Trend Alert: Electrolytes

Water is essential for optimal hormonal balance and hair and skin health. No wonder the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board recommends a minimum or eight glasses of water a day. (Beverages such as coffee, tea, fruit juices, or milk also help meet your daily fluid needs.) But what about electrolyte-fortified water? Is it really better for us than good old, unadulterated H20?

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What’s an electrolyte anyway?

Electrolytes are minerals that have a natural positive or negative electrical charge when dissolved in water. Your cells use electrolytes to conduct electrical charges, facilitating essential bodily processes such as:

• Maintaining the fluid balance in the cells of your body
• Regulating your blood pressure
• Facilitating the contraction of your heart and muscles
• Stabilizing your blood’s pH balance

The most common electrolytes and their roles in maintaining health include:

• Sodium regulates fluid balance, blood pressure, and nerve function and helps cells absorb nutrients.
• Potassium, which your body uses in combination with sodium, is critical for heart and nerve function and muscle contraction
• Chloride works with sodium to maintain fluid balance and is a component of the stomach acid that digests your food and helps maintain your body’s natural pH balance.
• Calcium builds strong bones and teeth and is vital for muscle control, nerve function, and managing your heart rhythm.
• Magnesium is needed for muscle function, energy production, and the transmission of nerve signals.
• Phosphate helps cells metabolize nutrients and works with calcium to promote bone strength.
• Bicarbonate, which gets retained from some of the carbon dioxide we breathe in and is recycled through the body, helps maintain your blood’s pH balance.

Is electrolyte water superior to regular water for hydration?

We lose electrolytes through sweat, urine, and even breathing, which is why it's important to replenish them. While this can be achieved naturally through eating a balanced diet and drinking plenty of water, electrolyte-enhanced water is sometimes beneficial.

Hydration in itself is critically important. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 50% of people around the globe, including in the U.S., are chronically underhydrated, simply because they don’t drink enough. In most cases, regular water is enough to fulfill your body’s hydration needs. However, electrolyte water may be beneficial if you’re at risk for a sudden loss of minerals such as when:

• You’re exercising for more than one hour
• You tend to sweat heavily during exercise – some people naturally perspire more than others
• You’re experiencing vomiting and/or diarrhea
• You have a high fever causing you to perspire a lot
• It’s really hot outside
• You work in a high-temperature indoor environment such as a foundry, pottery or glass blowing studio, bakery, restaurant kitchen, or certain types of factories

Don’t overdo the electrolytes

Excessive consumption of electrolyte water could stress your kidneys or disrupt fluid balance. Some electrolyte waters contain high levels of sodium, which can lead to high blood pressure, kidney strain, and cardiovascular issues. If you are on a low sodium diet, avoid electrolyte water with a high sodium content. Electrolyte waters that contain too much potassium or calcium can impact heart health and certain body processes. This is especially true for people with kidney disease, who have trouble regulating high levels of potassium or phosphates. If you’re already taking electrolyte supplements, drinking electrolyte water could lead to consuming too much of certain electrolytes, especially if you're not very physically active. Be sure to talk to your doctor before adding more electrolytes to your diet if you are on any medications or a special diet. For help finding a doctor, click here.

Some commercial electrolyte waters contain artificial sweeteners, flavors, or added sugars. The same is true of sports drinks and hydration supplements in powder or tablet form, which are dissolved in water. High sugar content can contribute to weight gain, tooth decay, and even insulin resistance. Moreover, hydration supplements are not monitored by the FDA.

Eat your electrolytes!

For most people, getting enough regular water and consuming electrolyte-rich foods is enough to maintain a healthy metabolism. Read on for some tasty options.

• Potassium can be found in a variety of fruits, such as bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, mangos, and tomatoes, as well as potatoes and sweet potatoes, leafy greens, avocados, lentils, and legumes (kidney, black, red, cannellini etc.)
• Sodium-rich foods, harder to avoid than seek out, should be consumed in moderation. Table or sea salt, olives, pickled and fermented foods, processed meat, and hard cheeses are all rich in sodium.
• Magnesium-rich foods, such as leafy greens, avocados, bananas, or avocados, are often also rich in potassium. Other great sources of magnesium are almonds, cashews, and pumpkin seeds, black beans, whole grains, and – good news – dark chocolate.
• Calcium-rich foods, essential for healthy bones, include milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy products, fortified nut milks, leafy greens, tofu, and tinned salmon and sardines with bones.
• Chloride-rich foods, such as seaweed, tomatoes, olives, or celery, would take a bit more effort to include in your diet if it weren’t for the fact that table salt, which can be added to anything savory, is also high in chloride.
• Phosphates-rich foods include animal protein, such as meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products. If you are vegan or vegetarian, you can get phosphates from nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains, and vegetables, especially broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus.
• Bicarbonate is generally not consumed through diet, although it is present in the baking powder and baking soda used in baked goods. We get most of our bicarbonate from the air we breathe.

In addition to all the tasty dietary choices listed above, try drinking coconut water, which is high in potassium, sodium, and magnesium.

This article first appeared in the January 2025 edition of the HealthPerks newsletter.