Arizona-based supplement retailer and manufacturer Nootropics Depot has published a new white paper arguing that large parts of the sports hydration market are built on a clinical framework that was never intended for athletic use.
The paper, titled "The Electrolyte Delusion: Intelligent Hydration Beyond the WHO's ORS Formula," examines how the World Health Organization's Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) standard — a four-ingredient formula developed in the 1970s for acute diarrhoeal dehydration in resource-limited settings — became an implicit blueprint for a category now spanning performance powders, convenience-store sticks and premium hydration blends.
The paper was authored by Nootropics Depot CEO Paul Eftang.
An old design brief for a new category
The WHO-ORS formula was developed to support survival in a medical emergency.
It was optimised for cost, ambient stability and rapid fluid restoration in cholera patients, often in areas without refrigeration or intravenous access.
In the paper, Eftang acknowledges its importance as a public health intervention (it is estimated to save approximately one million lives per year) before arguing that a formula designed for a diarrhoeal crisis is a poor fit for the physiology of an athlete mid-training block.
Not yet a Subscriber?
This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Click below to get premium content on Nutraceutical Business Review.
Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in here.