191. The $40 Billion Electrolyte Trend: Do You Actually Need Them?

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Electrolyte packets are everywhere right now. 

They’re in gym bags, water bottles, carry-ons, and on desks… and somehow they’ve gone from something associated with intense exercise to an everyday wellness habit.

Recently, I came across a video from another board-certified physician who argued that most people are drinking electrolyte packets they simply don’t need. 

Her point was pretty straightforward: many of these products contain 500 to 1,000 mg of sodium per packet, and people often don’t realize how quickly that can add up.

That got my attention, because I hear questions about electrolytes from patients all the time.

And while I agree with a lot of what she said, I think the conversation needs a little more nuance. Electrolytes absolutely have their place. But there’s a big difference between replacing what you’ve lost after hours of intense exercise and sipping them at your desk because they’ve become part of the wellness routine.

So let’s break down what’s actually in these packets, who may benefit from them, when they’re probably unnecessary, and why some of our “healthy” habits can add up in ways we don’t realize.

So, What’s Actually in an Electrolyte Packet?

Let’s start with the part I think gets overlooked: electrolyte packets are not all created equal.

Depending on the product, one packet can contain around 500 to 1,000 mg of sodium. If you’re having two or three of those throughout the day, that adds up quickly, especially when you consider the sodium you’re already getting from food.

And this is something I see with my own patients. They’ll tell me they’re drinking electrolytes because they’re trying to be healthier, but when we actually look at the label, they often have no idea how much sodium they’re consuming.

There’s also an assumption that because a product says “electrolytes,” you’re getting this perfectly balanced blend of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and everything else your body needs.

That’s not necessarily the case.

You might see magnesium listed, for example, but the amount may be relatively small. So instead of assuming the product is giving you everything you need, make sure to read the label carefully.

How Electrolytes Became a Wellness Staple

Electrolyte drinks weren’t always marketed as something everyone should be sipping all day. 

Gatorade was introduced in the 1960s for football players who were losing a lot of fluid and salt through intense exercise. 

Over time, though, the market expanded far beyond serious athletes. More recently, brands like Liquid I.V. and LMNT have helped reposition electrolytes as an everyday wellness product rather than something mainly used for substantial fluid loss.

That shift matters, because once something gets packaged as “wellness,” it can start to feel like a daily health habit, even when you may not actually need it.

Do Most People Actually Need Extra Electrolytes?

Your body is already incredibly good at regulating electrolytes. Your kidneys are constantly working to keep things like sodium and potassium within a narrow range. If you’ve ever had a basic or comprehensive metabolic panel done, these are some of the levels your medical team is looking at.

If you’re eating a regular diet, drinking enough fluids, and going about a fairly normal day, you generally don’t need to continually add electrolytes to your water just to maintain that balance.

Going to Pilates? Sitting at your desk? Getting on a plane?

You probably don't automatically need an electrolyte packet.

And I have to laugh at this a little because I’ve been guilty of these things too. When she started listing examples in the video, I was sitting there thinking, Yep. Done that. And that.

The point isn’t that you can never have an electrolyte packet. It’s just worth knowing what’s actually in it and whether you need it.

When Do Electrolytes Make Sense?

There are absolutely situations where electrolytes can be useful.

For example, high-intensity exercise with heavy sweating, situations where you’re at risk for heat exhaustion, or certain medical conditions such as POTS.

The problem is that because there are legitimate reasons to use electrolytes, we’ve somehow made the leap to everyone could benefit from them all the time.

Those are two very different things.

The Bigger Issue: When “Healthy” Things Start Stacking Up

It’s important for us to remember that the electrolyte packet may not be the only fortified product you're consuming.

Maybe you have a protein shake in the morning that contains added B vitamins. Then an electrolyte drink. Then a multivitamin. Then another supplement. By the end of the day, you could be getting the same vitamins and minerals from several different sources without realizing it.

I've had patients whose B12 comes back extremely high, only for us to discover they're getting B12 from multiple products every single day.

So instead of asking whether one individual product is “healthy,” zoom out and look at what you’re consuming across the entire day, including drinks, powders, supplements, and fortified foods.

You might be surprised by how much overlap there is.

Before You Put Another Packet in Your Water…

You don't need to go home and throw away every electrolyte packet you own.

Just get curious.

Look at the sodium per serving and what else has been added. Think about what you're already getting from your food and other supplements. And most importantly, ask yourself:

What am I actually trying to accomplish by taking this?

If it's replacing significant fluid and salt losses, that's one conversation.

If it's because the packet makes your water taste better and helps you drink more, I understand that too… but that doesn't necessarily mean you need a high-sodium electrolyte product.

And if the answer is simply, “I thought I was supposed to because it's healthy,” that's worth knowing.

Because we can get so focused on optimizing our health that we forget how much the basics matter: drinking water, eating whole foods, moving our bodies, doing some strength training, and managing our stress.

Taking better care of yourself doesn’t always mean adding one more wellness product.

Want the full breakdown? Listen to the full episode, where I react to the physician’s video, unpack what’s really in electrolyte packets, and explain when they can actually be useful.

