Salt tablets

Question

Hello,

When my son (CF, 14 years old, 1.63m and 48.7 kg) pushes himself too hard during exercising in the summer, he becomes pale in the face and complains about nausea.

We were recommended salt tablets. On the internet, athletes say that those tablets are not very easily digestible and that an overdose can cause diarrhoea.

1) Which manufacturer of salt tablets and which dosage would you recommend?

2) If one prefers isotonic drinks, which ingredients are important? (They often contain mostly calcium and magnesium.) Would potassium and sodium not be better?

Many thanks.

Answer

Hello,

Loss of salt during strong physical burden is possible in CF patients and it does happen every once in a while. Loss of sodium and chloride is estimated to be about twice as high than in healthy people. In addition, CF patients often do not drink as much as would actually be necessary given the loss of water (due to lack of thirst).

It is therefore most important to first balance the loss of liquid. This can be combined with giving sodium chloride, e.g. as tablets. Depending on the physical burden, this should be ca. 2-3 g sodium chloride; the form does not matter ultimately. Intake via food, e.g. salt sticks, cheese, or sausage, is also an option.

Salt tablets are usually tolerated rather well, even from triathletes. They are offered in a dosage of 1g/tablet. I therefore recommend paying attention that your son drinks so much while under physical burden that he will also have to urinate soon after (it should not be concentrated urine), and that he additionally takes 2-4 salt tablets per day.

Electrolyte drinks are not necessary in my opinion, since they usually contain rather little sodium chloride after all.

Kind regards
Dr. Rainald Fischer

02.08.2012