You’d be hard-pressed to scroll through social media right now without stumbling on an electrolyte powder promising to “supercharge your hydration.” But do you really need them? Are your levels actually depleted? Unless you’re training for a marathon, doing high-intensity exercise for more than an hour daily, or traveling somewhere oppressively hot, the answer is probably no. Electrolytes are in everything we eat and drink, and sometimes even water.
Electrolytes are essential to basic body functions, but unlike carbs, proteins, and fats, they haven’t sparked much public debate—until now. As micronutrients, they’ve mostly operated in the background while macronutrients stole the spotlight.
On the surface, electrolytes are simple: common minerals and salts—like sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphate—that, when dissolved in water, lose or gain an electron and become electrically charged.
So why are electrolytes having their moment in the health and wellness industry? Perhaps, because we’re obsessed with optimizing performance. Proof is the sheer size of the sports nutrition industry, which amounts to $49 billion worldwide. We demand our bodies to function at peak level, and the thought du jour is that electrolyte supplements—probably because we lose them when we sweat—are a way to get there.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a board-certified family physician, seven-time New York Times best-selling author specializing in natural healing, and president of the Nutritional Research Foundation, begs to differ. He told Worth, “One of the major contributors to cardiovascular death worldwide is excess sodium [the most prevalent electrolyte] because it raises blood pressure,” he said. “Also, it’s inflammatory, increases the risk of stomach cancer, and decreases the immune response.”
Dr. Fuhrman explained that when we consume too much salt, the body has to ditch the excess. That means we’re urinating and sweating it out, but our bodies can’t isolate sodium, so we’re also losing a host of other valuable electrolytes.
“We need less than 1000 mg/day [the Federal guideline is 2300mg]. The American Heart Association thinks it should be much lower than they’ve endorsed, but they don’t believe people would adhere to it, so they’ve kept their recommendation at less than 2300mg/day.”
As mentioned, electrolytes are minerals. On a cellular level, they are essential to life. We’re like cars, with pistons, engines, and brakes—but without an electrical system telling those parts when and how to work, the car goes nowhere. Without electrolytes, our hearts wouldn’t beat, our legs wouldn’t move, and our brains wouldn’t send and receive information.
The human body is 60% water, essentially salty water, which resides in three primary places: inside cells, around the cells, and in the blood, which is 80% water.
One of the ways electrolytes work is by regulating the concentration of salt inside and outside of cells, enabling the two-way transport of nutrients.
The process is a bit like brining a turkey. Soaking a bird in salty water helps it absorb and retain moisture, resulting in a juicier roast. Similarly, electrolytes help the body manage fluid balance by controlling how water moves in and out of cells. They keep salt levels on both sides of the cell membrane in check, ensuring that water ends up where it’s needed, whether in muscles, organs, or tissues.
That’s the big picture. Here are the players.
Major Electrolytes:
Sodium: Maintaining Fluid Balance
Salt is the electrolyte most people are familiar with and the primary component of most electrolyte formulas. When we sweat, it’s released through the pores. Additionally, vomiting, diarrhea, and taking certain medications (like for high blood pressure or diabetes) contribute to sodium loss. Luckily, it’s very easy to replenish. Healthy salty foods include edamame, dried seaweed, salted nuts (which also supply phosphates), olives, and tinned fish. Or, you could follow Dr. Fuhrman’s advice and trust your body to slowly adapt to lower sodium intake.
Nerve Impulse Transmission
Potassium works hand in hand with sodium in one of the body’s most essential functions—facilitating nerve impulse transmission, in other words, sending constant messages back and forth through the body, brain, and central nervous system. One cup of orange juice, a banana, or half an avocado each contains 500mg of potassium, more than most people would sweat out in an hour’s active exercise.
Calcium: Retracting Muscles
Calcium plays a central role in muscle contraction, which isn’t just something you need at the gym while doing bicep curls. The heart is a muscle, and it must contract approximately every second. Because the body has a relentless need for heart-contracting calcium, when the diet doesn’t supply enough, calcium is withdrawn from its primary storage facility, the bones, which serve multiple purposes besides providing a structure for the body to exist around. If it isn’t replenished, which can be challenging, osteoporosis (thinning and/or brittle bones) can result. Calcium also aids in blood clotting, nerve impulse conduction, and fluid balance. As anyone who’s ever seen a “Got Milk?” ad over the last 30 years can tell you, dairy products are high in calcium. Other sources include leafy greens (best absorbed when eaten with citric acid from lemons or oranges), canned fish containing bones (sardines or salmon), and calcium fortified foods, like soy milk. To get enough calcium, many people will need to take a readily available and inexpensive supplement, which isn’t the same as an electrolyte powder.
Magnesium: Relaxing Muscles
Like calcium, magnesium is stored in bones and is essential for muscular response. While calcium tells the muscle to contract, magnesium tells them to relax. Traditional advice for people who experience leg cramps has been to take magnesium because it’s thought that the muscles’ inability to relax signals a deficit. Additionally, magnesium assists in energy production, nerve function and blood pressure regulation. Magnesium is high in bananas, nuts, grains, greens, and meat.
The electrolyte industry has mastered the art of selling a solution to a problem most people don’t have. By reframing ordinary thirst or fatigue as evidence of an electrolyte imbalance, brands have created a booming market. In 2019, Liquid I.V.—still a fledgling startup—raised $5 million from celebrities like Kevin Hart, Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, James Corden, and White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger. A year later, Unilever bought the company for $500 million.
Aubry Bright, MS, exercise physiologist and Health Promotion Consultant for Washington State, told Worth, “I’ve never recommended them to anyone. If it’s already a part of what a client does, I wouldn’t ask them to stop, but I don’t think they’re necessary for overall recovery for an average person working out hard. People can get hydration and electrolyte needs met from water and the food they eat.”
Dr. Fuhrman offers an alternative to electrolyte powders:
“Eat green vegetables. Without vegetables, the lymphocytes that live in the small intestines atrophy, and our gut microbiome decreases. We should get electrolytes in a package made by nature with antioxidants and a host of micronutrients, fibers, phytonutrients. When we combine different vegetables, we have robust immune protection.”
In other words, consuming electrolyte powders may accomplish one thing: replenishing lost minerals and boosting fluid retention. Vegetables do that and much more. Dr.Fuhrman walks through all of his nutrition recommendations in his latest book, Eat For Life.
The final word goes to Dr. Marion Nestle, author of 15 books about the intersection of nutrition and big business. She is also an emerita Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health—and Professor of Sociology—at NYU. “Fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans are full of electrolytes, way more than you can ever get in a drink. If you want all those minerals, eat your veggies!”
