By Evident Health Research Team | April 2026
For years, LMNT was the gold standard of "clean" electrolytes. No sugar. No artificial ingredients. A short ingredient list that keto dieters and biohackers trusted implicitly. Podcasters from Andrew Huberman to Mark Bell endorsed it. The brand built a $200 million business on the promise that you knew exactly what was in every stick pack.
Then someone looked closer.
The LMNT Scandal: What Two Words Can Hide
In late 2024, independent testing revealed that LMNT's flavored electrolyte mixes contained 300-450mg of maltodextrin per serving -- a high-glycemic carbohydrate filler that appeared nowhere on the label. It was buried inside the ingredient listed as "Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors."
To put that in perspective: each stick pack contained more maltodextrin than its 200mg of potassium and 60mg of magnesium combined. Consumers buying a product marketed as zero-sugar and keto-friendly were unknowingly ingesting a refined carbohydrate with every serving.
When confronted, LMNT co-founder Robb Wolf initially denied the maltodextrin was present. He later reversed course, calling the omission "clearly a mistake." By May 2025, a class action lawsuit was filed in Montana federal court, with parallel cases in New York and Florida, alleging false advertising of the product as "all natural" and "clean."
The lawsuits remain in discovery as of early 2026. But the more important question is not whether LMNT was uniquely deceptive. It is whether the system that allowed this to happen is working at all.
The answer, based on our analysis of 57 electrolyte products, is no.
What "Natural Flavors" Actually Means Under FDA Rules
Most consumers hear "natural flavors" and picture something simple -- squeezed citrus, dried berries, vanilla bean extract. The FDA's actual definition tells a different story.
Under 21 CFR 101.22, the term "natural flavor" encompasses any substance extracted, distilled, or otherwise derived from plant or animal matter whose primary function is flavoring, not nutrition. That sounds reasonable until you read what the regulation permits under that umbrella.
What Can Legally Hide Behind "Natural Flavors"
The FDA allows natural flavor formulations to include:
- **Solvents** such as propylene glycol and ethanol, used to extract and carry flavor compounds
- **Preservatives** including BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), used to prevent flavor degradation
- **Emulsifiers** that help flavor compounds blend into the product matrix
- **Carriers and processing aids** like maltodextrin -- the exact substance LMNT was caught using -- which serve as a substrate for spray-dried flavor powders
None of these incidental substances require individual disclosure on the label. A natural flavor formulation can contain dozens of chemical compounds, and the manufacturer is only obligated to print two words: "natural flavors."
The Gap Between Perception and Reality
A 2019 Consumer Reports survey found that 73% of consumers actively seek out products labeled "natural." The International Food Information Council's 2022 survey found that "natural" is the most influential label claim for purchase decisions, outranking "organic," "non-GMO," and even "no artificial ingredients."
Yet the FDA's definition of "natural flavors" contains no limit on the number of incidental additives, no requirement to disclose processing methods, and no mandate for the manufacturer to reveal the full composition of the flavor system to the brand using it -- let alone to the consumer buying the finished product.
This is not a loophole being exploited by bad actors. It is the system working exactly as designed.
What We Found: 57 Electrolyte Powders Analyzed
We researched 57 electrolyte powders, concentrates, and drink mixes, documenting the complete ingredient list, flavoring approach, certifications, and quality signals for each product. Here is what the data shows.
43 Out of 57 Products Contain "Natural Flavors"
Seventy-five percent of the electrolyte products we analyzed use the term "natural flavors" on their ingredient label. This includes mass-market brands you would expect, like Gatorade, Pedialyte, and Liquid I.V. But it also includes brands that market themselves specifically on ingredient purity and transparency.
"Clean" Brands That Still Use Natural Flavors
Several products that build their entire brand identity around clean ingredients still rely on the "natural flavors" umbrella:
- **Redmond Re-Lyte** -- Markets itself as having "Real Ingredients" with ancient sea salt and bioavailable minerals. Contains "Natural Flavors" sourced from dehydrated fruit, but the specific compounds within that flavor system are not disclosed.
- **Transparent Labs Hydrate** -- The brand name is literally "Transparent Labs." Informed Sport certified, publishes COAs, lists every mineral amount individually. Still uses "Natural Flavors" in flavored varieties.
- **BPN Electrolytes** -- NSF Certified for Sport, premium TRAACS chelated minerals, fully transparent dosing. Contains "Natural Flavor" as the third ingredient on the label.
- **Seeking Health Optimal Electrolyte** -- Founded by a naturopathic physician, NSF Certified for Sport, tested in ISO/IEC 17025-accredited labs. Contains "Natural Flavors."
