[Review] - Nuun Hydration Tablets (Tri-Berry)

As someone who drinks over a gallon of water every day due to severe dry mouth, I was not expecting to hear that I was "dehydrated" at the ER.  But that's exactly what the doctor said after I took a blood test and urinalysis while there for a suspected kidney infection.  How am I dehydrated when I drink so much water?!  Turns out drinking too much water can throw off your sodium and potassium levels, causing the tests show dehydration.  Not only does it show up on blood tests as dehydration, your levels of these electrolytes can actually be affected by drinking too much water, sometimes dangerously, resulting in hyponatremia (low blood sodium) in a worst-case scenario.  Yikes.   

There has to be a smarter way to hydrate.  Enter Nuun: a little tablet you drop in your water to increase hydration.  These handy little tabs come in a variety of flavors & formulations to suit your needs, including "hydration," "immune support" & "energy boosting".  I chose the Tri-Berry flavored Sports tabs which are the hydrating ones.  This category comes in the following flavors:  Citrus Fruit, Fruit Punch, Grape, Lemon Lime, Orange, Strawberry Lemonade, Tri-Berry, Tropical & Watermelon.  You can also opt to add caffeine to your tabs and open up a whole other world of flavors, but caffeine is dehydrating so that seems counterproductive.  

Nuun container, 10-count

Nuun tablets are vegan, kosher, gluten-free, non-gmo & contain no substances that are banned by sports agencies which is cool if you're a professional athlete.  Each of the Tri-Berry hydration tabs contains 15 calories and a combination of sodium bicarbonate & potassium bicarbonate as well as plenty of citric acid (which triggered my acid reflux, not gonna lie) and is sweetened with Stevia leaf extract & natural flavors.  Sweet!  

To use, simply drop the tablet into a glass or bottle of water & let it dissolve like an Alka-Seltzer tablet.  It bubbles for a minute or two and is ready to drink.  The Tri-Berry tastes tart like Kool-Aid or a Dum-Dum sucker & is actually quite tasty.  I do feel more hydrated after finishing half a tablet (I only use half at a time to reduce the reflux side effect & make them go further) & they've come in handy while battling COVID which can cause dehydration via fever and diarrhea, the latter of which I've been lucky enough not to have.  I paid $7 for a single tube of 10 tablets plus $4.99 shipping and a small state tax which was reasonable enough.  Shipping was relatively fast & I received updates in my email all the way, and the tablets work well for what they claim to do.  

In conclusion, I rate Nuun Tri-Berry Sports Tablets 4.8 of 5 stars for effectiveness, price & flavor. The only negative I can see is the company's often contradictory or unsupported claims on their website, such as the pushing of hydrating products containing caffeine, and the unproven claims of "immune support" which is a well-known alternative medicine lie.  Also:  the "non-GMO" claim is laughable; I get that people might be concerned about this but that doesn't make it relevant to anything.  It would be nice to see more science-based decisions by this company, but overall I'm quite happy with my purchase.