate or cool weather. We’re fans of their ingredients and that keep it real by not over-using other electrolytes that most people don’t need to replace in a sports drink. Just note that their endurance formula isn’t as high in energy as you may need for longer endurance events, lasting 3+ hours, or for endurance athletes who have trouble keeping weight on and preventing REDS).
Momentous Fuel
We finally got on board with Momentous Fuel this year after trying both flavord for our MLB clients (since it’s NSF Certified for Sport). A delicious product, Fuel offers 110 calories, 28 grams of carbs, and 300 mg of sodium per serving. Heavy sweaters can stand to add another sodium product for longer duration activity if they’d like, as we recommend with Tailwind.
Precision 60g Carb
As with Precision’s lighter product, Precision Fuel 60g carb provides you with options with your sodium content, but more adequate carbs for endurance. You’ll get 120 calories per serving via 30 grams of carbs per serving, but 60 grams if you use as directed in one liter of fluid.
Skratch Super High Carb
For those with higher energy needs for endurance, multiple workouts per day, and/or the need to keep weight up, Skratch Super High Carb has you covered with carb sources that should lessen stress on the digestive tract when you have them in this high of a quantity during exercise. You’ll get 200 calories and 100 grams of carbs, though the serving is 7 scoops and still just provides 400 mg of sodium. If you have a gut of steel and are a salty sweater, try half a serving of this with a double serving of skratch sports mix to get more calories and more sodium.
Maurten Drink Mix
Available in 160 and 320 calorie options, Maurten drink mixes provide plenty of carbs, but only 160 and 200 mg of sodium, respectively. If your calorie needs are that high, you’ll likely need an additional sodium containing product during training or competition.
Electrolyte Products We Don’t Recommend
The ones we don’t recommend are often those marketed as sports drinks that don’t actually provide what you need: sodium and carbs. Our best example as of late here is Prime. We can’t understand how they get away with calling themselves a sports drink and want parents everywhere to know it’s not what’s best for their kids.
We also don’t recommend the products that tout being high in electrolytes, while being low in sodium. We’re looking at you Body Armour and Ultima.
And finally, we prefer to keep the ingredients as natural as possible most of the time. While using Gatorade available on the course on race day won’t hurt you, we believe it’s best to put in higher quality ingredients when you’ll be using a product on a daily basis. We skip options like Propel and Powerade zero for these reasons, too. There’s better ways to flavor a beverage and you can even make your own sports drink to save money!