- **Cure Hydration** -- Positions itself as plant-based and whole-food sourced. Uses "Organic Lemon Flavor" -- a step above generic "natural flavors" but still a processed flavor extract rather than a named, whole ingredient.
- **Ultima Replenisher** -- One of the oldest clean electrolyte brands (founded 1996), with excellent citrate-form mineral sourcing. Lists "Natural Flavor with other Natural Flavors" -- a particularly opaque formulation.
These are not bad products. Several of them score well in our overall rankings for electrolyte profile, testing transparency, and mineral sourcing quality. But on ingredient transparency specifically, "natural flavors" is a black box -- and being a good brand in other respects does not change what that term allows.
Only 14 Out of 57 Products Avoid Natural Flavors Entirely
Just 25% of the products we analyzed achieve flavor (or choose to go without it) while avoiding the "natural flavors" designation. Of those, 10 meet every clean-label criterion we track: no natural flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors, no fillers, and full label transparency.
Those 10 products are:
The top three products in our overall category rankings -- Needed, LyteShow, and Skratch Labs -- all appear on this list.
A note on LMNT Raw Unflavored: it scores a perfect 5.0 on formulation purity because the unflavored version contains only three ingredients (salt, magnesium malate, potassium chloride). However, independent testing found 27 ppb of lead in this variant, and the brand's trust score is severely impacted by the maltodextrin scandal in its flavored products. The unflavored version is clean; the brand's track record is not.
The Brands Doing It Right
The existence of these 10 products proves an important point: you do not need "natural flavors" to make a good electrolyte product. The brands that skip them use three approaches.
Real, Named Ingredients
Skratch Labs flavors its Sport Hydration Drink Mix with actual fruit: dehydrated lemon oil, lime oil, lemon juice, and lime juice. Every flavoring component is individually named on the label. You know exactly what you are consuming.
Needed Hydration Support uses real lemon oil and lemon juice alongside monk fruit extract. The ingredient list reads like something you could assemble in a kitchen, not a chemistry lab.
NOOMA uses organic fruit juices and organic cocoa for its chocolate variety, with USDA Organic certification verifying the sourcing. As a B Corp certified company, it has submitted to third-party audits of its ingredient claims.
Going Unflavored
LyteShow takes the most radical approach: zero flavoring of any kind. Its ingredient list has five items: purified water, low-sodium sea mineral concentrate, citric acid, potassium chloride, and zinc sulfate. There is nothing to hide because there is nothing added. It is also the highest-rated product on Amazon in our dataset with a clean-label profile: 4.6 stars across 10,893 reviews at $0.50 per serving.
NormaLyte PURE and Trioral ORS are medical-grade oral rehydration formulas that follow the World Health Organization's specifications. Their ingredients are limited to the electrolyte salts and glucose required for the sodium-glucose co-transport absorption mechanism. No flavor, no sweetener, no filler -- just the formula the WHO designed for clinical rehydration.
Organic Fruit Flavoring
Tailwind Nutrition uses organic mandarin orange flavoring -- specified as organic and from fruit, not the generic "natural flavors" designation. The ingredient list names the flavor source rather than hiding behind a regulatory umbrella.
Each of these approaches has trade-offs. Real fruit ingredients add cost and can affect shelf stability. Unflavored products have a mineral taste that not everyone enjoys. But the trade-off these brands are not willing to make is transparency.
Why This Matters for Products You Take Every Day
Electrolyte powders are not occasional supplements. The marketing of these products -- and the way consumers actually use them -- assumes daily or near-daily consumption. LMNT sells a 30-day supply as its standard package. Liquid I.V. advertises daily hydration. Ultima Replenisher markets itself for "everyday wellness."
When you consume something daily, even small undisclosed additives accumulate.
The Math on LMNT's Hidden Maltodextrin
LMNT's flavored products contained 300-450mg of maltodextrin per serving, hidden within "natural flavors." If a consumer used one stick pack per day at the midpoint of that range (375mg):
- **Per month:** 11.25 grams of undisclosed maltodextrin
- **Per year:** 136.9 grams -- nearly a third of a pound of a refined carbohydrate that appeared nowhere on the label
For consumers who specifically chose LMNT because it was marketed as zero-sugar and keto-friendly, this is not a rounding error. It is a material misrepresentation of what they were putting in their body every single day.
And maltodextrin was the compound that got caught because it was present in large enough quantities to measure. The class action complaint raises the obvious follow-up question: what else is in there?
The Broader Problem
LMNT is not uniquely problematic. It is uniquely exposed. The same "natural flavors" term appears on 43 of the 57 products we analyzed, and the FDA's regulatory framework gives consumers no way to know what compounds are included in any of them.
