David A. Harding on Nostr: Looks like LMNT is about 1/35th the amount of salt as seawater. The rule against ...
Looks like LMNT is about 1/35th the amount of salt as seawater.
The rule against drinking ocean water is for long-term hydration. If you ingest excess salt, your body purges it by purging water. Seawater is about 3.5% salt. Saline used for human transfusion is about 0.9% salt and that's roughly the max rate at which your body can purge water. So if your drink 1 liter of seawater while your blood sodium is already balanced, you will need to pee or sweat about 3.5 liters of water. Obviously that's going to quickly lead to dehydration. A quick search says LMNT is 1 gram salt, or about 0.1% if added to a liter (kilogram) of water, so even if your blood sodium is fully balanced, your body will only need to purge about 10% of that liter. That allows you to hydrate while replenishing any salt you sweated out during exercise.
The rule against drinking ocean water is for long-term hydration. If you ingest excess salt, your body purges it by purging water. Seawater is about 3.5% salt. Saline used for human transfusion is about 0.9% salt and that's roughly the max rate at which your body can purge water. So if your drink 1 liter of seawater while your blood sodium is already balanced, you will need to pee or sweat about 3.5 liters of water. Obviously that's going to quickly lead to dehydration. A quick search says LMNT is 1 gram salt, or about 0.1% if added to a liter (kilogram) of water, so even if your blood sodium is fully balanced, your body will only need to purge about 10% of that liter. That allows you to hydrate while replenishing any salt you sweated out during exercise.