By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
Electrolytes don't need sugar to be absorbed, but glucose speeds sodium and water uptake through a shared intestinal transporter called SGLT1 — the mechanism behind the WHO's oral rehydration formula. For sedentary use, zero-sugar is fine. For sustained training, carbohydrate does two jobs at once: absorption and fuel.
This is the article I most wanted to write, because the internet's answer to this question is either "sugar is poison" or "you need sugar," and neither is true.
The mechanism, plainly
Your small intestine has a protein in the wall of its lining cells called SGLT1 — the sodium-glucose linked transporter. Its job is to pull glucose out of the gut and into the cell. It can't do that on its own; it runs on a sodium gradient. So it grabs sodium ions and a glucose molecule together and moves them across at the same time.
The stoichiometry is two sodium ions per one glucose molecule. Sodium and glucose go through the door together, or largely not at all through that particular door.
Then water follows. Water isn't pumped anywhere — it moves osmotically, chasing the solutes. Move sodium and glucose into the bloodstream, and water goes with them.
That's the whole trick. Glucose is a co-factor for sodium absorption, and sodium absorption is what drives water absorption.
The important caveat: SGLT1 is not the only route in. Sodium is also absorbed through sodium-hydrogen exchangers and paracellular pathways that don't need glucose at all. You will absorb the sodium in a zero-sugar electrolyte drink. It's not going to sit in your gut. The claim "you can't absorb electrolytes without sugar" is wrong, and brands that imply it are overselling.
What glucose does is make the process faster and more complete, particularly when you need to move a lot of fluid quickly.
What the WHO formula actually says
Oral rehydration therapy is one of the highest-impact medical interventions of the twentieth century, and it's essentially salt and sugar in water. That's not a coincidence — it was designed around SGLT1.
The current WHO reduced-osmolarity oral rehydration salts formula is:
| Component | Amount per litre |
|---|---|
| Sodium | 75 mmol/L (~1,725mg) |
| Glucose | 75 mmol/L (~13.5g) |
| Potassium | 20 mmol/L |
| Chloride | 65 mmol/L |
| Citrate | 10 mmol/L |
| Total osmolarity | 245 mOsm/L |
Note the ratio. Sodium and glucose at roughly 1:1 molar. That's not arbitrary — it maps onto the transporter.
Note also how little sugar that is: 13.5 grams per litre is a 1.35% carbohydrate solution. Compare that to a typical sports drink at 6%, or Cleonse at about 5%. ORS is deliberately dilute, because osmolarity is the enemy in clinical dehydration. A hypertonic drink pulls water into the gut before it can be absorbed, which is exactly wrong when someone is losing fluid to diarrhea.
The original 1970s WHO formula was 90 mmol/L sodium and 111 mmol/L glucose. It was revised downward to 75/75 in 2002 after trials showed the lower-osmolarity version reduced stool output and vomiting. A 2020 study in Scientific Reports titrating glucose concentration found the pro-absorptive effect scaled with glucose dose across the 70–110 mM range tested, with 80–110 mM glucose paired with 45–60 mEq/L sodium performing best in their model — a reminder that more glucose isn't monotonically worse, and that the optimum depends on what you're solving for.
Where sports drinks diverge from ORS
Here's where a lot of internet argument goes wrong: people cite ORS to justify a sports drink, or cite ORS to attack one. They're different products for different problems.
ORS solves fluid loss in someone who is sick and not moving. Low osmolarity, moderate sodium, minimal sugar. The goal is to get water in with the least gut disturbance possible.
A sports drink solves fluid loss in someone who is working. That person also needs energy, and they're losing sodium at a higher concentration than a resting person. So the sodium goes up and the carbohydrate goes way up, because carbohydrate is now doing a second job — fueling muscle — that has nothing to do with absorption.
Here's how the numbers compare per litre:
| Sodium (mg/L) | Carbohydrate (g/L) | Carb % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHO reduced-osmolarity ORS | ~1,725 | 13.5 | 1.35% |
| Gatorade Endurance (packet in 24 oz) | ~845 | ~59 | ~5.9% |
| Skratch Sport (1 scoop in 16 oz) | ~845 | ~40 | ~4.0% |
| Precision PH 1500 (sachet in 16 oz) | ~1,585 | ~32 | ~3.2% |
| Cleonse (1 stick in 16 oz) | ~1,057 | ~55 | ~5.5% |
| LMNT (1 stick in 16 oz) | ~2,114 | ~4 | ~0.4% |
| Nuun Sport (1 tablet in 16 oz) | ~634 | ~8 | ~0.8% |
Cleonse sits where I intended it to: more sodium than a conventional sports drink, more carbohydrate than ORS, less sodium than a keto-oriented salt stick. It's a training drink, not a clinical product. I want to be clear about that — if you or your kid is genuinely dehydrated from illness, use actual oral rehydration solution or see a doctor. That is not what Cleonse is for.
