Best Electrolyte Powder for Dehydration
Dehydration can be a killer with tough side effects even in mild cases. Luckily, it’s avoidable with plenty of water, monitoring your exertion, and a balance of vitamins and minerals. We can’t always get ahead of it, but the best electrolyte powder will help stave off dehydration. There are many drink mixes to pick from that can help you rehydrate and taste good.
This is where we come in. We’ve researched the best electrolyte powders, tested them, and now the results are in: the overall best, rehydration salts, and a nutritious option. If you need to rehydrate quickly, one of our suggestions will get you back in balance.
Contents (Jump to a Summary)
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Best Electrolyte Powder
Liquid IV
Fast-acting, Effective, and Tasty
This powder has it down to a science with the patented sodium-glucose blend attacking dehydration with speed.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Liquid IV has all of the old-school sports drinks beat with a more effective blend of sodium and sugar. This sodium-glucose cotransport makes the electrolyte content much more effective and fast-acting.
Specifications
- Packets: 16
- Flavor Options: 19 (Lemon-lime shown)
- Serving Size: 16 grams (add to 16 oz water)
- Nutrition: 45 calories, 8 vitamins/nutrients
- Electrolytes: 1,970mg (sugar, sodium, potassium)
- Shelf Life: 2 years
With a good amount of electrolytes paired with fast delivery, it’s easy to see why the Liquid IV Electrolyte Powder Packets top the rest.
Best Rehydration Salts
Trioral
Electrolyte-Dense, Salty, and Effective
The preferred electrolyte powder for athletes has a massive amount of electrolytes packed into a tiny package.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
With a huge amount of electrolytes in a portable packet, Trioral skips over flavor and taste and gets straight to performance.
Specifications
- Packets: 15
- Serving Size: 20.5 grams (add to 1L water)
- Nutrition: 54 calories, 1 vitamin/nutrient
- Electrolytes: 3,824mg (sugar, sodium, potassium)
- Shelf Life: 3 years
It is clear that Trioral prioritizes function over flavor, which is appreciated when dehydration and performance are on the line. It’s non-flavored, so it tastes like unflavored Pedialyte once it’s mixed up.
If you are looking for an electrolyte powder to slam dehydration head-on, the Trioral Rehydration Electrolyte Powder happens to be inexpensive and one of the best.
Nutritious Electrolyte Powder
Nutrient Survival
Balanced, Nutritious, and Delicious
Stave off dehydration using a drink mix that provides more than just electrolytes in a nutrient-dense approach.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Nutrient Survival specializes in total nutrition solutions, so it makes sense that their drink mix addresses electrolytes along with many other vitamins. It also doesn’t overdo it, so you can drink this regularly or address dehydration when needed.
Specifications
- Packets: 30
- Flavor Options: 2 (Lemon-lime shown)
- Serving Size: 8 grams (add to 12-14 oz water)
- Nutrition: 20 calories, 13 vitamins/nutrients
- Electrolytes: 810mg (sodium, potassium, chloride)
- Shelf Life: 2 years
This mix doesn’t pack high amounts of sodium and sugar that could potentially damage your kidneys under continued use. With a high shelf life, it’s also great to stash in your car, survival kit, or pantry for emergency use.
With great total-body nutrient support, the Nutrient Survival Liquid Nutrient Drink Mix earns our upgrade pick.
Comparison Table
| Electrolyte Powder | Recommendation | Price* | Packets | Serving Size | Electrolytes | Shelf Life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid IV | Best Overall | $24 | 16 | 16g | 1,970mg | 23 mos |
| Trioral | Best for Rehydration | $10 | 15 | 20.5g | 3,824mg | 38 mos |
| Nutrient Survival | Best for Nutrition | $45 | 30 | 8g | 810mg | 24 mos |
The Drink Mixes We Compared
Our research narrowed the field down to a few brands and types of drink mixes that we compared: Liquid IV, Pedialyte, LMNT, Nutrient Survival, DripDrop, Jocko, Nuun, Nectar, and more.
You can see our full list of review criteria below in the What to Look For section, with an explanation for each.
We considered a wide range of drink mixes that promoted electrolyte content and hydration. There were many options considering all of the brands and different flavors. Taste and flavor can be somewhat subjective, so it’s worth getting variety packs to find a flavor that you can at least tolerate, if not enjoy.
We’re always looking for new and better supplies, so if you have a drink mix that you trust, let us know in the comments. We review most of our tested supplies annually so we can try to get them in the next roundup and see if they will beat out our top picks.
