Precision Fuel & Hydration was launched in 2011 after years working with elite athletes and technology partners to develop a simple and effective way to help athletes understand and manage their individual hydration needs. Founder, Andy Blow, has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science and was a regular podium finisher in elite short course triathlon racing in his younger days.

However, he had some very poor results when racing in the heat and at longer IRONMAN distances. He suffered badly from cramping and had other hydration related issues including hyponatremia (low blood sodium levels, which can have some nasty consequences). This was despite following the widely accepted hydration advice available at the time.

After years of trial and error, he eventually figured out how to effectively manage his individual sodium and fluid intake to maintain his performance.

He was helped significantly in that process by Dr Raj Jutley, a highly respected heart surgeon who introduced him to the concept of Sweat Testing and the huge variance in sweat and sodium losses that can occur from athlete to athlete.

It was through his own search for an effective solution that, with Dr Jutley’s input, the Precision Fuel & Hydration concept was born.

As things progressed, they got exclusive access to patented Sweat Testing technology that requires no physical effort from the athlete. The technology has a long, credible history as a diagnostic test for Cystic Fibrosis and it's simple, non-invasive, painless and extremely accurate.

They also developed our own range of electrolyte supplements early on because existing products out there were simply not strong enough to meet most serious athletes' needs.

'One-size-fits-all' just doesn't cut it when it comes to hydration. Just look at their team, Andy loses more than three times as much sodium per litre of sweat than Dr Raj!

The team grew, adding Jonny Tye, a paddler who'd won two silver medals at the Junior World Championships before getting involved to drive the development of their products forward.

Word soon started to spread that they were offering a unique, personalized hydration solution. Pretty soon they were providing our services to a growing list of professional sports teams in the English Premier League, International Rugby Union, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Formula 1 motor racing, MotoGP and Indy Car, as well as elite individuals from the worlds of cycling, running, triathlon and more.

They've even worked with railway workers, firefighters and military service personnel, who are exposed to high levels of heat stress and sweating, helping them maintain performance in even the harshest of environments.

ARE PRECISION HYDRATION'S ELECTROLYTES BATCH TESTED / CERTIFIED SAFE FOR USE IN SPORT?

All of our products are independently batch tested for a wide range of prohibited substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list. We can provide batch certificates on request.

WHAT FLAVOUR IS PRECISION HYDRATION?

All of our products have a light citrusy flavour (with the exception of Electrolyte Capsules, which are designed to be swallowed whole with water). Thousands of athletes have tested our products and the feedback is always positive - the most common feedback is that our drinks "taste a bit like flavoured water". We worked very hard to ensure it's nice to drink, even during intense exercise.

The different colours on our packaging represent the different amounts of sodium each of our products contain, from 250mg of sodium per litre (320z) of sweat up to 1,500mg/l (32oz).

WHERE IS PRECISION HYDRATION MADE?

Our all-natural drink mixes are made in the U.K.

Our effervescent tablets are made in Germany and the USA.

Our SweatSalt Capsules are also made in the U.K.

WHAT'S IN THE PH 500 / 1000 / 1500 ALL-NATURAL DRINK MIXES?

Our all-natural drink mixes contain just 8 natural ingredients.

The key one is sodium and in the all-natural range, this comes in the form of Sodium Citrate, which is alkaline and therefore much easier to drink in larger volumes and more suitable for the body when exercising, which is great if you're prone to GI issues on longer/hotter events when you're drinking more.

The drink mixes also contain base amounts of potassium, calcium and magnesium, similar to the low levels found in normal human sweat. Unless you have a deficiency in these electrolytes, you needn't worry so much about them, it's sodium that is most important to staying hydrated and this is the electrolyte that makes up most of your sweat (alongside water) - that's why it tastes salty!

Oh, and there’s also a little bit of citric acid and vitamin C, just to help with the taste and improve the stability of the products when they’re stored in your cupboard before use.

The light citrusy flavour comes solely from natural fruit extracts; the glucose comes from simple cane sugar.

There are no artificial or synthetic ingredients in the all-natural drink mixes. This was really important to us as we are aware that more and more athletes are seeking to minimise or eliminate these from their diets.

