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TFS Review: nuun portable electrolyte hydration

Posted January 19th, 2007 at 5:00 PM by Kathryn Magro

Section: Nutrition, Hydration, Race Prep & Recov, Supplements, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Proper hydration is essential for runners and other athletes. Sports drinks are good options, but many people don’t enjoy their very sugary taste and/or experience stomach problems from the excessive carbohydrate intake. Looking for an alternative? Try nuun’s portable electrolyte hydration. Read on for our comprehensive review and the results of our product testing.

Product: nuun portable electrolyte hydration
Price: $6.50 per tube (12 tablets)
Rating: Excellent 8.6/10.0
Pros:Effective hydration on the go; convenient; versatile; won’t cause stomach discomfort; variety of flavors
Cons: Lacks vitamins; no individually packaging
Overall: An effective and convenient hydration option for runners, cyclists and other endurance athletes.

nuun is a portable electrolyte tablet. The tablets come in a small container that resembles Airborne and quickly dissolve when added to 16-20oz. of water. They are also effervescent so no mixing or shaking is required for the tablets to dissolve (unlike many sports drink powders).

nuun offers three flavors: lemon-lime, tri-berry, and citrus-fruit and is endorsed by professional triathletes Desiree Ficker and Mitch Anderson. nuun is also the sponsor of the Montreal running team. There are twelve tablets in each tube; each of which provide two servings. Each serving contains 180 mg of sodium, 50 mg of potassium, 250mcg of riboflavin and other vitamins/minerals.

Note: Although the review is authored by just one of TFS’s team members, it reflects the cumulative results of the entire groups’ trial and our comparative testing.

Effectiveness - 9 - nuun tablets provide crucial quantities of electrolytes; making them a very effective hydration tools for runners and other athletes. Why is this so important? Recent findings have proved that water is not enough for hydration. Hyponatremia, a condition of low sodium in the blood-stream, occurs when too much water is consumed in a short period of time, which can cause disorientation or sickness. Sodium-supplemented products, such as nuun, lessen the chance of hyponatremia while still keeping you hydrated.

The effectiveness rating also takes into account nuun’s nutritional content as compared to competing products like those made by Zym (another manufacturer of portable electrolyte tablets). Zym’s nutritional label indicates that it has 250mg of sodium (compared to nuun’s 180mg). However, each Zym tablet requires 20oz of water and provides only one serving. Each nuun tablet provides two servings and only requires a total of 16oz of water (for both servings,). If you take this into account and recalculate the sodium content of both products, nuun tablets prove to be far more effective for hydration because they provide 22.5 mg of sodium per ounce of water, as compared to Zym’s 12.5mg/oz. On the other hand, nuun might want to consider including some additional vitamins, like the large quantities of vitamins B and C found in Zym.

The other effective benefit of using an electrolyte tablet, as compared to a sports drink, is that they allow athletes to separate hydration and nutrition (aka carbohydrate replenishment). This might seem like a strange comment, because carbohydrates are also very important for athletes. However, when an athlete consumes enough of a sports drink to stay hydrated, they have no choice but to also take in large amounts of carbohydrates. This can sometimes result in over-consumption of carbohydrates which can lead to stomach pain and other digestive issues. Conversely, electrolyte tablets, like nuun, solve that problem by keeping you hydrated and leave you in full control of your carbohydrate intake (via energy gels, etc).

Taste - 8 - nuun offers a milder taste than sports drinks that our testers found pleasing. Our testers also consistently preferred the flavor of nuun’s lemon-lime tablets over those from Zym. Some testers did not enjoy the mild “fizziness” (of both nuun and Zym) that remains after the tablet dissolves, but otherwise provided positive feedback in regard to taste.

Value & Convenience - 8 - A 12-tablet tube of nuun costs $6.50; a good value since each tablet provides two servings. The 24 servings from one tube of nuun is also superior to the 10 in a tube of Zym. We also found nuun to be convenient and versatile. The tablets require no mixing and as long as there is water - you have an excellent source of electrolytes.

Individually-wrapped packages would be beneficial, but runners can also place a tablet or two in a Ziploc bag for easier transportation. The entire tube is also small and pretty light so it can be held in the pockets on a hydration device (i.e. Camelbak, Fuelbelt, etc.).

Overall, we were impressed by nuun and the results of our testing and comparison were very positive. It is an excellent hydration product and we highly recommend it for all levels of runners and athletes.

Editor’s note - The overall rating was calculated by weighting Effectiveness as 60%, Taste as 20% and Value & Convenience as 20%.

Ben Schneider said:

This is really interesting - where can I find these things?
January 19th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
TFS Follow-up Review: nuun’s New “kona cola” Flavored Electrolyte Tablets | The Final Sprint (TFS) | The Internet’s Premier Running, Fitness, and Nutrition Publication said:

[…] In the expanding world of hydration products, nuun has separated itself from the pack with their quality portable electrolyte tablets. It is dissolves quickly, is sugar-free, is convenient to use, and tends to have a mild, pleasing taste. (For full nuun product details and to read TheFinalSprint.com’s review from earlier this year, please click here). […]
December 4th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Kennie Still said:

As a new, heavy cyclist (320 lbs) I sweat a lot and lose electrolytes very quickly which lead to my bonking out very quickly. A guy at the local bike shop introduced me to nuun tablets. I love them! They offer a very convenient way to keep me hydrated and my electrolytes balanced. Just throw a tablet in a water bottle and you’re set.

Happy exercise!
January 16th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Justin Peek said:

You know that sounds ok but I have been taking these electrolite strips that dissolve in your mouth go through the mucous membrane in it and right to your blood stream in 2-3 min and have zero sugar,calories or carbs. They are amazing I think every runner should take these things. Each pack holds 22 of these strips its like carrying 8 gatorades but no crappy sugar. email me i will tell you where to get them.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:43 pm