When it comes to hydration, it’s personal.
At Skratch Labs, we know that every athlete sweats differently.
Some lose a little salt.
Some lose a lot — like Niagara Falls levels of electrolytes.
And that changes everything about how you need to hydrate.
Electrolyte Booster is our simple solution:
A pure, unflavored way to fine-tune your sodium and electrolyte intake — without sugar, without sweetness, and without changing the taste of your drink.
It’s hydration made personal.
Where It All Started: Observing the Problem in the Real World
When Dr. Allen Lim worked on the Pro Cycling Tour, he noticed something:
- Some riders drank to thirst and stayed well-hydrated*.
- Others drank to thirst — but still ended up severely dehydrated.
The easy answer would have been to force everyone to drink more.
But Dr. Lim trusted the athletes.
If they said they weren't thirsty, they probably weren't supposed to drink more.
So he dug deeper.
And found the real clue: sodium.
*In all cases, the athletes I worked with drank to thirst. Some stayed well-hydrated. Others dehydrated. The issue was that thirst was regulating sodium balance, not water balance. So those individuals who lost more sodium in their sweat drank less water when they relied on thirst because there wasn't as much sodium in their blood stream. Effectively, their thirst mechanism kept them from diluting out their blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) which kept them alive, but resulted in dehydration. The answer was giving the athletes who lost more sodium more sodium.
The Science: Why Sodium Matters More Than You Think
- Sweat isn’t just water — it’s salty.
- The amount of sodium athletes lose in sweat varies wildly — from about 400 mg to over 2000 mg per liter, depending mostly on genetics.
- Thirst is triggered when blood sodium concentration rises.
- If you lose more sodium, your body lets you stay more dehydrated to protect sodium balance — even if you’re losing a lot of water.
In other words:
👉 Athletes who lose more sodium don't feel as thirsty, even as they dehydrate.
👉 Drinking plain water can dilute blood sodium too much, risking hyponatremia (which can cause everything from poor performance to dangerous health outcomes).
The solution wasn’t to force more drinking — it was to add more sodium.
More sodium made athletes naturally drink more to thirst — matching what they actually lost.
Simple. Elegant. Effective.
Early Solutions: Good Start, But Not Perfect
When Skratch Labs first launched, we stuck to that philosophy. We made two drink options:
- Hydration Sport Drink Mix — about 800 mg of sodium per liter.
- Hyper Hydration — a super-concentrated 3400 mg sodium bomb for the heavy sweaters.
It worked... kind of.
- Hyper Hydration had way more sodium than most people needed.
- It tasted really salty (because, well, it was).
- And it wasn’t super practical for everyday athletes who needed just a little extra control.
- Also it was hard for people to do the math and figure out what ratio of Skratch Hyper to Sport Drink Mix they needed to get the right amount of sodium.
Meanwhile, athletes were also asking for more carbohydrate fueling options — which led us to create Super High-Carb Drink Mix, using Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin for maximum calories with minimum gut issues.
In short: Athletes needed more flexibility, not more complicated products.
The Breakthrough: Subtraction, Not Addition
Instead of creating even more complicated drink mixes, we flipped the script.
What if we just removed everything but what athletes actually needed, when they needed it?
First, we created Unsweetened Hydration Sport Drink Mix — real electrolytes + a touch of fruit, but no sugar.
It gave athletes hydration without forcing calories when they didn’t want them.
But then we found another gap:
- Some athletes loved the fruit flavor.your favorite real food.
- Some needed even finer sodium control without adding more taste at all.
That’s when we built Electrolyte Booster:
No sugar. No flavor. Just electrolytes.
So athletes could boost any drink, anytime, without messing up taste, gut feel, or fueling plans.
Why Electrolyte Booster Works
✅ Pure Electrolytes: Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium — the same profile you lose in sweat.
✅ No Flavor, No Sweeteners: Nothing to clash with your drink or food.
✅ Easy Customization: Mix it with Skratch Sport Hydration, Super High-Carb, real food, water, or whatever you’re using.
✅ Dialed-in Hydration: Supports drinking to thirst while matching your real sweat loss.
✅ Smarter Performance: Hydrate better, reduce dehydration, and minimize risk of hyponatremia.
How to Use Electrolyte Booster
Start simple:
- Add ½ to 1 scoop (400 mg sodium per scoop) to 12–16 oz of any drink.
- Adjust based on how you feel and how much you sweat.
- Mix it into any drink, Skratch mixes, or your go-to fuel.
- No change in flavor, no stomach upset.
💡 Pro tip:
- If you're still dehydrating even when drinking to thirst, try adding a little more sodium with Electrolyte Booster and observe if you naturally drink more.
- Trust your thirst — it’s your body's smartest hydration guide.
The Bottom Line
Your sweat isn’t average. Now, neither is your hydration.
Skratch Labs Electrolyte Booster gives you the power to fine-tune hydration without compromise:
No extra sweetness. No fake flavors. No rigid formulas.
Just smarter hydration, made simple.
Because when it comes to fueling and hydration, it’s personal.
