Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek segment called Ask a Nutritionist.

I am Brittany Vincent, a registered and licensed dietitian on today's show brought to you by nutritional weight and wellness.

I will be answering a nutrition question we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition

listeners. So today's question is thoughts on taking electrolytes on a daily basis. I work out every

morning and it feels like drinking water all day

is not enough. Sometimes I still feel parched in the evening. Is it safe to add electrolytes daily?

The short answer is yes. It is absolutely safe and I'm really excited to talk about this today because

I am finding more and more individuals

that benefit from including electrolytes on a daily basis or a semi-regular basis.

So let's dig into some science first.

What are electrolytes?

That's the first question.

Sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium,

calcium, phosphorus, and bicarbonate are all electrolytes. Electrolites are minerals that conduct

electrical charges in your body. And this allows the transmission of messages between cells. And I'm going to talk a lot

about fluid balance today. And sodium and potassium are really the two key players in fluid balance.

I want to talk about some other functions in the body that are supported by electrolytes.

Energy metabolism, conducting electricity to power the nervous system, producing and regulating

hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, aldosterone, and antidioretic hormone.

Calcium and potassium are directly involved in ATP synthesis.

And ATP is the energy of our cells.

So that is really important.

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