How much carbohydrate you actually need during exercise
This is well-studied. The clearest synthesis is Jeukendrup's 2014 review in Sports Medicine, which maps intake to duration:
| Exercise duration | Carbohydrate guidance |
|---|---|
| Under 45 min | None needed |
| 45–75 min | Small amounts, or even a carbohydrate mouth rinse, can help |
| 1–2 hours | ~30 g/hour |
| 2–3 hours | ~60 g/hour (single carbohydrate source is fine up to here) |
| Over 2.5–3 hours | ~90 g/hour, requiring multiple transportable carbohydrates |
That last row is the reason ultra-distance fuels use glucose-fructose blends: SGLT1 saturates around 60 g/hour, and fructose uses a different transporter (GLUT5), so combining them lets you absorb more total carbohydrate without it pooling in your gut.
A Cleonse stick is 26g of carbohydrate. That's roughly one hour's worth of fuel for a moderate effort, which is why I built it at that dose rather than at 45g or at zero. Two sticks over a two-hour session lands you near 52g/hour, which is in the right band for most people.
Sucrose — cane sugar — splits into one glucose and one fructose in the gut, so it's inherently a dual-transporter carbohydrate. That's a genuine, if modest, advantage over pure dextrose at higher intake rates.
When zero-sugar is the right answer
I sell a sugar-sweetened product. Here's when you shouldn't buy it.
Rest days and sedentary hydration. If you're sitting at a desk and you want sodium because you drink a lot of water and sweat a little, there is no fuel demand. 24g of sugar is 24g of sugar with no work for it to do. Take LMNT, Re-Lyte, Ultima, or salt your food.
Fasted training. If the point of the session is to train with low glycogen availability, adding carbohydrate defeats the purpose. Use a zero-carb salt product.
Keto and low-carb. 26g of carbohydrate will end ketosis for most people. This isn't a debate about whether keto is good; it's arithmetic. LMNT was built explicitly for this use case and it's the right tool.
Managing blood glucose. If you're diabetic, prediabetic, or under medical guidance on carbohydrate intake, a 24g-sugar drink is a decision to make with your doctor, not with a blog. Zero-sugar options exist for a reason.
Sauna, hot yoga, heat acclimation. High sweat loss, no meaningful energy expenditure. Sodium yes, carbohydrate no.
You just don't want the calories. 100 calories a day is 700 a week. That's a legitimate reason. I'm not going to argue you out of it.
I went into the sweetener side of this trade-off in more depth in stevia vs cane sugar in electrolyte drinks.
When carbohydrate genuinely helps
Any continuous effort past about 60 minutes. Your muscle glycogen is finite. Around the 60 to 90 minute mark, exogenous carbohydrate starts measurably preserving performance. This is one of the least controversial findings in sports nutrition.
Repeat efforts in one day. Tennis tournaments, two-a-days, tournament soccer. You're not just replacing fluid between matches, you're replacing glycogen, and you have a narrow window to do it.
Hot conditions where you need to drink volume. Palatability determines how much you actually consume. A drink you enjoy gets finished; a drink you tolerate gets sipped. When you need 800ml an hour, "do I want more of this?" is a physiological variable, not a preference.
When you can't or won't eat. Some people can't stomach solid food during hard efforts. Liquid carbohydrate is how they fuel.
When you're using it as recovery. Sodium plus carbohydrate after a session helps restore both fluid and glycogen. That's the classic post-workout use case.
The "sugar is inflammatory" objection
I get this a lot, so let's deal with it.
The evidence linking added sugar to metabolic harm is real, and it's about chronic dietary patterns — sustained high intake across a diet, in the context of energy surplus and low activity. It is not about 24 grams of carbohydrate consumed during or immediately after exercise by someone who is actively burning it.
During and after exercise, your muscles are pulling glucose out of the blood through insulin-independent pathways. The metabolic handling of carbohydrate around exercise is genuinely different from the same carbohydrate consumed on a couch. This is not a rationalization; it's why every sports nutrition guideline on the planet recommends carbohydrate around training.
That said — context is everything. If you're sedentary and drinking three sugar-sweetened electrolyte packets a day "for hydration," you've made a soda habit with a wellness label on it. That's a real failure mode and it's on the brands as much as the consumer. Cleonse is for people who are moving. If you're not moving, buy something else.
What I built and why
Cleonse is three ingredients:
Organic Lemon Powder (or Organic Strawberry Powder), Organic Cane Sugar, French Grey Sea Salt
Per 30g stick in 16 oz (473 ml) water: 500mg sodium, 85+ trace minerals from French grey sea salt, 100 calories, 26g total carbohydrate, 24g sugar. No stevia, no artificial sweeteners, no natural flavors, no dyes, no preservatives, no gums, no fillers. Vegan and gluten-free.
