Protein Powder With Electrolytes: Do You Need Both in One Drink?

You don't need protein and electrolytes in the same drink, but combining them is convenient and makes sense if you train, sweat a lot, or struggle to drink enough. Protein rebuilds muscle. Electrolytes replace the minerals you lose in sweat and help your body hold on to fluid. Most everyday workouts call for modest amounts of both.

What do protein and electrolytes each do?

Protein supplies the amino acids your body uses to repair and build muscle, while electrolytes are charged minerals (sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium and calcium) that manage fluid balance, nerve signals and muscle contraction. They do different jobs, which is why neither one replaces the other.

For protein, the International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends about 0.25 g of high-quality protein per kg of body weight per serving, or an absolute dose of 20–40 g, within a daily total of 1.4–2.0 g per kg for people who exercise (Jäger et al., 2017).

For electrolytes, the main loss is through sweat, and sweat is mostly water, sodium and chloride. How much you lose varies enormously from person to person. A review of athlete sweat testing puts whole-body sweat sodium at roughly 10–70 mmol per liter and sweating rate at roughly 0.5–2.0 liters per hour (Baker, 2017).

Do you need electrolytes with your protein?

It depends on how much you sweat, not on the protein. The American College of Sports Medicine's position is that after exercise the goal is to replace whatever fluid and electrolyte deficit you built up, and that how hard you need to work at it depends on the size of the deficit and how quickly you need to recover (Sawka et al., 2007). A short, cool session creates a small deficit. A long, hot one creates a big one.

Your day	Protein	Electrolytes
Rest day or desk day	Helpful if your meals fall short of your daily target	Food and water usually cover it
Gym session under an hour, light sweat	20–40 g afterward or with your next meal	Nice to have, not required
Long or hot session, soaked shirt, salt marks on clothes	20–40 g afterward	Yes, and sodium is the one that matters most
Two sessions in one day	A serving after each session	Yes, because you need to rehydrate quickly
You rarely finish a shake or forget to drink	Pick a format you'll actually finish	A lightly salted, flavored drink is easier to keep sipping

Does protein help you rehydrate?

Possibly, but the evidence comes from milk protein and hasn't been shown for clear whey on its own. In one small trial, eight men lost about 1.8% of their body mass exercising in the heat, then drank back 150% of what they'd lost. They retained 46% of a carbohydrate-only drink, compared with 59% and 64% of two drinks where some of the carbohydrate was swapped for milk protein (James et al., 2013).

A separate trial that built a "beverage hydration index" found that skim milk (1.58), full-fat milk (1.50) and an oral rehydration solution (1.54) were retained better over two hours than still water, which is set at 1.0. A standard sports drink was no different from water (Maughan et al., 2016).

Two honest caveats. Milk contains sodium, potassium and lactose as well as protein, so you can't credit the protein alone. And both studies used milk or milk protein, not a clear whey isolate. The fair reading is that a drink with protein and electrolytes is unlikely to hydrate you worse than water, and may do a little better.

How far do the electrolytes in one scoop actually go?

One scoop of a typical protein-plus-electrolyte powder covers a useful slice of your daily minerals, but only a small part of the sodium lost in a hard, sweaty session. Here is the math for our own Protein Hydrator, using FDA Daily Values:

Per scoop	Amount	% of FDA Daily Value
Whey protein isolate	22 g	n/a
Potassium	460 mg	about 10%
Chloride	195 mg	about 8%
Sodium	140 mg	about 6%
Magnesium	60 mg	about 14%
Calcium	20 mg	about 2%

Percentages are our own calculation from the FDA Daily Values (potassium 4,700 mg, chloride 2,300 mg, sodium 2,300 mg, magnesium 420 mg, calcium 1,300 mg), so label rounding may differ slightly. White Peach is a little different: 70 mg sodium (about 3%) and 110 mg calcium (about 8%).

Now compare that with sweat. Sodium weighs about 23 mg per mmol, so the 10–70 mmol per liter range works out to roughly 230–1,610 mg of sodium in every liter of sweat. That means:

• 140 mg of sodium replaces the sodium in about 0.1–0.6 liters of sweat (roughly 3–21 fl oz), depending on how salty your sweat is.
• An hour of exercise can cost anywhere from about 115 mg to over 3,000 mg of sodium (0.5 L of dilute sweat at the low end, 2 L of salty sweat at the high end).

