Nuun Electrolyte and Hydration Replacement Tablets

Nuun Active Hydration electrolyte replacement offers athletes a unique carbohydrate-free fluid replacement. Just drop a tablet of nuun into a water bottle and you replace electrolytes without the calories of most other sports drinks.

I prefer nuun to other sports drinks because I occasionally work hard for an hour or two. I don't necessarily want to add as many carbs or sugar as are in the typical sports drink, but I do want the added electrolytes. I also prefer to decide when and what calories I want to consume during an event. Personally, I'd rather eat my calories during a long-distance bike ride and wash them down with some nuun rather than choke down another sugary sports drink.

Nuun tablets provide a light flavor and no sugar. That makes it work well in plastic water bottles hydration packs because it rinses clean and doesn't build up a sticky reside in the bottles.

Each Nuun tablet contains the following active ingredients:

• Sodium (carbonates), 360.0 mg
• Potassium (bicarbonate), 100.0 mg
• Calcium (carbonate), 12.5 mg
• Magnesium (sulfate), 25.0 mg
• Vitamin C, 37.5 mg
• Vitamin B2, 500 mcg

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes replace sweat losses with fluids during activity. But, because individual sweat rates vary so much, it's hard to recommend a specific amount of sodium or other electrolytes. They do say that an athlete with an average sweat rate of one liter per hour can lose approximately 2 to 10 grams of sodium in a 2-hour practice. In order to avoid hyponatremia, replacing lost sodium is also recommended. They encourage athletes to recognize their individual needs based on their own diet and sweat losses.

Nuun provides 700 mg of sodium per liter so it will meet this need for the average exerciser over a long workout.

Because nuun doesn't contain any carbohydrate, which slows the rate of stomach emptying, it is absorbed faster into the body than sports drinks with added carbohydrate.

Keep in mind that people who are active for more than 90 minutes should also replace depleted carbohydrates (glycogen stores). So taking nuun alone won't meet this need. And if you are on a low-sodium diet, check with your physician before adding nuun to your diet.

Read more in: Water vs. Sports Drinks: When You Need Fluid Fuel during exercise.

Personally, I prefer nuun original over the fancy flavors because it it light and refreshing. None of the flavors are too heavy or sweet, though, and compared to traditional carbohydrate-loaded drinks, nuun is easy to drink not matter how long you've been exercising. Besides the original lemon+lime, nuun offers citrus fruit, tri-berry and kona cola (with caffeine).

One tube contains 12 tablets and costs $6.50.

_Source

_{American College of Sports Medicine [http://www.acsm.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Research/Roundtables_Specialty_Conf/PastRoundtables/Hydration_Consensus_2005.pdf] Roundtable on Hydration and Physical Activity: Consensus Statements. Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, FACSM*, Priscilla M. Clarkson, PhD, FACSM, and William O. Roberts, MD, FACSM.}