What to Look For
The best electrolyte powders have a few features to look for:
- Value
- Hydration
- Nutrition
- Flavor & Taste
- Versatility
When you get the right blend of these, you can find the perfect drink mix for staying hydrated or attacking dehydration. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the powders that truly set themselves apart.
Value: Cost vs. Benefit
The amount of money you spend on something like a drink mix shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. Most of them are inexpensive, so you should be able to find one that fits your budget.
You never want to spend too much money on one resource, especially when it comes to consumable supplies. It’s better to diversify your spending to make sure you are covered for a wide range of scenarios.
Hydration
First and foremost, we’re looking to tackle hydration. Flavor, nutrition, calories, and packaging all take a back seat to the main goals: prevent dehydration and/or rehydrate. As everyone knows, electrolytes are key to this, but they aren’t all the same. The number of electrolytes doesn’t exactly translate into instant hydration either; there are other ingredients that can speed the effect and increase effectiveness.
Still, electrolyte count is a good starting point for comparison. We do know from studies that lower sugar amounts work well, although sucrose can help speed up the effectiveness of electrolytes.
Nutrition
Electrolytes aren’t everything, even for electrolyte powder. The goal is hydration and health, so a blend of nutrients and specific electrolytes works much better than a salt lick of pure sodium.
Most of our picks contain anywhere between 2 and 13 nutrients and varying levels of electrolytes, depending on whether you are using the powder for temporary relief or as a daily supplement.
Warning: Regularly consuming excessive electrolytes can cause imbalances that damage your kidneys, among other problems.
Flavor & Taste
Electrolytes are salty. Most electrolyte powders add strong flavors or sugar to balance or complement the taste. As with most things taste-wise, your preference can be subjective.
Although our taste may vary from yours, we weighed this in our comparisons anyway. With consensus in our team, we think we’ve had enough taste-testing between different people to recommend brands with solid flavors.
Versatility
When a drink mix can accomplish more than just boosting electrolytes for hydration, we consider it more versatile. When the drink mix is served in individual packets, it makes it even more versatile since you can grab-and-go, add to first aid kits, and more.
Versatile solutions are almost always preferred to inflexible solutions.
What is Electrolyte Powder?
Electrolyte powder is a mixture of substances that have a natural charge when dissolved in water (electrolytes), which are essential to many key functions in your body. These substances include:
- sodium
- potassium
- calcium
- phosphorous
- magnesium
Drink powders will balance these to target rehydration, and many will add carbohydrates and proteins to aid the process.
While electrolyte powder mixes can be very effective, just one element can work to create an electrolyte solution. Salt, lemons, and water can get you started with a homemade electrolyte drink in a pinch:
Who Needs Electrolyte Drink Mixes?
Electrolyte drink mixes are already common, and anyone can use them in the pantry. As far as survival kits, we don’t consider them essential simply because you can synthesize your own with basic ingredients. Still, it’s hard to overlook the convenience of fast-acting and electrolyte-packed packets.
We strongly suggest that you include electrolyte powder in your:
It would be a good idea to consider it for these other kits:
If you find yourself with extras, they are useful for sporting events and just having them on hand for whenever you overexert yourself.
How We Review Products: We research thoroughly before selecting the best products to review. We have vast prepping and survival experience and bring in outside experts when needed. Hours on end are spent testing gear in stressful conditions and using specialized testing gear to verify claims. We assign performance criteria and impartially rate each tested item. Learn more about how we test.
Sources & References
All of our experience and the testing we do to determine the best electrolyte powder are useless without listing our research sources and references. We leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with our hands-on testing and practical survival experience:
Jung, A., et al. (2005). Influence of Hydration and Electrolyte Supplementation on Incidence and Time to Onset of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps. Journal of Athletic Training. Volume 40. Issue 2. Pages 71 – 75. (Source)
Millard-Stafford, M., et al. (2021). The Beverage Hydration Index: Influence of Electrolytes, Carbohydrate and Protein. Nutrients. Volume 13. Issue 9. Page 2933. (Source)
Nielson, B., et al. (1986). Fluid balance in exercise dehydration and rehydration with different glucose-electrolyte drinks. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology. Volume 55. Page 318 – 325. (Source)
Conclusion
Dehydration can sneak up and knock you on your tail. Don’t let it take you down for the count, stave it off, or get rehydrated with the best electrolyte powders. Keep some in your first aid kit and consider adding to your other survival kits.
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