The Electrolyte Drink Trend Is Tasty—but Is It Necessary?

And the trend is also showing up in a proliferation of thirst quenching products. You can now not only buy powders aimed toward adults, but towards kids. Katie Butler, a spokesperson for the children’s wellness brand Zarbee’s, tells Glamour that they recently released a electrolyte drink in pouch form because they saw such a need in the market.

“Parents on social media, in everyday conversations and commentary on competing brands shared they wanted something that wasn’t loaded with sugar or artificial dyes and asking for better hydration and gut health options for their kids.

And Alex Cooper, the Call Her Daddy host and influencer, launched Unwell Hydration, a line of electrolyte drinks, earlier this year. Kristin Lentz, its senior brand manager, tells Glamour that as more people are focusing seriously on wellness, they’ve found that “enhanced hydration” is a “top priority.”

“Now, more than ever, there’s strong demand for effective ways to stay hydrated throughout the day,” she says. “In a world where we’re constantly on the go and ‘doing it all,’ there was a clear white space for enhanced hydration that offered the benefits you want, without the junk you don’t.”

But as much as I enjoy my new salty pick-me-up, the journalist in me had some questions. Mainly, is maximizing my electrolytes really making me more hydrated? Or to put it simply, what’s wrong with just plain water?

Of course, nothing. Rest assured, says Dr. Stacie Stephenson, a registered nutritionist, author, and functional medicine expert, if you just stick to the classic H20, you aren’t going to be insufficiently hydrated.

“Generally speaking, you really just need the water and that’s half your weight per day in ounces,” she says.

Where this type of product can come in handy though, she says, is actually making you drink. Stephensen says she’s personally not someone who enjoys drinking a ton of plain water, and for people like herself, they may need the extra flavor to motivate them to do it. But if you skip the trendy saches, you won’t be hurting yourself.

“I’d just encourage people to really focus on hydration. Hydration is really critical,” she says.

So in that way, all these new water trends and the subsequent products can actually help with wellness. It can be a drag to force yourself to take huge supplement pills, or glug down a bunch of water every day if you don’t really feel like it. But if getting your vitamins or protein or hydrating is tasty, and can be a part of your daily sweet treats? Stephensen says that’s a win win.

“I like liquids basically because of convenience,” she says. “It can be a routine. You can add all your nutrients to your green shake and it does give you a head start.”

Doal says that one of the best parts of making her videos are the comments that don’t talk about any fancy routine, but a simple habit.