I played competitive tennis — state champion — and the practical problem I had wasn't "I need more sodium." It was that between the third and fourth match of a tournament day I needed sodium and fuel and something I actually wanted to drink, and the products on offer gave me one of those three at a time.
500mg was a deliberate midpoint. High enough to matter for a real sweat loss, low enough to be drinkable in volume and to stack — two sticks over a long session is 1,000mg sodium and 52g carbohydrate, which is a genuinely sensible endurance dose. A 1,000mg-per-stick product doesn't stack the same way.
The sugar isn't a compromise I made to avoid stevia. It's the ingredient that makes the sodium work harder and the muscle work longer. That's the whole thesis.
Try The World's Cleanest Electrolyte™
Three ingredients. 500mg sodium. Nothing artificial. Free shipping and a 30-day guarantee.
Shop CleonseFrequently asked questions
Do electrolytes work without sugar? Yes. Sodium is absorbed by several routes, including sodium-hydrogen exchange and paracellular transport, none of which require glucose. A zero-sugar electrolyte drink will absorb. Glucose adds an additional, efficient pathway via the SGLT1 co-transporter, which is why oral rehydration formulas include it.
What is sodium-glucose co-transport? It's the mechanism by which the SGLT1 protein in the small intestine moves two sodium ions and one glucose molecule across the gut wall together, using the sodium gradient as its energy source. Water then follows osmotically. It's the physiological basis for oral rehydration therapy.
How much sugar is in the WHO oral rehydration formula? The current reduced-osmolarity WHO ORS contains 75 mmol/L of glucose, which is about 13.5 grams per litre — a 1.35% carbohydrate solution. It also contains 75 mmol/L sodium, for a total osmolarity of 245 mOsm/L.
Is a zero-sugar electrolyte drink better than one with sugar? Neither is better in general; they solve different problems. Zero-sugar is better for rest days, fasted training, keto, sauna use, and anyone managing carbohydrate intake. Sugar-containing drinks are better for sustained exercise past about an hour, repeat efforts in a day, and situations where you need to drink real volume.
How much carbohydrate should I take during exercise? Broadly: nothing under 45 minutes, around 30 g/hour for 1–2 hours, around 60 g/hour for 2–3 hours, and up to 90 g/hour beyond that using multiple carbohydrate types. One Cleonse stick supplies 26g, roughly an hour of moderate fueling.
Why does Cleonse have 24g of sugar? Because 26g of carbohydrate is about one hour of fuel at moderate intensity, and because cane sugar supplies the glucose that pairs with sodium at the SGLT1 transporter. It's dosed to be stacked — two sticks across a long session gives 1,000mg sodium and 52g carbohydrate. For sedentary use it's more sugar than you need.
Keep reading
- What is the cleanest electrolyte? A no-BS ingredient guide
- Cleonse vs LMNT: real sugar against zero sugar
- Cleonse facts: the full ingredient and nutrition breakdown
Cleonse: three ingredients, 500mg sodium, 26g carbohydrate as real organic cane sugar. $33 for 10 sticks, $66 for 30, $110 for 60, free shipping, 30-day guarantee. See the product.
Editor's note and sources
Competitor per-litre figures above are calculated from published per-serving amounts and each brand's own mixing instructions, read in July 2026. Cleonse figures are from our own label.
- WHO reduced-osmolarity ORS composition (WikEM): https://wikem.org/wiki/Reduced-osmolarity_oral_rehydration_solution
- Oral rehydration therapy (Merck Manual Professional Edition): https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/pediatrics/dehydration-and-fluid-therapy-in-children/oral-rehydration-therapy
- "Potency of Oral Rehydration Solution in Inducing Fluid Absorption is Related to Glucose Concentration," Scientific Reports 10, 2020: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64818-3
- Jeukendrup A. "A Step Towards Personalized Sports Nutrition: Carbohydrate Intake During Exercise," Sports Medicine 44 (S1), 2014: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-014-0148-z
- Gatorade Endurance Formula lemon-lime powder label: https://www.gatorade.com/powders/endurance-formula/lemon-lime-powder-32-oz-canister
- Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix: https://www.skratchlabs.com/products/sport-hydration-drink-mix
- Precision Fuel & Hydration PH 1500 (The Feed): https://thefeed.com/products/precision-fuel-and-hydration-powder-ph-1500
- LMNT ingredients by flavor: https://help.drinklmnt.com/en-US/what-are-the-ingredients-in-each-flavor-of-lmnt-494344
- Nuun Sport: https://nuunlife.com/products/nuun-sport
Nothing here is medical advice. Cleonse supports hydration; it does not treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Clinical dehydration requires medical care and a proper oral rehydration solution.