When 75% of an entire product category uses a labeling term that legally permits undisclosed solvents, preservatives, and carrier compounds, the question is not whether any individual brand is hiding something. The question is whether the system provides any assurance that they are not.
It does not.
How Evident Scores Formulation Purity
Our scoring methodology weights formulation purity at 30% of the overall score -- the single largest dimension. Within that, the absence of "natural flavors" is worth 1.0 out of 5.0 possible points, making it the single most impactful individual signal alongside the absence of artificial sweeteners.
Here is why we weight it this heavily: in a category where 75% of products use "natural flavors," avoiding them entirely is the strongest available signal that a brand has prioritized ingredient transparency over formulation convenience.
The Full Formulation Purity Breakdown
Our formulation purity score evaluates eight signals:
- **No artificial sweeteners** (1.0 points) -- Sucralose, acesulfame-K, aspartame
- **No natural flavors** (1.0 points) -- The signal this article is about
- **No fillers** (0.75 points) -- Maltodextrin, silicon dioxide, anti-caking agents
- **No artificial flavors** (0.5 points)
- **No artificial colors** (0.5 points)
- **Clean mineral sources** (0.5 points) -- Citrate, malate, glycinate over oxide, carbonate
- **Transparent label** (0.5 points) -- All amounts individually disclosed
- **No proprietary blends** (0.25 points)
Products that hit every signal earn a perfect 5.0 for formulation purity. In our dataset, only six products achieve that: Needed (ranked #1 overall), LyteShow (#2), NormaLyte (#3), Skratch Labs (#4), NOOMA (#5), and Trioral (#8). LMNT Raw Unflavored also scores 5.0 on this dimension, though the brand's overall ranking is dragged down by trust issues. This is not a coincidence. The brands with the cleanest labels also tend to be the most thoughtful about every other aspect of their formulation.
What To Look For on the Label
If ingredient transparency matters to you, here are the practical steps.
Check the Ingredient List for Specific Flavor Sources
The cleanest products name their flavoring ingredients individually. Look for terms like:
- "Lemon oil" or "lime juice" (specific, identifiable ingredients)
- "Organic mandarin orange flavor" (named fruit source + organic verification)
- "Organic cocoa powder" or "organic fruit juice" (whole-food flavor sources)
Be more cautious when you see:
- "Natural flavors" (the regulatory umbrella that permits undisclosed compounds)
- "Natural flavor with other natural flavors" (even more opaque)
- "Organic flavor" (better than generic "natural flavors" but still a processed extract)
Consider Unflavored Options
The simplest way to eliminate the issue entirely is to choose an unflavored product. LyteShow, NormaLyte PURE, Trioral, Trace Minerals 40,000 Volts, and Buoy Hydration Drops all achieve clean hydration without any flavoring whatsoever. LMNT Raw Unflavored has a clean 3-ingredient formula, though the brand's trust issues from the maltodextrin scandal should be factored into your decision.
Do Not Assume "Clean" Marketing Means Full Transparency
Several brands in our analysis market aggressively on purity and transparency while still using "natural flavors." This is not necessarily dishonest -- the term is legal and standard -- but it does mean the marketing exceeds what the label can actually verify.
A product can be NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport verified, GMP manufactured, and third-party tested for heavy metals while still using a flavoring system whose full composition is unknown to you, and potentially unknown to the brand itself. Third-party testing verifies that what is on the label matches what is in the product. It does not verify that the label discloses everything that is in the product.
Check the Full Comparison
Our electrolyte comparison table includes natural flavor status, complete ingredient lists, and formulation purity scores for all 57 products. It is the most comprehensive public dataset of electrolyte product composition we are aware of.
The Bottom Line
"Natural flavors" is a regulatory term, not a quality claim. It permits solvents, preservatives, emulsifiers, and carrier compounds to exist in your electrolyte powder without appearing on the label. Seventy-five percent of the products we analyzed use it. One of the most trusted brands in the category was caught hiding a meaningful quantity of an undisclosed ingredient behind it.
Fourteen products in our dataset prove that the term is not necessary. Real fruit, organic flavoring, or unflavored formulations all achieve what consumers actually want: a product where the ingredient list tells the full story.
You deserve to know what is in the products you consume every day. The current labeling system does not guarantee that. The brands that go beyond what is required -- and name every ingredient individually -- are the ones earning your trust the right way.
This analysis is based on Evident Health's research of 57 electrolyte powders, concentrates, and drink mixes. Product data was collected from brand websites, Amazon listings, third-party databases, and verified against court filings where applicable. For the complete product-by-product comparison, see our electrolyte comparison table.
Evident Health LLC discloses that it owns Sleep Karma, a direct-to-consumer health product brand. No electrolyte products are sold by Sleep Karma or Evident Health. This analysis is editorially independent.
