Everyone Needs Electrolytes...

Hey gang, Justin here. I hope you're all doing well and chasing after those strength goals with all the vigour you can muster. Summer is upon us so you all know what that means...

I'm not really sure where I was going with that, but summer is here now so that's cool I guess. I'm more of a fall guy myself, but I like to play the odd round of golf so summer is good for that.

Electrolyte supplements are all the rage right now. Everyone with "fit" in their social media handle has a discount code for them and apparently everyone NEEDS THEM. Seriously, I've seen multiple posts on social media THIS WEEK boldly proclaiming that everyone should be taking electrolytes. If you guessed that the folks making these proclamations had a discount code for electrolytes, you'd be correct.

Side note: always be wary of the social media influencers with the discount codes for things like supplements. They have a vested interest in you buying them so they are going to make these huge claims about them to try to sell you on them. I'm not against people being affiliates or ambassadors for brands, just take the huge claims they make with a grain of salt(pun intended) and do a little digging yourself first.

Anyway, let's discuss today why those claims aren't just wrong but could actually be potentially harmful. We'll also talk about what electrolytes actually are, a brief overview of why they're important and who could benefit from these supplements.

What the hell are electrolytes?

Perhaps you've heard the term and were told they are important but you don't actually know what they are. Never fear, your friendly neighbourhood fitness dad is here. 

When we talk about electrolytes the main ones we speak of are sodium and potassium, with sodium probably being 1A. There is also calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate and bicarbonate. For the purposes of this article, I will mainly be talking about sodium and potassium, as these are the primary foundations of the electrolyte supplements.

Sodium and potassium both play crucial roles in keeping our bodies functioning properly. Sodium in particular is responsible for keeping us hydrated. I don't think I'm breaking any news by saying that water is important to our body, but beyond that it is important that water is kept in the proper balance inside and outside the cells. It is possible for cells to burst from being too full of water, or to shrivel up from not being full enough. Sodium helps in keeping this balance to prevent either of those things from happening.

Potassium works with sodium to keep this process going, they're sort of partners in that way. But potassium does its heavy lifting by keeping our muscles and heart contracting properly.

Our nervous system helps to regulate muscle contractions, but changes in potassium levels, high or low, can affect the signals our nervous system sends out and possibly weaken the muscle contraction.

Likewise, potassium is important for a healthy heart. The movement of potassium in and out of cells helps to maintain a regular heartbeat. If your blood potassium levels are off in either direction, it could result in an irregular heartbeat or blood not being pumped properly to the rest of the body.

Also crucial are calcium and magnesium. Calcium helps muscle fibres slide over each other as the muscle shortens and contracts, while magnesium helps muscle fibres slide out and relax after a contraction.

How do we lose electrolytes?

Electrolytes are lost in sweat.

Sweat is our bodies natural response to an increase in our core temperature such as when we exercise. Our bodies are very smart that way. Our temperature increases, and we sweat as our bodies attempt to cool us off.

Sweat is not just water though, there are electrolytes in our sweat and we need to replace them for our body to keep functioning properly.

And this is exactly how you get sold the very expensive supplements.

You get told that electrolytes get lost in sweat and that they need to be replaced, so here's a $65 supplement to do it and here's my discount code that saves you some money and gives me a kickback.

Again, I'm not against the electrolyte supplements as they can be useful to some people, and I'm not against folks being affiliates for supplement brands. What I am against is egregious and untrue messaging in an attempt to make more money.

Did we forget about food?

Electrolytes are in our diet. Foods have these minerals in them and for most people the amounts in the foods we eat will be enough to replace the amounts lost in sweat. Not everyone of course, but we'll talk about who could actually use the supplements later. Before we move on, let's quickly discuss some dietary sources of these electrolytes.

Sodium: Fckin everywhere but things like pickled foods, condiments and table salt that we use to season our food.

Potassium: Fruits and veg such as bananas, broccoli, beans and nuts. Also meats like beef, fish and chicken.

Calcium: Dairy products, fortified dairy alternatives and leafy vegetables.

Magnesium: Spinach, nuts and some whole wheat breads.

How many of those foods do you eat? If your answer is none... fix that first before reaching for a supplement. But for most of us, we will have our electrolyte bases covered by our diets.

Why the electrolyte messaging can be harmful

Not only is a lot of the messaging around these electrolytes exaggerated and untrue, it can actually be harmful.

I've seen some other folks say things along the lines of "not everyone needs the supplements, but it's harmless so you can just have them if you like them."

A well intentioned message, but one that misses the mark and could also be potentially harmful.

Let's discuss what can happen if you consume TOO MANY electrolytes without needing them.

So these supplements are basically sodium and potassium sticks. Most of the popular ones on the market contain 800-1000mg of sodium, 200-400g potassium and an added 50-75mg calcium and some folks out there are consuming multiple of these packs every single day. 

For the average adult, the RDA for sodium is 1,500-2,500mg per day, with the RDA for potassium being 2,500-3,500mg per day. See where I'm going with this?

We've discussed why these electrolytes are important and what they do, but what happens if we have too many?

I mentioned that potassium is important for muscle and heart contractions, but if your blood potassium levels are too high, your heart can actually become flaccid and the contractions can weaken which can result in an irregular heartbeat. I don't think I need to spell out that that is not good.

The bigger problem though is sodium, as these supplement packs are way higher in sodium than they are in potassium.

The body needs sodium, but that doesn't mean you should do lines of table salt. 

Long term data has shown that consistently consuming high levels of sodium for long periods of time greatly increases the risk of high blood pressure. HBP is called the silent killer because most people that have it don't even know, and long term untreated high blood pressure increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and overall heart failure.

I'm not here to set off a five alarm fire, I just want to make you aware.

Electrolytes are super important to our bodies functioning, but that doesn't mean we have carte blanche to have as many as we want.

Who COULD use the supplements then?

I mentioned earlier that the supplemental electrolytes can be useful for some populations, so let's discuss who fits the bill.

Basically, if you're someone that sweats A LOT you could benefit from supplemental electrolytes.

Athletes that are doing long bouts of intense training on most days of the week.

People that work long hours of very physical labour in hot environments.

People that live in very hot/humid places and are doing regular physical activity.

But the folks that work a non-physical job in a moderate climate and exercise an hour or two a week in a climate controlled gym? Nah, you're good. Your diet will have your electrolyte needs covered. If it doesn't, fix that first.

Before I finish today I'm obligated to mention that none of this should be taken as medical advice or a prescription of any kind. This article is for educational purposes only.

If I can send you away with a take home message it would be this: Electrolytes = important. Supplements = probably not necessary. Address your diet first if your levels aren't where they need to be.

That's all I have for you today.

Thanks for reading. 

Until next time.

-Justin

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