TRANSCRIPT:

Disclaimer: The transcript below is provided for your convenience and may contain typos, errors, or grammatical inconsistencies, as it has not been professionally edited or proofread. Please enjoy it as-is and read at your own discretion.

Please note: The content shared in this podcast and blog post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider for personalized medical guidance.    

 welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Hey, before we jump into today's episode, I wanted to share some exciting news. Starting in October, the podcast, in addition to being audio as it is right now, there will also be video. So if you're someone where you like to follow along with that, you like to watch it more than just listen, that will be available. I know for me, I often watch longer form things on YouTube. I find that to be really helpful. But I'm also creating some different content there that you won't hear here on the podcast. They're usually, like, 10 to 20 minute videos where I might break down a specific topic or respond to something I've seen online, or I've been really into recently doing some reaction videos where I'll be watching the video and kinda pausing and giving my thoughts as I go. And I find that for me personally, I love watching videos like that, and I found this to be a really fun way so today, I want to give you a little taste of that. This is a reaction video I recently made about electrolytes, and honestly, I think there's some really helpful information in it. So I'm gonna go ahead and play the audio here for you . If you spend any time over on YouTube, I'd love if you come find me, subscribe to my channel, and you follow along. There's a link right below this episode. It'll take you directly there. All right. Let's get to today's episode.  Electrolyte packets are everywhere right now. It feels like all day long people are sipping on them. I came across a video where another board-certified physician, she's talking about if these are healthy or not for us. So let's listen to this, and I'll give you my thoughts as we go. Let's talk about healthy girl habits that are probably messing with your body. And yes, I say this as a board-certified internal medicine, geriatric, and critical care doctor. It's come to my attention that y'all are addicted to electrolyte packs, and I am deeply concerned. Okay, buckle in. This might get a little long. Liquid IV is not a wellness habit. It is flavored sodium. Okay, we need to pause there because... So before we even get to her video, just pausing at what she said there, let's take just a moment for what I'm gonna call Matthea's investigative journalism because I've listened to a lot of podcasts on how this industry, kinda where it emerged, so let's just do a quick little review so you can understand how significant this problem is. All right, so where did all of this massive electrolyte drink market, where are we at right now? Okay, right now, hold on to something as I say this. As of 2025, it was estimated that that industry is $40 billion. Okay, that's significant. All right, where are they estimating it's gonna get by 2034? Eighty billion. Okay, so this is not going anywhere. So how did it all start? Gatorade in 1965, they make these drinks, and they're marketing it toward football players. They're saying they have substantial fluid loss, salt loss, kinda makes sense. Okay, great. But then what ends up happening by the 1990s, early 2000s, the market, it- it- it- it... the horse is out of the barn, and suddenly they're marketing it way beyond the serious athlete. This is not the person that's running a marathon, okay? And this past decade, we've seen things like Liquid IV, LMNT, right? A ton of those type of things, and it's not just an electrolyte product anymore. The marketing is really positioning it as a wellness product. So wellness products always imply, like, a multivitamin, right? Like, oh, you daily should be taking this. This is good for you. And so what she's saying here is people often are not aware of what's actually in these things. And so let's say that you have any type of problem where your blood pressure can tend toward the, the higher side. You taking on one gram of sodium, which is 1,000 milligrams, when let's say per day it's not really great for an adult to get more than 2,000 milligrams, assuming that you don't have, like, POTS syndrome or again, you're this massive triathlete, things like that, this can actually really affect you. So by the way, all the time my patients are asking me about this, and they don't know what's in the products that they're having. I had a retreat this past April, and part of what I did, we had these little, like, breakouts or they were like experiments where people could try stuff and they were like little teaching moments. And I put all these different electrolyte products, and there was a point to each one. So it was like, th- there's a reason why I recommend certain ones, because they're, they're low on the sodium amount. Because some people wanna have two, three of them a day. So I'm like, "Cool, have at it with this. With that one, oh my gosh, have a third" We'll keep going I can guarantee you that almost none of you taking electrolyte packs actually need them. And no, I'm not talking about POTS. Unless you're a high-performing athlete who's exercising for multiple hours a day and sweating profusely, you don't need electrolytes. These packets contain about 500 to 1,000 milligrams of sodium per package and a negligible amount of other electrolytes. That's about a third to a half of the amount of sodium that you are allowed or should be taking in in a day. That's another thing I wanna stress is that people think, "Oh, it has magnesium in it," and da da da. But then if we were, if we would actually look at how much you would need for magnesium, you have to buy an entirely different supplement. So most of these are not comprehensive. It's not like, "Oh, great, I found the right blend and it's amazing." Majority of the time, honestly, it just ends up where we have to buy other things anyway, so they don't even serve the purpose that you think it does. And some of y'all are drinking multiple packs a day. I fear we've seriously forgotten that high sodium intake increases your risk for high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is still the leading cause of death in North America. Now, I could teach you about the beautiful organ that is your kidneys and how it maintains a perfect balance of sodium and water to keep you alive, but I'll save