this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five
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I'm no doctor, but as far as I understand it electrolytes are sodium and potassium, and they help your body get hydrated faster by helping you absorb water (more? Faster? Idk, one of the two.)
(Btw, you're supposed to drink gatorade and water for this purpose, of course gatorade ads don't tell you that part though. Nor will they tell you about Pedialyte which is better than gatorade for hydration, or Liquid IV which I'm trying out now so I'm reserving judgement until my testing is complete).
I think it's water retention they help with. You should consider consuming electrolytes is you plan on sweating a lot (e.g high intensity sports) or if you consume large amounts of Caffeine.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say a product sold as a powder, and called Liquid IV, when IVs are traditionally liquid, is not to be taken seriously.
Would a rose by any other name not smell as sweet?
They're playing off the IV liquids you'd get in the hospital, like "oh look we hydrate you so well you'd think it's that shit."
You hate "Can't Believe It's Not Butter" simply for having the gaul to use a catchy name instead of "Hey Look It's Margerine?"
Lol I kid, but by all means, don't drink pedialyte either because that is only for children if we're going by the root words of their brand name. I mean really what sort of basis is this for an opinion?
My 2cents: Pedialyte (premade) still has that sweet taste whereas Liquid IV does not. The powdered Pedialyte contained (I haven't bought it in a few years so I'm unsure if the formula has changed) artificial sweeteners that upset our guts - which was no good when I was giving it to kids with diarrhea because it just exasperated the issue.
It may be placebo effect but I feel like it does a really good job.
*I am also biased because they make one with caffeine and it's helping me cut back on soda.
Imo some of the liquid IVs taste sweet enough, and some like golden cherry are even a touch sour, I love the taste of the ones I've had so far (which is only the aforementioned and the passion fruit one.) They do have Stevia leaf extract though. Honestly the bottled pedialyte is almost too sweet for me, and the powdered stuff is ok but for taste alone I definitely prefer the liquid 4. For hydration I'm still curious but I don't have any pedialyte powder to compare ratios, though I do have an old bottle of the pre-bottled one, and that seems to have similar proportions of Na and K.
Ah ok. I've been getting the pineapple and lemon lime ones and both are a tad sour and I like that.
Edit: the pineapple one is the one with caffeine