Are electrolyte supplements really beneficial? Experts weigh in

Social media has helped turn electrolyte supplements into an everyday product, but experts say many of the claims circulating online do not match how the body actually handles hydration. Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, said electrolytes are involved in balancing fluid levels inside and outside of cells, and that people typically lose electrolytes through sweat. She cautioned that for many people, routinely taking electrolyte-enriched drinks for general health is unlikely to produce meaningful benefits.

Electrolytes are electrically charged substances that help regulate chemical reactions in the body. In the context of hydration, Zumpano said electrolytes balance fluid levels inside and outside of cells. When a person sweats heavily, they can lose sodium chloride—the salt in table salt—and experts said that replacing the lost salt is the main reason electrolyte drinks and powders are used during intense exercise.

Zumpano and others said the kidneys in a healthy person usually keep electrolytes in balance. Hunter Huston, a Vanderbilt University nephrologist who consults for a company that provides electrolyte replacement plans for endurance athletes, said extra electrolytes typically come out in urine and that taking an electrolyte-enriched drink “just for health purposes, probably isn’t doing much.” He added that drinking too much plain water when sweating very heavily can dilute the salt further, throwing the body out of balance.

Huston said the need for electrolytes depends on the duration and intensity of activity. He said a practical guideline is that if someone exercises for less than two hours, plain water is probably fine for most people. Huston said the average healthy person can tolerate losing around 2% of body weight in sweat before symptoms like increased thirst, fatigue and cramping start to show up.

Experts said individual differences still matter. Some people sweat more heavily or have sweat that is especially salty, and in endurance events such as ultramarathons, athletes may work with professionals to test how much they sweat and to create tailored nutrition plans. Huston said runners often move beyond the two-hour threshold and that it then makes sense to think about a fluid and electrolyte replacement plan.

The modern popularity of sports drinks dates back decades, with Gatorade becoming widely recognized long before electrolyte powders and “rapid hydration” products flooded the shelves. The AP report traced one origin story to 1965 at the University of Florida, when assistant football coach Dwayne Douglas asked Robert Cade, then the school’s first kidney researcher, about why players “wee-wee” after games. Cade later explained that his research team found players could lose as much as 18 pounds (8.16 kilograms) during a game and that the sweat losses included sodium and chloride, along with reductions in plasma and blood volume that can sap strength and stamina.

Darren Rovell, the author of “First in Thirst” and an investor in the sports drink Bodyarmor, said the marketing has long leaned on the aspiration of becoming better athletes—or getting a performance edge. Rovell described how, when he was a runner in high school, people drank Gatorade partly because it was “good for you,” and he said that after PepsiCo purchased the brand in 2001, the product became ubiquitous in places like a pizza restaurant. He said electrolyte brands often market a link between drinking these products and athletic status, even as the claims should be checked.

With newer options multiplying, experts said there is wide variation among products now sold as electrolyte supplements. Patrick Burns, who practices emergency medicine at Stanford Health Care and occasionally runs in ultramarathons, said today’s electrolyte supplements can have an “incredibly wide variety of electrolyte concentrations,” with some products having five times the sodium of others. Burns also warned that people should be careful about supplementing potassium, saying it can be dangerous in large amounts.

Burns said the variety of newer products creates confusion for consumers because some offer zero sugar versions, even though he said glucose in sugar is what allows for rapid absorption of sodium. He warned that some products “are not internally consistent” with what they claim to sell. Mark Segal, a professor of nephrology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, said most people get salt and potassium they need from food, and that electrolyte drinks for a healthy person who is not sweating intensely probably won’t help even if they do not harm.

Zumpano said the bottom line is that electrolytes can help, especially with heavy sweating or exercise, but for most people they are not something they need every single day and they definitely do not need large amounts. Zumpano also advised against making electrolyte powders based on influencer recipes, saying people need to know how much they need and that there is a “large margin of error.” She said she would “probably just avoid it.”