Electro-fizz tablets for athletes

As any athlete will tell you, drinking water isn’t enough to stay hydrated while performing at top speed, force or endurance, and even mild dehydration can result in reduced performance. The key is to replenish electrolytes and other nutrients, as contained in popular sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. But not everyone likes traditional sports drinks’ rather overwhelming taste, artificial colours and high sugar content. Two newcomers to the hydration market are offering an alternative in the shape of fizzy tablets. Nuun and Zym, both based in the US, manufacture electrolyte replacement tablets that can be popped into ordinary water to create a hydrating drink for sports enthusiasts (and for non-active people with hangovers). One tube of Zym (USD 7.95) is enough for ten 20 oz. bottles, and a tube of Nuun (USD 6.50) creates twelve times 16 oz. of electrolyte drink. Both brands stress a near absence of sugar and calories, and a light refreshing taste. Obvious advantages of the tablets are their portability and convenience over lugging gallons of sports drinks, or measuring out electrolyte powders. Nuun has been around for a few years (mainly selling to pro triathlon and endurance racers), and has distributors in Canada and the UK. Zym just got started this year, and sets itself apart by a higher dosage of vitamin B. Both companies are still busy gaining a foothold, so it seems like the right time to snap up partnership and distribution deals for the rest of the world, and grab a piece of that Gatorade action 😉