Hydration is extremely important to the health of the human body. Water plays a wide variety of roles in the body and is used to transport nutrients to the cells of organs and muscles, eliminate waste from the body, and cool it down via sweating.
The average healthy adult male is more than 60% water, while the average healthy adult female body is composed of around 50% water.
The different compounds of the body also contain a large amount of water. Blood is more than 93% water, while muscle tissue is about three-quarters water.
Not providing your body with sufficient amount of water can have a serious impact on both your physical performance and your overall health. Not drinking enough water leads to dehydration, which has a wide variety of negative health effects.
Dehydration is commonly associated with extreme water scarcity- many people believe that it’s not possible to become dangerously dehydrated unless in a survival situation.
There is, however, an insidious and extremely common form of dehydration- chronic dehydration- that affects over 75% of the US population. Caused by an ongoing net water loss, chronic dehydration occurs over a long period of time, and causes a wide range of unwanted symptoms.
Chronic dehydration can have an extremely limiting effect on athletic performance.
Studies show that individuals that lose more than 2% of their total body weight in water, or around three pounds on average, during hot weather or sports exercises lose their ability to perform effectively, significantly lowering performance output.
Staying hydrated is essential in almost any physical activity, but is especially important in prolonged activities such as long distance running, hiking, triathlons, marathons, and other cardio fitness activities that cause the body to sweat a significant amount.
Keeping hydrated, however, can be difficult- ingesting enough water during a race or training session to keep the body functioning at peak efficiency can often cause bloating, delivering a net negative effect.
A new hydration solution, however, is providing sports enthusiasts and athletes with a new hydration delivery technique that hydrates the body several times faster than plain water.
Liquid I.V. is a revolutionary new powder drink mix that delivers water to the body is a far more efficient manner than any other solution on the market today.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the Liquid I.V. solution and find out how it works, as well as examining the science behind it to help you decide whether it’s the right hydration support supplement for you.
What is Liquid I.V.?
Liquid I.V. is a new hydration drink powder that offers a number of benefits not found in any other hydration solution on the market. The creators of Liquid I.V. claim that their solution is able to deliver water to the bloodstream between 2 and three times faster than normal water, leveraging a cutting-edge scientific hydration delivery technique they’ve labeled “Cellular Transport Technology”.
The Liquid I.V. solution has gathered media attention from news outlets such as ABC, the Wall Street Journal, CBS, The Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more.
The Liquid I.V. brand was created by two collegiate athletes from California- Brandin Cohen and Hayden Fulstone- that found the sports drinks and hydration options available on the market unacceptable.
Packed with sugar, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives, these solutions rely more on marketing hype than they do on delivering real results, and are unable to deliver efficient hydration. Together, Cohen and Fulstone began searching for a healthy alternative, and stumbled across Oral Rehydration Therapy, which was developed in the late 1970’s and endorsed by the World Health Organization as one of the most important medical advancements of the century.
Oral Rehydration Therapy was originally intended to provide fast acting rehydration support for children suffering from extreme dehydration in third world countries, in places where medical equipment such as IV’s are unavailable.
The Oral Rehydration therapy uses a combination of sodium, water, and glucose that restores lost electrolytes, increases energy levels, and rapidly rehydrates the human body. The solution, when used in developing countries, was so effective that it lowered the diarrhea mortality rate- which is directly linked to dehydration- by 93%.
Liquid I.V. is essentially the same solution as Oral Rehydration Therapy, but has been reformulated and rebranded for the performance sports market. The ingredients used to make the Liquid I.V. solution are sourced entirely in the United States, and the final product is manufactured in a facility that adheres to cGMP production standards.
In addition to providing fast-acting and highly effective rehydration products, Liquid I.V. also give back to the community in the form of an initiative that they have formed in partnership with Hands Together, one of Haiti’s largest nonprofit relief organizations.
Liquid I.V. provide Hands Together with one serving of rehydration for every order they receive.
The Liquid I.V. Range
Liquid I.V. is available in two different products- an eight-pack of instant use sachets, or a portable pouch of 16 instant-use sticks.
The eight pack of instant use sachets are available in Lemon-Lime flavor, and are suitable for on-the-go use while exercising or working out.
The portable pouch of 16 sticks, like the eight pack, is Lemon-Lime flavor, but offers a greater amount of economy.
The nutritional information for the product makes it ideally suited for individuals that are performing regular marathon runs, intensive physical exercise, or other long-distance endurance activities, but will probably throw up some red flags from individuals that perform regular strength or resistance training.
The Verdict
Each sachet of Liquid I.V, weighing in at 16 grams, contains 11 grams of sugar, meaning almost 70% of the entire product formula is processed sugar, followed by a small amount of sodium and a vitamin stack that delivers 100% of the RDI of vitamins C, B6, and B12. If you’re watching your sugar intake or are following the ketogenic diet, you’ll definitely want to avoid Liquid I.V. due to the high sugar content
However, if you’re looking for a healthier alternative to sugary power energy drinks, Liquid I.V. contains less than half the sugar content of the average red bull, and more than three times the electrolytes, making it a great middle-of-the-road solution.
