PowerBar 5 Electrolytes Tablets

The PowerBar brand boasts a wide range of sports nutrition products, including these 5 Electrolytes tablets, designed to add to water in your drink bottle. As the name implies, they contain five electrolytes or minerals, and are intended to replace those minerals as you lose them via sweat when exercising. The drink tastes pleasant enough, and may help you stay hydrated, which in turn may help improve performance when racing or training.

The tablets come in various flavours, including blackcurrant, pink grapefruit, lemon, mango and passionfruit, and raspberry and pomegranate, which all have the five electrolytes in the same quantities: sodium (250mg per tablet), potassium (150mg), chloride (200mg), calcium (60mg), and magnesium (28mg). I've been testing the Lemon Tonic Boost, which has an additional 75mg of caffeine thrown into the mix.

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Other ingredients include citric acid, natural flavourings and sucralose sweetener. This gives the drink a slightly sweet taste, but it's not sticky or fizzy. Even after you've been cycling for a few hours in hot weather it's still quite refreshing and not at all unpleasant to drink.

The tablets contain virtually no carbohydrate and absolutely no fat or protein, so they are billed as 'zero calories'. It may seem stating the bleedin' obvious, but it's important to realise that, despite the brand name, Powerbar 5 Electrolytes tablets are not a source of power or energy.

So why drink it? Do you actually need these 5 Electrolytes tablets (or any other similar product) just to stay hydrated or avoid dehydration?

The answer is not straightforward. But here are the basics in general terms:

Most doctors and sports nutritionists agree that hydration is important because dehydration can have a negative impact on athletic performance (basically, you get tired sooner). However, this situation is complicated because the terms 'hydration' and 'dehydration' are often used inconsistently. For example, some doctors refer to dehydration simply as a body losing more fluid (via sweat and urine) than taken in (via drinking), and therefore define hydration as drinking more fluid than you lose. Some sports nutritionists (and – perhaps not surprisingly – some sports nutrition manufacturers) may also include the loss of electrolytes in their definition of dehydration, and therefore recommend taking on those electrolytes, as well as water, as part of the hydration process.

Which is correct? Once again, it's not straightforward. Some sports science studies show that replacing the electrolytes lost via sweat helps improve performance, more than drinking water alone. Other studies suggest that you don't need extra electrolytes, and that drinking water is enough.

A 'middle way' argument claims that the additional electrolytes in the fluid, even if not actually needed, still encourage athletes to drink the correct amount and stay hydrated. Another argument claims that it's the taste of hydration products, rather than the electrolytes, that encourage athletes to drink – because it's simply more enticing than plain water.

In the end, for most cyclists, it comes down to personal preference. On that basis, and from my own experience, I recommend trying these Powerbar 5 Electrolytes tablets. At between two and four quid for a tube of 10 tablets, a little experimentation isn't going to break the bank.

If you like the taste, and if you feel that dropping a tab in your bottle helps you drink a bit more, which in turn helps keep you cycling further or faster (or just helps you enjoy tootling around), then it's well worth sticking with. If this product doesn't work for you, then try something else, or stick with plain water.

As with all nutrition products, taste and impact can be a personal thing, so it's best to try these electrolyte tabs when you're training – or even when you're sitting at home – to find out what concentration works best for you, rather than trying it for the first time on the day of a big race or sportive.

Verdict

Tasty and refreshing drink-mix which may help you stay better hydrated and improve performance