that for the residents and fellows. So again, we have two organs, the kidneys, and they keep the electrolytes in your blood in a very narrow range. You know when you get blood work done, it'll either be called a basic or a complete metabolic panel. Part of that are the electrolytes, so things like sodium, potassium, stuff like that. If you have a problem with that, you have something else mafi- massive going on with health. But your kidneys normally are helping to maintain this. They're on top of it. Just trust me when I say that your kidneys are working to maintain your sodium balance and you are not hyponatremic. If you are eating a regular diet and drinking fluid normally, there is no reason why you need to add an electrolyte pack to your regular diet in order to maintain your sodium balance. Okay, but let's have a moment here. When she's talking about, okay, as long as you're eating normal food, you know, you're having this, uh, nutrition plan, the problem is that we are currently in the US in a space where people are eating so much processed food, it's not how it's normally occurring in nature. And so a lot of these foods are what I'm gonna call Frankenfoods. So let's give the example of some of the protein drinks, right? So you're thinking, "Oh, I'm getting the protein drink," but then usually they're also sticking in their B vitamins and all these other things, too. So a lot of the time, people are massively over-consuming certain electrolytes and certain, like, vitamins because they don't realize, oh my gosh, the protein drink has this, and the electrolyte drink has this, and the multivitamin. By the time you add it up, it's like, I don't even know if it gets toxic at that point, right? But people aren't kinda clocking all this. And sometimes, like, we'll get lab work done, and their B12 will be through the roof. And they were like, "Oh, I didn't realize that it was in five things I was having," right? Zero reason. And just because you have young, healthy kidneys now does not mean that over time excess sodium intake is not going to impair the kidney's ability to excrete that excess sodium. So one thing I wanna stress is just because you're healthy right now, I always say you can overcome insults, right? Like, like you're doing all these things that don't help you. Let's give you an example. Let's say you are working outdoors, you're doing construction, and you're doing that like 10 hours a day in the heat and you're, you don't hydrate at all. You just do like a cup of coffee in the morning, which I'm not villainizing that, but you, you're not hydrating and you're just constantly kind of like drying yourself out like a raisin. Okay, initially it might not be a problem, but down the road you might end up with kidney stones, with kidney problems otherwise. That type of stuff starts to compound and you get to this point where your body can't overcome you not taking care of it for a long period of time. Leading to increased intravascular volume and elevated blood pressure. This will eventually become a strain on your vasculature if you keep it up. And that's why the American Heart Association recommends keeping your sodium intake less than 2,300 milligrams a day. Most people are getting more than enough sodium in their diets. That's actually why there's a push right now by the primary care societies and the AHA to help reduce modifiable risk factors for hypertension, and that includes diet. Because hypertension is one of the greatest risk factors for cardiovascular disease. To be fair, electrolytes definitely have their place. High intensity training, at risk for heat exhaustion, natural disasters, POTS disease, but- See, she gives examples, like there's a place for it, right? And this is the problem, is that because there is actually like a use case that's appropriate, then it always, someone can just be like, "But in all these other things we can use it, too" and that's not the case. Also, I have empathy for when you want your water to have a nice flavor to it potentially, and you say it helps you get more. Like, I got it. Like, I have the Minute Maid Zero here with a ton of ice and it's watered down, and I love the flavor. Helps me get down much more of it. But again, it's just we, we have to be cautious overall. But to be strolling to a Pilates, sitting at your desk at work, going on a plane later on, maybe hitting up a boot camp, okay? You don't need an electrolyte pack. Do you know what's funny is I've been guilty of all of these. Like When she's saying, I'm like, "Ah, ah, ah," 'cause I've done all of them too. Okay, I'm not sitting here preaching. We are in a wellness area obsessed with prevention, but we're casually adding 500 to 1,000 milligrams of salt to our water like it's self-care. If you are drinking them daily just to be healthy, you're actually actively working against your health. So just think about it. You know, I really love how she ended this because everyone's wanting all day long, like, it's like a really hot market nowadays, longevity and, you know, you hear all these kind of buzzwords. And at the end of the day, you doing routine, basic, simple, easy things, you are hydrating with water, you are eating whole-based foods, you are getting some movement in, whether that be maybe 30 minutes of walking, an hour, a little bit of strength training here and there. If you have stress, you actually work past it, you're not, like, constantly holding onto things from work. Those type of things do so much more for you than all of these made-up industries. And I'm not, again, not saying electrolytes are not ever helpful, multivitamins, things like that, but a lot of the time they're sold as this is going to be your answer, and it's not. The goal of today is really just to get you thinking, "Oh, what is it that I'm consuming all day long?" The drinks that you're having, the powders, the supplements, the food. Think about all of that, and you don't have to do the most massive inventory in the world, but it might be worth looking at how much sodium actually is in this. Are there duplicates of the same vitamin in five different things? What's the daily recommended amount? Start to look at all of this. You might need help from a dietician. You could talk to your medical team. But a lot of the time, these things have much bigger impacts on you than you know, and you don't wanna be doing things that hurt yourself when you are just trying to take amazing care of yourself. All right, you can do it, my friend. If you like this kind of information, make sure that you follow for more.