the studies.

we footnote claims, not vibes. every reference below links to its original record: the journal article on pubmed, the national academies report, or the government fact sheet. read them; that is what they are for.

how to read this list.

• position stands and consensus statements (acsm, issn, the hyponatremia consensus) are expert syntheses of many studies; they are the best single documents on their topics.
• cochrane reviews are the most rigorous form of systematic review. when one says an effect is unlikely, as it does for magnesium and cramps, we say so on the packet’s behalf.
• intake references from the national academies, the fda and the nih office of dietary supplements are where our daily values, allowances and upper levels come from. they are the numbers behind the half-packet serving and the one-packet-a-day limit.
• single trials are evidence, not proof. where we lean on one, we say what it showed and in whom, and the honey and magnesium-form studies in particular are labelled with their limits on the pages that cite them.
• one thing we do not do is cite a study for a claim it did not make. if a page says beetroot “colours and flavours the mix” rather than “improves performance,” that is because the doses in the performance research are not the dose in a packet.

the library.

alphabetical by first author or issuing body. the pubmed links open a search on the exact title so the record is always the current one.

1. Almond CSD, Shin AY, Fortescue EB, et al.. Hyponatremia among runners in the Boston Marathon. New England Journal of Medicine, 2005; 352(15): 1550–1556.
2. Armstrong LE, Ganio MS, Casa DJ, et al.. Mild dehydration affects mood in healthy young women. Journal of Nutrition, 2012; 142(2): 382–388.
3. Bailey SJ, Winyard P, Vanhatalo A, et al.. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2009; 107(4): 1144–1155.
4. Baker LB. Sweating rate and sweat sodium concentration in athletes: a review of methodology and intra/interindividual variability. Sports Medicine, 2017; 47(Suppl 1): 111–128.
5. Carr AC, Vissers MCM. Synthetic or food-derived vitamin C — are they equally bioavailable?. Nutrients, 2013; 5(11): 4284–4304.
6. Crane RK. Na+-dependent transport in the intestine and other animal tissues. Federation Proceedings, 1965; 24: 1000–1006.
7. Earnest CP, Lancaster SL, Rasmussen CJ, et al.. Low vs. high glycemic index carbohydrate gel ingestion during simulated 64-km cycling time trial performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2004; 18(3): 466–472.
8. Editorial. Water with sugar and salt. The Lancet, 1978; 2(8084): 300–301.
9. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal, 2015; 13(5): 4102.
10. Ganio MS, Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, et al.. Mild dehydration impairs cognitive performance and mood of men. British Journal of Nutrition, 2011; 106(10): 1535–1543.
11. Garrison SR, Korownyk CS, Kolber MR, et al.. Magnesium for skeletal muscle cramps (Cochrane systematic review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020; 9: CD009402.
12. Guest NS, VanDusseldorp TA, Nelson MT, et al.. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2021; 18: 1.
13. Hahn S, Kim Y, Garner P. Reduced osmolarity oral rehydration solution for treating dehydration due to diarrhoea in children: systematic review. BMJ, 2001; 323(7304): 81–85.
14. Hew-Butler T, Rosner MH, Fowkes-Godek S, et al.. Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 2015; 25(4): 303–320.
15. Hobson RM, Maughan RJ. Hydration status and the diuretic action of a small dose of alcohol. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2010; 45(4): 366–373.
16. Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride. The National Academies Press, 1997.
17. Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. The National Academies Press, 2000.
18. Jeukendrup AE. Carbohydrate and exercise performance: the role of multiple transportable carbohydrates. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 2010; 13(4): 452–457.
19. Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation and exercise performance. Sports Medicine, 2014; 44(Suppl 1): S35–S45.
20. Kenefick RW, Cheuvront SN. Hydration for recreational sport and physical activity. Nutrition Reviews, 2012; 70(Suppl 2): S137–S142.
21. Killer SC, Blannin AK, Jeukendrup AE. No evidence of dehydration with moderate daily coffee intake: a counterbalanced cross-over study in a free-living population. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9(1): e84154.
22. Levine M, Conry-Cantilena C, Wang Y, et al.. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers: evidence for a recommended dietary allowance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1996; 93(8): 3704–3709.
23. Maughan RJ, Leiper JB. Sodium intake and post-exercise rehydration in man. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1995; 71(4): 311–319.
24. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Press, 2019.
25. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Magnesium: fact sheet for health professionals. National Institutes of Health.
26. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Potassium: fact sheet for health professionals. National Institutes of Health.
27. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin C: fact sheet for health professionals. National Institutes of Health.
28. Palmer BF. Managing hyperkalemia caused by inhibitors of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system. New England Journal of Medicine, 2004; 351(6): 585–592.
29. Pawar RS, Krynitsky AJ, Rader JI. Sweeteners from plants — with emphasis on Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) and Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle). Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2013; 405(13): 4397–4407.
30. Popkin BM, D’Anci KE, Rosenberg IH. Water, hydration, and health. Nutrition Reviews, 2010; 68(8): 439–458.
31. Prakash A, Baskaran R. Acerola, an untapped functional superfruit: a review on latest frontiers. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2018; 55(9): 3373–3384.
32. Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, Stachenfeld NS. American College of Sports Medicine position stand: exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2007; 39(2): 377–390.
33. Shirreffs SM, Taylor AJ, Leiper JB, Maughan RJ. Post-exercise rehydration in man: effects of volume consumed and drink sodium content. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1996; 28(10): 1260–1271.
34. U.S. Department of Agriculture. FoodData Central: honey (composition per 100 g). USDA Agricultural Research Service.
35. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Spilling the beans: how much caffeine is too much?. FDA consumer update.
36. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels. FDA, updated for the 2016 label rule.
37. Uysal N, Kizildag S, Yuce Z, et al.. Timeline (bioavailability) of magnesium compounds in hours: which magnesium compound works best?. Biological Trace Element Research, 2019; 187(1): 128–136.
38. Wright EM, Loo DDF, Hirayama BA. Biology of human sodium glucose transporters. Physiological Reviews, 2011; 91(2): 733–794.
39. Zuckerman JM, Assimos DG. Hypocitraturia: pathophysiology and medical management. Reviews in Urology, 2009; 11(3): 134–144.

what we would like to cite and cannot.

there is no clinical trial of salty smiles. there is no human bioavailability trial of magnesium malate that we would call definitive, no controlled study of honey powder in an electrolyte mix specifically, and no study of the amount of beetroot in a squared² packet. we say that here so nobody has to discover it. what there is, and what this site rests on, is sixty years of work on how sodium, glucose and water move across the gut, and decades of sweat and rehydration research that tells you how much of what you lose. the packet is built on that.