The short version: Almost half of Americans don't get enough magnesium — a mineral tied to energy, muscle recovery, sleep, and focus. Most electrolyte powders are built almost entirely around sodium, with magnesium as an afterthought (if it's there at all). Great Lakes Hydration was built the other way around: sodium at a sensible everyday level, magnesium as the headline ingredient.
48% of Americans consume less magnesium than their body actually needs, according to national nutrition survey data.1,2 Most don't know it — magnesium deficiency rarely shows up as an obvious symptom. It shows up as being tired, sore, and wired-but-can't-sleep, and never connecting the dots.
Why Electrolyte Brands Skip Magnesium
Sodium is easy to talk about. It's the electrolyte you visibly lose when you sweat — you can taste it. It's cheap to source, cheap to dose heavily, and easy to put a big number on a label.
Magnesium is a harder sell. It's more expensive per milligram, it doesn't have a single "form" the way sodium does, and getting a meaningful dose into a small scoop of powder takes real formulation work. So most brands add a token amount — or none — and lead with sodium instead.
Here's what that actually looks like when you check the labels:
Sourced directly from each brand's own ingredient pages, accessed July 2026.
60mg against a recommended daily intake of 310–420mg is a rounding error.1 Zero is zero. Neither is "not enough of it in their formulas" — that's most of the category.
What Magnesium Deficiency Actually Feels Like
Magnesium deficiency rarely announces itself. A standard blood test won't reliably catch it either — less than 1% of your body's magnesium is even in your bloodstream, so you can test "normal" on paper while running low where it counts.2
What it tends to look like day-to-day:
- Low energy that doesn't match your sleep. Magnesium is required for ATP production — the actual energy currency your cells run on.2
- Muscle tightness, cramps, or slow recovery after normal activity or workouts.
- Wired-tired at night — exhausted but unable to switch off. A 2024 randomized controlled trial found magnesium L-threonate supplementation improved sleep quality and next-day functioning in adults with self-reported sleep problems.4
- Trouble focusing or mental fog. Research out of MIT showed elevating brain magnesium levels improved synaptic density and measurably improved learning and memory function.3
None of these are dramatic on their own. That's exactly why the gap goes unnoticed — and unaddressed — for so many people.
Why Great Lakes Hydration Is Different
We didn't start with sodium and add a little magnesium to round out the label. We started by asking what magnesium actually needs to do in the body — and built a formula to cover it:
- Magnesium malate — supports cellular energy production
- Magnesium glycinate — gentle on digestion, supports calm and recovery
- Magnesium L-threonate — the only form shown in research to cross the blood-brain barrier, for focus and sleep3,4
- Plus a fourth complementary form for full-spectrum coverage
Four forms, roughly 135mg total — more than double LMNT's single-form dose, and a category that Liquid IV doesn't touch at all. Alongside that: 500mg sodium from ocean sea salt, 300mg potassium, and citrulline malate for blood flow — all sweetened with stevia, zero sugar, zero dyes, made in the USA.
The Practical Takeaway
You don't need to overhaul your diet to close this gap — though leafy greens, nuts, and seeds help. What you need is to stop assuming your electrolyte drink already has you covered on magnesium, because for most brands, it doesn't.
Check the label on whatever you're currently drinking. If magnesium isn't listed at all, or it's under 60mg in a single form, it's not doing much for the gap 48% of Americans are sitting in.1,2
Try Great Lakes Hydration — $0.92/serving →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it true that almost half of Americans don't get enough magnesium?
Yes. Analysis of national nutrition survey data found 48% of Americans consume less magnesium from food than their Estimated Average Requirement — a figure corroborated independently by more recent reviews of subclinical magnesium deficiency.
Why don't most electrolyte drinks include much magnesium?
Magnesium is more expensive to source at a meaningful dose than sodium, and formulating multiple absorbable forms into a single scoop takes more work than adding one cheap form or skipping it. Most electrolyte brands are built around sodium because it's simpler and cheaper to feature.
How much magnesium does Great Lakes Hydration contain?
Approximately 135mg per serving, spread across four forms — magnesium malate, glycinate, L-threonate, and a fourth complementary form — compared to 60mg in a single form for LMNT and 0mg for Liquid IV.
What does magnesium L-threonate do that other forms don't?
It's the only form of magnesium demonstrated in published research to cross the blood-brain barrier and raise magnesium concentrations in the brain, which is linked to improvements in sleep quality and cognitive function including memory.
Can I get enough magnesium from food alone?
It's possible, but national data shows most people don't in practice — largely due to processed-food-heavy diets and lower magnesium content in modern soil. A supplement that includes multiple magnesium forms is a straightforward way to close the gap alongside a decent diet, not a replacement for one.
Is Great Lakes Hydration still a good sodium source, or is it magnesium-only?
It's a complete electrolyte formula — 500mg sodium from ocean sea salt and 300mg potassium alongside the magnesium blend. It's not a sodium-maximalist formula like LMNT (1,000mg), which is built for heavy sweat loss and endurance athletes. It's built for everyday hydration with magnesium properly represented, not ignored.
The Bottom Line
Nearly half the country is running short on a mineral tied to energy, muscle recovery, sleep, and focus — and the electrolyte industry has mostly built around a different one. Great Lakes Hydration is the formula that treats magnesium like it matters, because the research says it does.
135mg of magnesium across four forms, 500mg sodium, zero sugar, zero dyes, made in the USA, 30-day money-back guarantee. $0.92 per serving on subscription. Try Great Lakes Hydration →
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
--- ## Sources (numbered, for reference / on-page citation list if desired)
1. Rosanoff A, Weaver CM, Rude RK. Suboptimal magnesium status in the United States: are the health consequences underestimated? *Nutrition Reviews.* 2012;70(3):153-164. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22364157/
2. DiNicolantonio JJ, O'Keefe JH, Wilson W. Subclinical magnesium deficiency: a principal driver of cardiovascular disease and a public health crisis. *Open Heart.* 2018;5(1):e000668. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5786912/
3. Slutsky I, et al. Enhancement of Learning and Memory by Elevating Brain Magnesium. *Neuron.* 2010;65(2):165-177.
4. Hausenblas HA, et al. Magnesium-L-threonate improves sleep quality and daytime functioning in adults with self-reported sleep problems: a randomized controlled trial. *Sleep Medicine: X.* 2024;8:100121. PMID: 39252819.
5. Competitor ingredient data: drinklmnt.com/pages/ingredients; liquid-iv.com/pages/ingredients (accessed July 2026).
