LAFAYETTE, La. (KADN) — The heat can have an impact on your health, and with more heat advisories in the days ahead, it’s important to stay hydrated but not everything we drink will have the same benefit.

We’ll examine the science of rehydration.

Water is the first thing you need to replace. With moderate activity, you can lose one liter per hour. An average water bottle is only a half-liter, so you need to be drinking two per hour and that’s just to keep up with your loss in sweat.

Seriously, when I talk to patients with heat exhaustion, this is the number one problem. They are simply not drinking enough water in the heat and you can get into trouble quickly.

What about added sugar? Sugar is a quick source of energy, which helps with endurance, and overall, it isn’t bad. But some drinks have 60 grams of sugar. That’s a quarter-cup, so drinking two of those per hour is a half-cup of sugar every hour. That’s a lot, but there are reduced sugar or even sugar-free versions.

Now, what about added salt?

You will lose about one gram per hour. Each drink contains about a quarter-gram, so even at two bottles per hour, that’s only half of what you need (half-gram). The rest comes from your average diet, which contains two to three grams of salt per day.

You will lose other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium but the loss is small, and typically replaced in your diet. Sports drinks boast different electrolyte formulas, but it is marketing.

So, the bottom line is to stay hydrated first. Sugar is okay but watch your total intake. And, some salt is good but most electrolytes are typically replaced by an average diet.