salt pills:When are they needed?

[SinGate]

I have a few Triathlete buddies and they always carry salt pills with them. when does taking extra salt in become neccessary?

[OregonBound]

For anyone with a normal diet, there is plenty of sodium intake for even vigorous sweating. I believe most sources strongly suggest against salt pills. Here's one article: http://www.mainebones.com/Articles/article73.htm and many more can be found using a search engine.

Paul

[Guest]

When you have a goiter forming on the base of your throat...

:D

Seriously, when you are racing or exercising so vigorously, you tend to lose electrolytes pretty quickly. Perhaps then, but how do you know the electrolytes you're losing are salt? What if you are deficient in potassium, and you're taking salt pills? Better to take powdered concentrate of gatorade with you and eat that if you start to feel a bit like you're bonking.... or just swallow some Gu.

Koffee

[SinGate]

Is Gu the same as Power Gell?

[Guest]

I'm not sure what Power Gell is, but if it's just a energy gel you suck down for quickie energy, it is probably the same concept.

Koffee

[SinGate]

It is made by the makers of PowerBars. It is very widly found in the Mid-West,but I mis-spelled the name it is "Power Gel." The stuff is really quite good; it's a carbohydrate concentrate.
28g carb
5g sugar
50mg Sodium
40mg Potassuum
15% Vit C
15% Vit E
110 calories

So does this help fit the bill to ward off the evils of desalination?

[Guest]

It looks like it has enough sodium and potassium if you end up with an electrolyte deficiency, and enough quickie carbs to get you through the bonk.

Eat it, though? Uugh... I'd rather eat a snickers! ;)

Koffee

[late]

Hi,
I dilute gatorade and it's clones. Too sweet. I really like Gu too. But when it gets blazing hot I also eat a few pretzels (no fat) and take about one potassium pill an hour. Taking just the one hasnever upset my stomach; and you can get them at Walmart cheap. I suspect there are better pottasium pills out there; but I haven't looked into it.

[roadbuzz]

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
When you have a goiter forming on the base of your throat...

:D

They would have to be iodized salt pills, no?

If you eat processed food, you have NaCl coming out the wazoo, or rather, the, um, never mind. As Late implies, potassium is usually more of an issue. In general, sports drinks have some of each.

[Pat]

I live in Central Florida. It gets hot and humid here in the summers, no fake.

I sweat profusely when I ride hard. I can go through more then 140 ounces of water in 50 miles, 2 camelbacks. I have found from experience that I can get hyponatriumia (sodium deficiency) after going through 2 camelbacks. So I carry table salt and eat some before and during the ride.

Hyponatriumia for me has the following symptoms. Nausea, fatigue, weakness, vomitting, disorientation (I stop here). I have heard that one can push on into convulsions and death though but I have not tried that one.

One thing I have noticed that if I am licking the salt off my lips because it tastes SO GOOD, it is a good idea to eat some table salt. I have estimated the sodium loss by sweating from my intake and from the electrolyte levels in plasma (in one of my various physiology texts). None of the electrolyte drinks comes anywhere near close to replacing sodium. Oh by the way, sodium is the principle cation followed by potassium (a distant second). I think they typically have 50 mg of sodium per serving and a quarter teaspoon of salt has 550 (and a quarter teaspoon is not much).

However, I am an extreme case. Most people do not perspire enough even here in Florida to get into hyponatriumia. None of my riding buddies ever has this problem. They get other ones. But it can be dangerous because the symptoms are very similar to heat exhaustion and people with hyponatriumia have been killed by people treating them for heat exhaustion.

[bac]

Originally posted by Pat
I sweat profusely when I ride hard. I can go through more then 140 ounces of water in 50 miles, 2 camelbacks.

I also drink that quantity of water, and would drink more if I could carry it! I sweat @ a level that I've not seen in anyone else. I'm not overweight, I just perspire @ a very elevated level. I may bring some salt along on my next ride.

[roadbuzz]

In a situation such as Pat describes, I'd still be more inclined to supplement both sodium and potassium. I mean, you're sweating both, but only replacing one, increasing the imbalance as the day goes on.

I've harped on this in the past, but it's been a while... Morton makes a great product called Lite Salt. It's a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium chloride, at about the right ratio of sodium to potassium (2:1 if memory serves). If you salt your food, you should use this, instead. If you need to replace salt during rides, you can add a little to your water... you probably won't even notice the taste unless you go overboard.

[bac]

Originally posted by roadbuzz
I've harped on this in the past, but it's been a while... Morton makes a great product called Lite Salt. It's a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium chloride, at about the right ratio of sodium to potassium (2:1 if memory serves). If you salt your food, you should use this, instead. If you need to replace salt during rides, you can add a little to your water... you probably won't even notice the taste unless you go overboard.

ThanX, Roadbuzz!!!! I will be getting some Lite Salt now! :)

[Pat]

Originally posted by roadbuzz
In a situation such as Pat describes, I'd still be more inclined to supplement both sodium and potassium. I mean, you're sweating both, but only replacing one, increasing the imbalance as the day goes on.

I've harped on this in the past, but it's been a while... Morton makes a great product called Lite Salt. It's a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium chloride, at about the right ratio of sodium to potassium (2:1 if memory serves). If you salt your food, you should use this, instead. If you need to replace salt during rides, you can add a little to your water... you probably won't even notice the taste unless you go overboard.

Well it is good to know about a cheap and easy source of Potassium. But you have the ratios all wrong. Sodium exists in 142 milli equivilents per liter of plasma and potassium exists in 5 milli equivilents per liter of plasma. So the ratio so strongly favors sodium that in most cases you can forget potassium.

Fruits have mostly potassium and very little sodium and I eat an orange and banana before rides so that probably does me.


But as I said, you really don't have to take in sodium unless you are an extreme case. Here in Florida, I have hit the problem in as few as 50 miles. But this year, I have been doing fine with none on 70 mile LSD rides. So it all just depends. I had the problem once in Michigan after going 168 miles.

I would think that most people would never see this problem.

[Richard Cranium]

Yeah, what those guys said, --- basically, humans are big bags of salt water. If you work out and drink enough water the "bag 'o salt" get too diluted and cramps up. 'Course if you take too much salt, (like tablets) then the water doesn't cool you right and you end up in a bad way.....

On the other hand, too much book learnin' gets in the way of most these fellows-"most cases you can forget potassium"....don't bet on it.....

I suggest anyone experiencing cramping during exercise investigate potassium supplementation. Morton's Lite-salt is a cheap and relatively safe way to add potassium to one's diet. (while decreasing sodium, too)

However, my "book-learnin'" requires me to remind readers that anyone on medication, see their doctors before trying "lite-salt". And if you really want to get technical get a blood test that includes potassium levels. You might be surprised what you find.....

[sch]

Pat: extracellular fluid is sodium rich, intracellularly potassium is the major cation. There is more fluid in the cells than out. If you go into a sodium depletion mode by sweating a lot the kidneys will start dumping potassium to conserve sodium. It doesn't take much of a drop til the muscles noticeably decrement their performance levels. The true physiology of muscle cramps is not well understood: it involves hydration, ph, K and Na. Steve