The Great Electrolyte Showdown
A definitive guide to (mostly) powdered minerals
What are electrolytes?
Just so we’re all on the same page here, let’s agree on a definition.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, electrolytes are “substances that have a natural positive or negative electrical charge when dissolved in water.” Not helpful.
Here’s what it means for us: our bodies rely on chemical reactions in order to do its basic functions (nutrient absorption, muscle contractions, pumping blood to the heart, etc) and maintainin homeostasis. In order for those chemical reactions to happen, our cells have to conduct electrical charges, which require a balance of fluids inside and outside of those cells. Electrolytes are responsible for that balance. Even simpler:
Electrolytes → cellular and extracellular fluid balance → conduction of electricity → chemical reactions → nervous system function
If you’re a doctor reading this, I’m so sorry.
So, do I need them?
That’s between you and God. Just kidding, they probably wouldn’t hurt. Especially if you’re doing intense exercise or sweating profusely, electrolytes are going to be helpful in restoring your fluid levels and helping your body function properly.
Some people say we don’t need to be seeking out electrolyte drinks on top of a balanced diet, but a) what’s a balanced diet in this great country of America and b) even the most balanced of diets are subpar nutritionally thanks to soil depletion. I’ll spare you that tangent.
This all being said, don’t go too nuts with the electrolytes. There is such a thing as overdoing it in this case, especially if you have hypertension. Look, I’m not a licensed healthcare professional (I probably should have led with that). Just be reasonable, ok?
The Key Players
Let’s talk about the big names in the electrolyte game these days.
At the top we have Liquid IV, the electrolyte brand with likely the widest distribution.
There’s LMNT, a fan-favorite of Huberman-heads and TikTok girlies alike.
Instant Hydration is a new brand on the block, boasting the “best salt on Earth” as their big differentiator.
Cure makes coconut water-based hydration formulas, which reminds me, coconut water itself is an electrolyte-rich drink.
Hall of Famer Moon Juice makes Mini Dew, an electrolyte I’ve already signed off on.
There’s also Ultima which has fabulous SEO standings,
and nuun, which makes dissolvable tablets.
The most fashionable meal delivery service on the market, Sakara, makes a ionic mineral Beauty Water Drops.
The Absorption Company has, you guessed it, highly absorbable formulas and Restore is their hydration blend.
Last but certainly not least is QuintEssential, which I’m very excited to turn you on to if you don’t know about them already.
That makes nine. Wow. Let’s get into it…
Liquid IV
Honestly, miss me with the Liquid IV talk. This stuff has so much sugar in it — 11g of added cane sugar, to be specific — that it has to cancel out any alleged health benefits. I know there’s a sugar free version that’s sweetened with allulose, but at the end of the day, I cannot trust a brand that makes “rainbow sherbet” flavored anything.
Sure, this lemon lime drink wasn’t BAD per se, but it’s not worth worth taking up half of your daily recommended sugar intake for (the AHA recommends no more than 24g of added sugar for adult women).
Quick Stats:
50 calories, 11g added sugar from cane sugar
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5/5
LMNT
These formulas have a reputation for being extra salty, and that’s not wrong. I’m someone who’s been known to add salt to my fruit salads (…just try it) so I have no complaints there. Three out of the four flavors I’ve tried are big hits, those being watermelon, orange, and lime. Raspberry is medicinal and I would strongly urge you against choosing it.
Quick Stats:
5 calories, 0g added sugar (stevia leaf extract)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Cure
It’s unfortunate that I only realized my hydration packet was expired after drinking it, so I can’t accurately tell you if this tasted bad because it was too old or because of its potentially lethal stevia + monk fruit combo. In theory, I like the idea of coconut water powder as a vehicle for electrolytes, although I wonder how it stacks up nutritionally against my trusty Harmless Harvest. I’d be open to giving it another shot, but for the time being, I cannot in good consciousness recommend drinking this.