So the Protein Hydrator is a daily protein drink that also contributes to hydration. It is not a high-sodium sweat-replacement mix. After a long, hot session, pair it with salty food or a dedicated higher-sodium electrolyte mix.

The potassium is the more interesting number for everyday use. According to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, U.S. adults average 3,016 mg (men) and 2,320 mg (women) of potassium a day from food, against Adequate Intakes of 3,400 mg and 2,600 mg. That is an average shortfall of 384 mg for men and 280 mg for women, and one scoop has 460 mg.

What should you look for on the label?

Check the protein dose first, then match the sodium to how much you sweat. A quick checklist:

• Protein: 20–40 g per serving from a complete source such as whey isolate.
• Sodium: a modest amount suits a drink you have every day. Heavy sweaters need more from food or a separate mix.
• Potassium and magnesium: listed in milligrams, not hidden in a "blend."
• Sugar and sweeteners: look at added sugar and whether the sweetener is one you're happy to have daily.
• Texture: electrolytes taste salty and tart, which suits a juice-like clear protein better than a creamy chocolate shake.

For reference, Protein Hydrator has 22 g of grass-fed whey protein isolate and 100 calories per scoop, with 0 g added sugar. It's sweetened with Reb-M, is lactose-free, and comes in Blue Raspberry, Strawberry Açaí Lemonade, White Peach and Rocket Pop.

When should you drink protein with electrolytes?

The most useful time is after training, or any time of day you'd otherwise skip protein. The ISSN notes that protein works best spread evenly across the day, about every 3–4 hours (Jäger et al., 2017), so an afternoon glass counts as much as a post-workout one.

1. Add one scoop to 12–16 oz of cold water.
2. Shake or stir, then let the foam settle for 30–60 seconds.
3. Pour it over ice.

If you also take creatine, you can add an unflavored 5 g creatine stick pack to the same glass. Creatine dissolves more slowly in cold liquid, so give it a good stir. The details are in our guide to why creatine won't dissolve.

FAQ

Can you mix protein powder with an electrolyte packet?

Yes, there's no known reason you can't take them together. Add up the total sodium across both products, and expect tart electrolyte flavors to clash with creamy, dessert-style shakes.

Is protein with electrolytes good after a workout?

Yes. Post-workout is when you want 20–40 g of protein and need to replace the fluid and electrolytes you lost. One drink that does both is simply easier to stick with.

Do I need electrolytes if I don't sweat much?

Usually not beyond a normal diet. The exception is potassium, which the NIH notes many people in the United States get less of than recommended.

Is Protein Hydrator an oral rehydration solution?

No. It has far less sodium than a sweat-replacement mix and isn't formulated as an oral rehydration solution. If you're ill or seriously dehydrated, use a proper ORS and talk to a clinician.

Can I drink it every day?

Yes, as one of your daily protein servings. It's still milk protein, so it isn't suitable if you have a milk allergy.

Sources

• Jäger R, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:20. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8
• Sawka MN, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand: exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39(2):377–390. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597
• Baker LB. Sweating rate and sweat sodium concentration in athletes: a review of methodology and intra/interindividual variability. Sports Med. 2017;47(Suppl 1):111–128. doi:10.1007/s40279-017-0691-5
• James LJ, et al. Effect of varying the concentrations of carbohydrate and milk protein in rehydration solutions ingested after exercise in the heat. Br J Nutr. 2013;110(7):1285–1291. doi:10.1017/S0007114513000536
• Maughan RJ, et al. A randomized trial to assess the potential of different beverages to affect hydration status: development of a beverage hydration index. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;103(3):717–723. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.114769
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Potassium: fact sheet for health professionals. ods.od.nih.gov
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels. fda.gov

About the author: Gevin Rai is the founder of Jive Nutrition. He started Jive after watching his wife struggle to finish thick protein shakes, and now makes clear protein and easy-mixing creatine. This article is for general education and isn't medical advice.