Gwyneth Paltrow, the 53-year-old Goop founder and self-styled Queen of Wellness, has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to holistic health trends. From oil pulling and tongue scraping to intermittent fasting and dry body brushing, she has championed practices that later became mainstream. In February 2021, she gave her Instagram followers a tour of her medicine cupboard, revealing her daily use of electrolyte sachets – a habit she described as 'totally obsessed'. Five years on, the electrolyte market is booming, forecast to be worth £84 billion by 2030.
One brand leading the charge is Virtue, which recently launched a Candy Floss flavour to join its Mango Passionfruit, Lemon Lime and Strawberry Lemonade range. The sachets have received the professional athlete stamp of approval from Arsenal and England footballer Ebere Eze. But what about the average person? I decided to try Gwyneth's hack for two weeks, swapping my usual 3pm coffee for a daily Virtue electrolyte sachet costing £1.24 a day.
The results were subtle but noticeable. While the electrolytes didn't provide the alertness surge of caffeine, I felt less lethargic in the afternoon and experienced more stable energy levels without the usual crashes. As a marathon runner, I also noticed a more stable resting heart rate during runs, likely because electrolytes help maintain blood volume and reduce strain on the heart when sweating heavily.
Electrolytes are essential minerals that regulate nerve and muscle function, hydrate the body and maintain pH balance. Virtue's formula stands out for its strength: each 5g serving contains 2,540mg of electrolytes from six minerals plus vitamin C, with zero sugar and zero calories. One satisfied customer noted it helped with postural hypotension, while another praised its clean, light taste that doesn't feel overly sweet.
While Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness advice can sometimes be controversial, this affordable daily hack – at just over a pound a day – seems to deliver genuine benefits for hydration and energy stability. Whether you're training for a marathon or just looking to avoid the 3pm slump, it might be worth a try.
