ingredients & formula.

clean, mostly organic, nothing synthetic hiding in the mix. because we use real honey, salty smiles is not vegan. everything below is per packet, and a packet is two servings.

• 25% DV · ~575 mgsodium, from real salt (classic)
• 100% DV · ~420 mgmagnesium, as malate (classic)
• 20% DV · ~940 mgpotassium, as citrate
• 1000% DV · 1,000 mgvitamin c
• 15 g · 60 calsugar, from honey (classic)
• 0 mgcaffeine (classic) · 75 mg in squared²

“% DV” is the FDA daily value, the reference amount printed on every nutrition and supplement facts label in the united states: 2,300 mg for sodium, 4,700 mg for potassium, 420 mg for magnesium.¹ it is a labelling yardstick, not a personal prescription; the science page and the dosing page explain how to think about your own number.

redmond real salt.

what it is. unrefined sea salt mined in redmond, utah, from a seabed that dried out long before there was a utah. it is our only sodium source. no anti-caking agents, no added dextrose, nothing bleached out. it carries trace minerals from the deposit, and we will be straight with you about those below.

why sodium at all. sodium is the electrolyte you lose most of in sweat, and the one that decides whether the water you drink stays with you. sweat sodium averages around a gram per litre, with a huge range between people, roughly 0.2 to 2 g/L.² in the classic post-exercise rehydration experiments, drinks with more sodium restored fluid balance better than plain water or low-sodium drinks, because sodium lets the body hold the water instead of passing it straight through.³⁴ the american college of sports medicine’s position stand on fluid replacement makes the same point for anyone sweating hard for more than an hour or two.⁵

how much. a classic packet carries about 575 mg of sodium, 25% of the daily value; a squared² packet carries about 1,150 mg, 50%. for context, the national academies set the adequate intake for sodium at 1,500 mg a day and the chronic disease risk reduction level at 2,300 mg.⁶ that is why we print both servings on the packet and why one packet a day is the limit: a whole classic packet is a quarter of the day’s reference amount, squared² is half.

about the trace minerals. real salt does carry trace minerals, and the company says there are more than sixty of them. in the pinch of salt in a packet they are a bonus, not a meaningful dose of anything. the real win is what is not in it: no anti-caking agents and no added dextrose, which is what most iodised table salt contains. the one thing to know is that unrefined salt is not iodised, so salty smiles is not a source of iodine.

organic honey powder.

what it is. organic honey, vacuum-dried into a powder, from redbone farms in denver, colorado. two teaspoons and 15 g of real honey sugar per classic packet (25 g in squared²), which is where the 60 calories come from. this is the reason salty smiles is not vegan.

why there is sugar in an electrolyte mix. because the sugar is doing a job. the transporter in your small intestine that pulls sodium across the gut wall, sglt1, moves it together with glucose, and water follows the two of them by osmosis.⁷ that pairing was worked out in the 1960s⁸ and it is the entire basis of oral rehydration therapy, which the lancet called “potentially the most important medical advance of this century” in a 1978 editorial titled, simply, “water with sugar and salt.”⁹ the science page tells that story properly.

why honey rather than dextrose. honey is roughly 38% fructose and 31% glucose by weight, with most of the rest being water, and small amounts of other sugars, acids and minerals.¹⁰ glucose rides the sodium transporter; fructose uses a separate doorway, glut5. using more than one type of sugar lets the gut absorb carbohydrate faster than either sugar alone, which is a well-documented effect in endurance nutrition.¹¹ in a head-to-head cycling time trial, honey performed about the same as dextrose gel.¹² we are not claiming honey is magic. we are claiming it works, tastes like something, and comes from a farm we can name.

how much is 15 g. about the sugar in a small apple, spread across two servings. it is a functional dose, not a dessert: enough glucose to run the transporter, not enough to make a packet a sugary drink.

organic fruit powder.

what it is. real fruit, harvested, gently dried, de-seeded and milled. strawberry and raspberry are minnesota-grown from lorence’s berry farm; every other flavor is sourced organic. this is where the flavor comes from. there are no “natural flavors,” which is a legal catch-all that can cover dozens of undisclosed compounds; the naked label page explains why that matters to us.

what it brings besides taste. a little natural fruit sugar and a touch of fruit fibre, and the acids that give each flavor its edge. the amounts are small; the fruit is here to taste like fruit, and the nutrition figures on the packet are driven by the honey and the minerals, not by the fruit.

the eight flavors. salty strawberry and rowdy raspberry are the minnesota-grown pair. live laugh lemon, nicely nectarine, goodness grape-cious, lovely lychee, outstanding orange and pinch me pineapple are organic. any flavor can be made “live-laugh-lemon-y” for a small upcharge at the shop.

magnesium malate.

what it is. magnesium bound to malic acid, the acid that gives apples their tartness. a single, well-tolerated form that is easy on the stomach. 100% of the daily value, about 420 mg, per classic packet; 200%, about 840 mg, in squared².