The drinks are suitable for vegetarians and vegans and they’re gluten, dairy and GMO free. We followed the basic principle that we’d only put in exactly what was needed to make a useful and great tasting hydration drink. Nothing more.

The all-natural drink mixes are also Informed Sport / Informed Choice certified and tested, so you needn't worry about them containing anything on the WADA anti-doping list.

WHY IS THERE SUGAR IN THE ALL-NATURAL PH 500 / 1000 / 1500 DRINK MIXES?

Our all-natural electrolyte drinks contain a bit of sugar and some people ask questions about that as sugar has a bit of a bad rep these days!

But, when Mary Poppins sang “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”, she really was on to something. You see, a small amount of sugar (glucose) in a solution significantly improves the movement of water into the body when paired with plenty of sodium. Our hypotonic hydration formulas take advantage of this using a well researched mechanism called ‘sodium glucose co-transport’ to increase the rate at which fluid gets into your body.

It's basically the same concept used in medical oral rehydration solutions to rapidly rehydrate those suffering from severe dehydration from sickness and diarrhoea who can’t be given a drip, so it has a lot of efficacy behind it.

As well as helping you absorb fluid faster to stay hydrated, sugar also has the side benefit of helping keep your energy levels up during prolonged exercise. Don’t misunderstand us here, sugar, like anything in excess, is not good for you and our products are in no way ‘energy drinks’.

But, for active athletes, consuming sugar appropriately really makes a lot of sense, especially when you’re working hard. In actual fact (and despite the bashing they receive in the more popular press on a regular basis), carbohydrates are still up there as the most proven and potent substances athletes can legally consume to maintain endurance performance.

As with most things in life, moderation is the key word here. A single 20g serving of Precision Hydration (mixed into 500ml/16oz of water as directed) creates a hypotonic 3% carbohydrate solution. That’s the optimal amount for fluid absorption and less than half the level found in typical isotonic drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade and Lucozade Sport.

Each packet of PH 500/1000/1500 delivers just under 70 Kcal per 500ml/16oz serving and approximately 15g of carbohydrate per 500ml/16oz. This means that most athletes will definitely still need to get the majority of their calories from foods or other solid nutrition products. But that's exactly how it should be: Rapidly absorbed fluids from your bottles and calories from solid foods. You can then dial hydration, sodium and calorie requirements up and down independently to suit whatever you're doing, whatever the conditions.

WHAT SHOULD I DRINK BEFORE I START SWEATING?

When people talk about hydration, most of the time it's about what and how much athletes should drink during exercise.

These are clearly important questions, but your performance is also massively influenced by how hydrated you are when you start exercising in the first place. Drinking a strong electrolyte drink to optimise your hydration status before long, hot or really hard training sessions and events can significantly improve your performance.

We call this "preloading" and the practice has been widely studied in the last 20 years or so, both with astronauts and athletes. Whilst there's not a completely bullet proof consensus on the subject - there rarely is - there's strong evidence that taking in additional sodium with fluids before you start sweating is effective in promoting increased acute fluid retention and in improving endurance performance, especially in the heat.

Don't just drink lots of water in the build-up to an event. You can end up diluting your body’s sodium levels before you start, increasing the risk of hyponatremia.

WHY DO I CRAMP DURING EXERCISE? HOW CAN I AVOID CRAMP?

A number of things cause exercise-related muscle cramps, including sodium depletion.

If your cramps tend to occur during/after heavy sweating, in hot weather or towards the end of races, try upping your sodium intake in the hours immediately before, during and after a race.

If you’re consuming your sodium through food, aim for about 1000-1500mg sodium per litre of water you drink alongside it. Remember that table salt is only 39% sodium (61% is chloride), so 1g of salt only gives you ~390mg of sodium.

An easier way to get more sodium in is through an electrolyte supplement, but just make sure it’s strong enough to make a difference. Typical electrolyte tablets only contain about 200-550mg sodium per litre, which is only about half the amount the average triathlete loses in their sweat.

PH 1500 is an all-natural electrolyte drink mix with 1,500mg of sodium per litre. i.e. 3x more sodium than traditional supplements. Drinking a serving the night before a race and 90 minutes before you get into the water boosts your blood plasma volume, helping reduce fatigue as well as avoiding cramp.

89% of athletes who tried PH 1500 said it solved their cramping issues in a recent survey.