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Isotonic drinks
Isotonic drinks in powder form, for your bottle. Discover the isotonic drink with carbohydrates and electrolytes, lemon flavor: you carry the tub, you add the water, and you decide how many bottles to make. Isotonic drink for Sunday's long ride, the race that runs past an hour, or the midday padel match.
Choose by how long the session runs. If it's short, or it's a rest day, try a water flavoring: taste with barely any calories. If a race doesn't leave you time to drink, take gels in your jersey.
Own brand, with the salt and carbohydrates per serving on the product page.
Sports hydration
What sweat takes, you put back
Isotonic drinks in powder form, for your bottle
Isotonic drink powder replaces water, sodium and carbohydrates in the same dose. It earns its place once the effort passes 60 minutes or the heat climbs. Here it comes in a tub, to dissolve in your bottle instead of carrying bottled drinks.
Shop isotonic powderPowder for your bottle
Dissolves in the amount of water the label states
You decide the liters
One tub, as many bottles as each outing needs
Sodium and carbohydrates
For the EU claims: 460-1,150 mg of sodium per liter
Own brand
Salt and carbohydrates per serving on the product page
How to choose for your session
Under an hour, water covers the session. Past that, it comes down to duration, intensity and heat.
Running for 1 to 2 hours
One dose of powder in the water the label states, with regular sips from the start. The American College of Sports Medicine sets the reference at not losing more than 2% of body weight.
Cycling, trail and triathlon
Past two hours, carbohydrate becomes the limiting factor: a single type of sugar oxidizes at up to about 60 g/h. Split the intake between your bottle and something solid.
Padel and team sports
You drink during breaks, in short sips, so have your bottle already mixed before you start. Sweat rate runs from 0.5 to 2 liters an hour, depending on the athlete and conditions.
Under 60 minutes
If it's hot or you're stacking sessions, drink often: a flavoring helps you drink more without adding carbohydrates, though it provides very little sodium. For everyday life, water is enough.
Hypotonic, isotonic or hypertonic
The difference is in the drink's final concentration, not in the product's commercial name.
Less concentrated
Hypotonic
A hypotonic drink has fewer particles per liter than blood: below about 275 mOsm/kg. It can carry a little carbohydrate or none. It's absorbed fastest, so it hydrates well during exercise, especially in the heat. Flavored water falls in here too.
During effort
Isotonic
An isotonic drink has a concentration close to that of blood, around 275-295 mOsm/kg. The 200-330 range EU rules set for their claims is wider and includes some slightly hypotonic drinks. It replaces water, sodium and carbohydrates at once.
More concentrated
Hypertonic
A hypertonic drink exceeds the concentration of blood. It delivers more carbohydrates per sip, but it empties more slowly from the stomach and forces you to drink water on the side so you don't run short on fluid.
What to check before you buy
Four checkable facts on the label, always for the liter as prepared.
Milligrams of sodium per liter
It's the figure labels hide best. To use the EU claims, a drink has to provide between 460 and 1,150 mg of sodium per liter as prepared. If the label only gives salt, divide it by 2.5 and scale it up to a liter.
How many carbohydrates and of what kind
Those claims also need 80-350 kcal per liter from carbohydrates, with at least 75% of it coming from glucose, glucose polymers or sucrose. A plain "sugars" on the label doesn't say which kind.
Liters you get from the tub
Divide the grams in the tub by the grams per dose: that tells you how many bottles you'll actually prepare. It's the figure that compares tubs of different sizes.
Real tonicity
Tonicity depends on the final concentration in your bottle, not the product's name: add more powder to the same water and an isotonic drink turns hypertonic. That's why the water amount on the label isn't optional.
What it pairs with
The isotonic drink covers fluid, sodium and carbohydrates at once. These formats fill the gaps.
Gels for the peaks
An energy gel concentrates the carbohydrates in one sachet, taken with water, not instead of it. Guide: one every 30-45 minutes when you can't drink much.
Electrolyte gummies
When your stomach has had enough sweet liquid, chewing changes how you tolerate it. Electrolyte gummies count toward the 30-60 g of carbohydrates per hour, together with your bottle. Check the label: some contain caffeine.
Flavorings for every day
Water flavorings give water taste with barely any calories or carbohydrates, and very little sodium: they're usually hypotonic. They're for rest days and for drinking more when plain water doesn't appeal.
Tip: sip every 10-15 minutes, before you're thirsty; your stomach handles a steady trickle better than a long gulp. You can combine your bottle with the rest of the supplements for during training, and what you lose in sweat is explained in why you need to replenish electrolytes.
Frequently asked questions
What is an isotonic drink and what is it for?
An isotonic drink has a concentration close to that of blood, around 275-295 mOsm/kg. In sport it is usually water with carbohydrates and electrolytes: it replaces fluid, sodium and carbohydrates at once during exercise. Where it earns its place: efforts over 60 minutes.
What's better, water or an isotonic drink?
Duration decides. Up to about 60 minutes at moderate intensity, water covers what you lose. Past that, it doesn't replace the sodium or the carbohydrate you burn: the American College of Sports Medicine advises against drinking large volumes of sodium-free water in long efforts.
How much sodium should an isotonic drink contain?
To use the authorized claims, between 460 and 1,150 mg per liter (20-50 mmol/L), under Regulation (EU) No 432/2012. It isn't a legal minimum for every drink, but it matches what you lose: whole-body sweat contains between 10 and 70 mmol of sodium per liter.
Isotonic drink powder or ready-made?
Powder gives you control, the bottle gives you convenience. With powder you make only the liters you need, you don't carry water, and there's no fizz; the ready-made version saves you the mixing. At the same final concentration in your bottle, the intake is the same. That's why you'll find it here as a powder.
How do you prepare isotonic drink powder?
One dose of powder per bottle, with the water the label states, shaken until no lumps remain and sipped every 10-15 minutes from the start. On long rides or in the heat, one or two bottles an hour. More powder in the same volume sits worse in your stomach.
Are there isotonic drinks without sugar?
Sugar-free electrolyte drinks exist, but without carbohydrates they usually end up hypotonic and don't reach the 80 kcal per liter EU rules require to claim they contribute to the maintenance of endurance performance during prolonged endurance exercise. They fit everyday use, not a three-hour ride.
Which drinks are isotonic?
The ones with a concentration close to that of blood, whether or not the package says so. They can only use the EU claims if they meet four conditions: 80-350 kcal per liter from carbohydrates, at least 75% of them from glucose, glucose polymers or sucrose, 460-1,150 mg of sodium per liter, and 200-330 mOsm/kg. They come as powders, ready-to-drink bottles, gels and tablets.
What are the downsides of isotonic drinks?
Outside exercise, they add carbohydrates and sodium you aren't burning, so they don't make sense as a daily drink. Mixed with too little water, they raise the concentration and can upset your stomach. Under an hour of moderate effort, stick to water.
How do you make a homemade isotonic drink?
To get close to isotonic, for each liter of water: 60-80 g of sugar (or juice plus sugar) and 1.2-2.9 g of salt, which is 460-1,150 mg of sodium. It works as a quick fix; the problem is repeating the dose every time, and a measured powder gives you the same figure in every serving.
Does isotonic drink help with cramps?
There's no authorized claim in the EU linking an isotonic drink to cramps. What the rules do recognize is that these solutions enhance the absorption of water during physical exercise. Cramps have a multifactorial cause: we cover that in muscle cramps.
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