why magnesium. it is a cofactor in more than three hundred enzyme systems, including the ones that make and use atp, the cell’s energy currency, and it is involved in normal muscle and nerve function.¹³ it is also lost in sweat, in smaller amounts than sodium. the recommended dietary allowance is 400 to 420 mg a day for adult men and 310 to 320 mg for adult women.¹⁴

why malate specifically. the honest answer is tolerance. magnesium oxide, the cheapest form, is poorly absorbed and famously laxative. the organic-acid salts, malate, citrate, glycinate, are better tolerated. the head-to-head absorption data comes mostly from animal work; one 2019 study compared several forms over time in rats and found the organic forms, malate included, reached tissue faster than the oxide.¹⁵ that is not the same as a human trial, and we are not going to pretend it is. we chose malate because it dissolves cleanly, tastes clean, and people do not complain about their stomachs.

what we will not claim. that it fixes cramps. a 2020 cochrane review found magnesium unlikely to help with ordinary muscle cramps in adults.¹⁶ magnesium is here because it is an electrolyte you lose and most people run short on, not because of a cramp promise.

potassium citrate.

what it is. potassium bound to citric acid. a well-absorbed form with a bright, tangy edge that you can taste. about 940 mg per packet, 20% of the daily value, in both formulas.

why potassium. sodium lives mostly outside your cells and potassium mostly inside; the two together set the electrical gradients that nerves and muscles run on.¹⁷ most people in the united states eat well under the adequate intake, which the national academies set at 3,400 mg a day for men and 2,600 mg for women.⁶ a packet is a meaningful contribution to that, and it is also why potassium is the ingredient with the most important safety note on this site.

why citrate. it dissolves, it tastes clean, and citrate itself has a long medical history: it is the form used to raise urinary citrate in people prone to certain kidney stones.¹⁸ that is not a claim about salty smiles; it is context for why a history of kidney stones is on our “ask your doctor first” list. stones are not all alike and potassium load matters, so ask.

vitamin c.

what it is. 1,000 mg per packet, currently as ascorbic acid, transitioning to organic acerola cherry, a whole-food source with naturally occurring bioflavonoids and a tart pop of flavor.²⁰ the vitamin c itself is the same molecule either way.

natural versus synthetic, honestly. the body cannot tell food-derived and synthetic ascorbic acid apart; the research comparing them finds no meaningful difference in bioavailability.²¹ we like acerola for the flavor and the whole-food company it keeps, not because it is “more absorbable.”

why so much. two reasons. it is a flavor ingredient as much as a nutrient: ascorbic acid is sharp and bright, and it is part of what makes the mix taste alive. and it is one of the safest things to be generous with. the tolerable upper intake level is 2,000 mg a day for adults²²²³, and above roughly 200 mg per dose the gut absorbs a smaller fraction and the kidneys excrete the rest, which is why the classic pharmacokinetic work argued for a daily allowance far below a gram.²⁴ so we will say it plainly: you are not going to use a gram of vitamin c. you will absorb some, taste it, and pass the rest. it is not there to fix anything, and we are not claiming it does.

monk fruit, 100% mogroside v.

what it is. luo han guo, a small melon grown in southern china, whose sweetness comes from mogrosides, a family of compounds a few hundred times sweeter than sugar by weight.²⁵ we use the highest-purity extract, mogroside v, so a tiny amount rounds out the sweetness of the honey without the aftertaste of lower-grade extracts.

why it is here. so we can keep the sugar at a functional 15 g instead of the 30 or 40 g a drink this flavorful would otherwise need. it contributes no meaningful calories and no glucose, so it does nothing for absorption; the honey does that. it is a taste ingredient, and a small one.

citric acid, anhydrous.

what it is. the acid in citrus, in its dry form, food grade. a small amount for brightness and freshness, and to balance the honey.

why it is here. flavor and shelf life. acidity keeps a dry mix tasting bright after months in a packet, and it is what makes a glass of salty smiles taste like a drink rather than a mineral solution. it is the same compound that potassium citrate is built on, so nothing new is being introduced.

squared² adds: beetroot and caffeine.

squared² is the formula turned up: double the sodium (50% DV, about 1,150 mg), double the magnesium (200% DV, about 840 mg), 25 g of honey sugar, plus organic beetroot powder and 75 mg of caffeine per packet. the potassium and vitamin c are the same as classic. the compare page has the whole table.

beetroot. beetroot is rich in dietary nitrate, which the body converts to nitric oxide. in research settings, nitrate supplementation, typically as concentrated beetroot juice, has been shown to lower the oxygen cost of steady exercise and extend time to exhaustion.²⁶²⁷ those studies used doses of nitrate that a spoonful of beetroot powder in a drink mix does not reach, so we list beetroot for what it is, a real, named, organic ingredient that colours and flavours the mix, and we do not print a performance claim on it.

caffeine. 75 mg per packet, about a modest cup of coffee, split across two servings. caffeine is among the best-studied ergogenic aids there is; the international society of sports nutrition’s position stand summarises benefits for endurance, strength and alertness at moderate doses.²⁸ the fda’s guidance is that up to 400 mg a day is not generally associated with harmful effects in healthy adults²⁹, and the european food safety authority reached a similar figure, with single doses up to 200 mg considered safe.³⁰ and no, moderate caffeine does not dehydrate you; that idea does not survive a controlled trial.³¹ if you are sensitive to caffeine, pregnant, or it is after lunch, reach for classic.

the full panel, both formulas.

one packet = two servings. every figure below is for the whole packet. for one serving, halve it.

sodium + magnesium + potassium. vitamin c is not an electrolyte, so it is not in the total.

[allergen / facility statement from the co-packer goes here.]