Mixing an electrolyte drink had become a firm part of my morning routine. The moment I was downstairs, I’d be reaching for a snazzily branded sachet. It didn’t matter what workout I had planned – I’d always find an excuse to accessorise my water. I must have tried every brand and flavour on the market, easily attracted by slick packaging and a novel taste, rarely glancing at the actual ingredients. But then I began to ponder the extra sodium I was consuming, which ranged from 300mg per sachet to a massive 1,000mg hit.
That 1,000mg is a whole gram of pure sodium – which is where the maths gets alarming. Because salt is only about 40% sodium, you have to multiply any sodium figure by 2.5 to find the true salt equivalent. Suddenly, that 1g of sodium becomes 2.5g of salt. Drinking just two of those heavy duty sachets meant I was downing 5g of salt – dangerously close to the NHS daily maximum of 6g, before I’d even eaten a meal. While sodium is the main electrolyte lost in sweat, these numbers made me question my habit. Was this actually supporting my training and health, or was I just heavily salting my water to make it more interesting?