Quick Stats:
0 calories, 4g sugar (coconut water powder, organic stevia extract, monk fruit extract)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️/5
Moon Juice
Hang on, I’m stepping onto my Moon Juice soap box one more time. This brand rocks for so many reasons, a few favorites include: Amanda Chantal Bacon is — and I’m sorry to use this word — iconic, their copywriting is fantastic, and their memes aren’t cringey. Mini Dew is no exception. Pomelo is delicious; somehow they manage to use Stevia without the weird aftertaste that 9/10 times causes me to have a visceral reaction.
Quick Stats:
0 calories, 0g added sugar (organic monk fruit)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Instant Hydration
If the taste of LMNT is too salty for you, this is your answer. That being said, special salt is Instant Hydration’s whole thing. Their formula relies on “sel gris” which is, in their words, “superior to the sodium chloride (table salt) used in other electrolyte products” due to its 83 additional trace minerals.
They’re also “the only hydration powder fortified with aquamins: deep-sea ocean minerals from 600 meters below the Pacific.” Sounds good. It gets a thumbs up from me because the monk fruit is undetectable and it dissolves easily.
Quick Stats:
10 calories, 0g added sugar (organic stevia leaf and organic monk fruit extract)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Ultima
This was fine — good, even. A little too sweet for my liking, but I’d imagine these would do well with the Poppi crowd. The flavor I tried was strawberry lemonade and it did, in fact, taste like strawberry lemonade.
Quick Stats:
0 calories, 0g added sugar (natural flavors and Rebaudioside A (organic stevia leaf extract))
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Sakara Beauty Water Drops
These taste like a bottle of Mountain Valley mineral water (a.k.a. the rich mom bottled water of choice) with 10% more potency, which feels almost too on brand for Sakara. I like these because the taste is unobtrusive — if even detectable at all — and the tincture format makes me feel like a witch (non-pejorative). It’s a simple, straightforward electrolyte delivery without the fear of a) spilling a colored beverage everywhere and b) lasting flavor remnants in your water bottle.
Quick Stats:
0 calories, 0g added sugar
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
QuintEssential
This is the gold standard of electrolytes, in my book. You’re essentially slurping [micro-filtered] sea water which I personally don’t mind.
It's the best of the best because there’s literally 0 additives, only straight up minerals. Even more, it’s highly bioavailable because it’s already in liposomal form (meaning the minerals are suspended in water and can therefore easy transport through the cell membrane for optimal absorption).
However, if you’re the type of person whose day is ruined by an accidental mouthful of ocean water, you’re not going to like this.
Quick Stats:
0 calories, 0g added sugar
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Absorption Company
The Restore formula is their rapid hydration SKU, but calling it an electrolyte formula feels like calling a square a rectangle. Like yes, true, but there’s more to this story.
It’s got liposomal vitamin C and glutathione, CoQ10, Methylated B vitamins, etc etc so it’s really packing a lot of nutrition into one packet of powder. This one feels ideal for traveling since it’s got a lot of extra immune-supporting benefits on top of the whole hydration thing. The flavor is… potent, so be generous with the water-to-powder ratio here.
Quick Stats:
30 calories, 3g added sugar from cane sugar
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Nuun
This is basically just Alka-Seltzer for young people. It’s an effervescent tablet, so if you like a little bit of fizz in your drinks, you might enjoy this one. It’s a little artificial-tasting for my liking, but I appreciate the tube’s resemblance to mini-M&Ms, so I’ll give ‘em that.
Quick Stats:
15 calories, 1g added sugar from stevia leaf extract
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Key Takeaways:
For the simplest, highest potency, most straight-forward delivery (but also most expensive), go with QuintEssential.
If you also impulse buy glass water bottles at bodegas, get the Sakara Beauty Water Drops.
If you want fun flavors and cool branding with clean ingredients, do Moon Juice (I have a discount code - KATIESTONE).
If you want simple, salt-forward hydration, get LMNT (anything but raspberry).
If you want simple, not-too-salty hydration, do Instant Hydration.
Or just avoid all of this and add some Celtic sea salt to your water. Your call.
That’s all for now. Reply to this email or leave a comment if you want to reach me. :)
adding Celtic sea salt to your water is so real
Yes to salting fruit salad, always.