Naturally Sweetened Electrolytes - How SHIFTED Chose Its Hydration For

Electrolyte drinks are popping up everywhere.    But most electrolyte drink formulas aren't all that great.   Most are missing essential electrolytes, flavored with artificial sweeteners, taste too salty and don't give you the real hydration edge that you need.

So at SHIFTED we set out to make a better naturally sweetened electrolyte drink mix that's based on the latest science.

Note: our original formula used artificial sweeteners.  Our new updated formula, available in stick packs, does not.

When we started on our journey towards developing a naturally sweetened electrolyte beverage, our goals were pretty simple:

1. Use natural sweeteners and flavors - too many electrolyte supplements have artificial sweeteners.  We aimed to use low-calorie natural sweeteners. We also use all natural flavors.
2. Great taste - Despite using natural sweeteners, we were not willing to compromise on flavor.  We believe flavor is king.  Many companies use artificial sweeteners like sucralose as a shortcut to great flavor.   We were committed to getting an excellent flavor profile with natural sweeteners like monk fruit and stevia.
3. Create a perfect electrolyte balance - too many electrolyte drinks are missing critical electrolytes or have way too many of one electrolyte and not enough of others.  We wanted to include 6 essential electrolytes for well-balanced electrolyte replenishment.
4. Low-Calorie and Zero added sugar - a lot of electrolyte drinks have way too many calories from sugar (especially the original sports drinks from Gatorade and Powerade) and are no good for people watching their calories.  SHIFTED Hydration is sugar free.
5. Optimize Hydration - In addition to balanced electrolytes, we wanted our electrolyte powder to include additional hydration supporting ingredients like coconut water, pomegranate juice and taurine.

The Problem With Traditional Sports Drinks

Everyone is familiar with Gatorade and Powerade.   Despite being the only game in town for many decades, these two sports drinks that were supposed replenish electrolytes, were fatally flawed in three major ways:

• Traditional sports drinks were missing most electrolytes
• Traditional sports drinks had way too much sugar contributing to the obesity epidemic
• Traditional sports drinks were underdosed and unbalanced in the electrolytes they did include

The Problem with Most Electrolyte Drinks

After a while, many companies started trying to fill the gap and fix the problem with Gatorade and Powerade by making electrolyte drinks.  While these drinks definitely brought about improvements by increasing one or two electrolytes and drastically reducing the amount of added sugar (some even becoming sugar free) most still retained some problems:

• Most electrolyte drinks still did not have a good electrolyte balance, overdoing one or two electrolytes at the expense of others
• Most electrolyte drinks still were missing some critical electrolytes
• Most electrolyte drinks like PRIME started using artificial sweeteners

The Problem with Most Electrolyte Supplement Mixes

To address the problems in popular electrolyte drinks, many supplement companies started putting out electrolyte supplement products to help with  hydration during fitness activities.   These electrolyte supplements usually got about 70% of the way towards being perfect hydration support supplements but they still had some problems themselves.

• Most electrolyte supplements are still missing some essential electrolytes
• Most electrolyte supplements are overdosed on some electrolytes (usually sodium or potassium)
• Most electrolyte supplements are sweetened with artificial sweeteners like sucralose

Towards the Perfect Balance of Electrolytes and Hydration Supporting Ingredients

At SHIFTED, we decided to look at the science and build a better hydration product.  We like to base all of our supplement formulas on state of the art scientific research.  And here's what we found.

1. There are six essential electrolytes for optimal hydration:  Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous and Chloride.
   
   
2. There are additional hydration supporting minerals like Zinc and Vitamin C that play a role in maintaining water balance.
   
   
3. There are naturally hydrating fruits like Pomegranate and Coconut with trace minerals and that can help optimize and enhance our body's ability to use water effectively.
   
   
4. There is an optimal ratio for ideal electrolyte balance.