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Do electrolyte drinks hydrate you better than water?

In one test of 13 drinks, a sports drink held on to no more fluid than water. A rehydration solution and milk did, in men who were already fully hydrated.

Electrolyte Supplements and Sports DrinksSodium

Many people now believe water alone runs straight through you. When men drank a litre each of 13 everyday drinks, a rehydration solution and both milks held on to more fluid over four hours than still water; the sports drink did not. They were fully hydrated and fasted, and the drinks were not matched for sodium, so this ranks these products, not electrolytes as an idea. The everyday drink that matched the medical one was milk.

The findings behind this

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Physical & bodyOf 13 drinks tested, the sports drink did not beat water

Seventy-two men each drank a litre and gave four hours of urine. A rehydration solution and both milks retained more fluid than still water; the sports drink did not.

★★☆Single study — solid evidence, such as one good trial or a large observational dataset, but not replicated at the top tier.The men were fully hydrated and fasted when they drank, which is nobody's state when they reach for one of these, and retention behaves differently in someone already short of fluid. All 72 were male. The outcome is urine volume over four hours, a stand-in for retention rather than for feeling or performing better. The drinks were not matched for sodium, so this ranks these particular products, not electrolytes as an idea.Click to keep this openRecover fasterSodium
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Physical & bodyMilk held on to fluid as well as a rehydration solution

Given a litre each of 13 drinks, 72 men retained as much fluid over four hours from full-fat and skimmed milk as from an oral rehydration solution. Both beat still water.

★★☆Single study — solid evidence, such as one good trial or a large observational dataset, but not replicated at the top tier.Fully hydrated, fasted men, all 72 of them male, drinking a litre in half an hour. Retention was measured as urine volume over four hours, not as anything a person would notice. And milk brings protein, fat and lactose along with its sodium and potassium, so what did the holding is not separated out here.Click to keep this openRecover fasterElectrolyte Supplements and Sports Drinks

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