Everyone from triathletes to YouTubers is singing the praises of the super-hydrating mineral additives. Here are the benefits and disadvantages E lect

The electrolytes boom: a wonder supplement – or an unnecessary expense?

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2024-09-30 10:30:03

Everyone from triathletes to YouTubers is singing the praises of the super-hydrating mineral additives. Here are the benefits and disadvantages

E lectrolytes, you may have noticed, are suddenly everywhere. Actually, these minerals have always been around, in our bodies and what we eat and drink. You may have bought a sachet of them if you have been dehydrated after a stomach upset or a marathon. But now they are being advertised on everyday food packaging, flagged in outsize numbers and shouted about in commercials. “Four hundred milligrams of electrolytes, my God!” the wrestler Logan Paul whoops in a promotional video that has been viewed more than 8m times on X. What he is selling, alongside fellow YouTubers MrBeast and KSI, is not a dietary supplement, but a new line of lunch products for children.

It’s not just online influencers who are getting excited. In 2022, the global demand for “flavoured and functional water” was valued at $50.3bn (£37.6bn), a number that is expected to increase to $112.6bn (£84bn) by 2030. Liquid I.V., an electrolyte mix company promising “faster hydration than water alone”, landed in the UK this year, claiming to offer improved sleep and gut health in a variety of flavours. W-Wellness – a company that provides bespoke supplement packages – has seen a 40% spike in sales of electrolytes over the past year. And the upstart brand Oshun, which sells a pump-bottle concentrate designed to be added to regular water, recently sold out after a glowing review from the Insta‑influencer Trinny Woodall.