Electrolytes

Many people reaching for electrolytes don't actually need them, and those who do often need a different product from the one they picked up. These are the questions our naturopaths ask in store.

A good fit if

• You're losing fluid through vomiting, diarrhoea or heavy sweating
• You're training long or hard in the heat and plain water isn't enough
• You want an oral rehydration sachet for the medicine cabinet
• You've been advised to change your balance of sodium to potassium

Check with us first if

• You have kidney disease, because your body handles potassium differently and potassium taken by mouth can build up.
• You take heart or blood pressure medicine, especially an ACE inhibitor.
• You're buying for a young child or an older person who's unwell.
• You already take a potassium or magnesium supplement.
• You're using electrolytes for cramps, where the evidence is genuinely mixed.

• Oral rehydration salts (ORS). Best known for: Illness. Vomiting, diarrhoea, and getting a child rehydrated. Absorption: Built to a WHO and UNICEF formula for sodium, potassium, glucose and osmolarity. Typical use: The only electrolyte format with a specified composition in Australian law.
• Sports hydration powders. Best known for: Training and hot-weather sweating. Absorption: Composition varies enormously by brand; often built around flavour. Typical use: Check the sodium figure, which is the one doing the work.
• Effervescent tablets. Best known for: Convenience, and a measured dose per tablet. Absorption: Dissolved before drinking, so no powder to scoop. Typical use: Watch the potassium per tablet if you're on heart or blood pressure medicine.
• Ready-to-drink bottles. Best known for: No mixing. Absorption: Same salts, more packaging and usually more sugar. Typical use: Convenient rather than different.
• Plain sodium chloride (item 4581). Best known for: Table salt, permitted listed with no conditions at all. Absorption: The simplest and cheapest sodium source there is. Typical use: Worth remembering before paying for a branded blend.

Reference values. The NHMRC sets recommended intakes for sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium one by one, rather than for electrolytes as a group. Ordinary food and drink covers them for most people, most of the time.

Typical supplemental range. Oral rehydration sachets are made to a set formula, with sodium, potassium, glucose and total concentration matching the WHO and UNICEF criteria once mixed. Sports powders vary much more, and sodium is the figure worth comparing. Australian law caps potassium chloride at 550 mg per dose unit in anything that isn't an oral rehydration product.

Upper level. No single upper limit applies to a blend. The firm numbers are for each ingredient: 550 mg of potassium chloride per dose unit outside oral rehydration products, and a 3.75% concentration limit for dental use.

Worth knowing. When you're unwell, the formula matters, and a rehydration sachet is the product made for it. For sweating, sodium is the number to compare. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Table salt: the simplest sodium and chloride source
• Fruit and vegetables: the main dietary potassium sources
• Dairy, nuts and leafy greens: contribute calcium and magnesium

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Kidney disease. Mandatory Australian warning on oral potassium chloride; potassium-induced natriuresis doesn't occur in chronic kidney disease and oral loading accumulates.
• Heart or blood pressure medicines. Mandatory Australian warning on oral potassium chloride; ACE inhibitors change potassium handling.
• Treated hypertension. A blood pressure increase has been noted at high potassium intakes in people on antihypertensive drugs.
• Children. Mandatory warning wording includes "Keep out of reach of children"; a dehydrated child needs medical assessment.
• Sodium sulfate in a blend. Carries a mandatory laxative warning where not intended as a laxative.
• Anyone using electrolytes for cramps. The evidence is inconsistent and magnesium specifically was found unlikely to help in older adults.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.