Keto Electrolytes: What They Are and How to Get Them (UK)
What are keto electrolytes? They're the same electrolytes as on any other diet. The NHS describes electrolytes as salts and minerals, such as sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate, that are found in the blood. It gives no separate daily amounts for keto, and the Department of Health and Social Care says a varied and balanced diet should give you all the potassium, magnesium and calcium you need. For salt, the NHS limit is no more than 6g a day.
At a glance
- 6g or lesssalt a day for adults, including salt already in food (NHS)
- 3,500mgpotassium a day for adults aged 19 to 64 (NHS)
- 300mg / 270mgmagnesium a day for men / women aged 19 to 64 (NHS)
- 700mgcalcium a day for adults (NHS)
On this page
What are keto electrolytes, and do you need anything different on a ketogenic diet? This guide sets out what the NHS says electrolytes are, the NHS daily amounts for salt, potassium, magnesium and calcium, how much of each is in common keto foods according to the UK's official food composition data, who should speak to a GP first, and exactly what's on the label of our Keto Electrolytes.
What are keto electrolytes?
There's no special keto version. The NHS describes electrolytes as salts and minerals, such as sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate, which are found in the blood. Doctors can check them with a blood test called an electrolyte test.
You'll also see "keto electrolytes" used as a name for drinks and powders, like ours. Ours is a flavoured drink powder that adds potassium, magnesium, sodium and vitamin C, and it's covered further down. The minerals in it are the same ones you get from food.
How much do you need?
The NHS doesn't give different amounts for keto or other low-carb diets, so these are the figures to go by. The amounts are for adults, and the supplement figures are the amounts the Department of Health and Social Care says are unlikely to cause harm (for potassium, "unlikely to have obvious harmful effects").
| Mineral | Amount a day | From supplements |
|---|---|---|
| Salt (sodium chloride) | No more than 6g | Counts towards the 6g |
| Potassium | 3,500mg | 3,700mg or less |
| Magnesium | 300mg (men), 270mg (women) | 400mg or less |
| Calcium | 700mg | 1,500mg or less |
Potassium and magnesium amounts are for adults aged 19 to 64. The salt limit is for everyone aged 11 and over; the NHS gives lower limits for children.
UK food labels show salt rather than sodium. By law, salt on a label is sodium multiplied by 2.5, so 6g of salt is the same as 2.4g of sodium. The NHS says 6g is around 1 level teaspoon, and that it includes the salt already in food as well as salt added during and after cooking. It also says that, on average, we eat 2.1g more salt than we should each day.
For more detail on two of these minerals, see our guides to magnesium on keto and keto foods with the most potassium.
Why electrolytes come up on keto
A ketogenic diet usually means 20–50g of carbs a day, according to the British Dietetic Association. That rules out some of the foods the NHS names as sources of these minerals:
- Salt: the NHS says around three quarters of the salt we eat comes from packaged and everyday foods, such as bread, breakfast cereals, meat products and ready meals. CoFID lists 46.1g of carbs per 100g for sliced white bread.
- Potassium: the NHS names bananas, and beans and pulses, among the foods that contain it. CoFID lists 20.3g of carbs per 100g for bananas.
- Magnesium: the NHS lists spinach, nuts and wholemeal bread.
Other foods on the same NHS lists fit a keto diet, including nuts and seeds, fish, beef, chicken, broccoli, spinach and cheese. If bread, cereals, bananas or beans used to be a big part of what you ate, the two tables below show where these minerals are in low-carb foods.
Salt in keto foods
Some low-carb foods are salty. The NHS lists cured meats and fish, cheese, olives and pickles as salty foods to eat less often or in small amounts. These figures are from CoFID, the UK's food composition data:
| Food | Sodium | Salt | Carbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salami | 1,530mg | 3.8g | 0.5g |
| Back bacon, grilled | 1,390mg | 3.5g | 0g |
| Green olives in brine, drained | 1,330mg | 3.3g | Trace |
| Halloumi | 1,200mg | 3.0g | 1.7g |
| Smoked salmon | 1,184mg | 3.0g | 0.5g |
| Feta | 1,000mg | 2.5g | 1.5g |
| Cheddar | 723mg | 1.8g | 0.1g |
| Eggs, raw | 154mg | 0.4g | Trace |
| Salmon, farmed, raw | 43mg | 0.1g | 0g |
CoFID 2021 food codes 19-517, 19-500, 14-340, 12-496, 16-412, 12-525, 12-346, 12-937 and 16-356. Salt worked out as sodium × 2.5 and rounded to 0.1g. Carbohydrate excludes fibre, as on UK labels.
So 30g of Cheddar has about 0.5g of salt. If you also drink one scoop of our Keto Electrolytes, which has 1.02g, that's about 1.6g together, or around a quarter of the NHS limit, before anything else you eat that day.
For daily salt limits and the sodium in more foods and sauces, see our guide to sodium on keto.
Potassium, magnesium and calcium in keto foods
Of the foods in this table, seeds, almonds and baby spinach have the most potassium and magnesium. Cheese, sesame seeds and tinned sardines have the most calcium:
| Food | Potassium | Magnesium | Calcium | Carbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin seeds | 820 | 270 | 39 | 15.2 |
| Almonds | 733 | 270 | 269 | 5.3 |
| Baby spinach, raw | 682 | 80 | 119 | 0.2 |
| Avocado (Hass) | 583 | 27 | 19 | 1.8 |
| Sesame seeds | 570 | 370 | 670 | 0.9 |
| Curly kale, raw | 450 | 34 | 130 | 1.4 |
| Broccoli, raw | 397 | 22 | 48 | 3.2 |
| Mushrooms, raw | 378 | 10 | 3 | 0.3 |
| Salmon, raw | 357 | 26 | 10 | 0 |
| Sardines, tinned | 287 | 42 | 679 | 0 |
| Cheddar | 75 | 29 | 739 | 0.1 |
CoFID 2021 food codes 14-842, 14-896, 13-521, 14-386, 14-844, 13-234, 13-502, 13-505, 16-356 (farmed salmon), 16-424 (sardines canned in brine, drained) and 12-346. Carbohydrate excludes fibre, as on UK labels.
A few things to know when reading these figures:
- Spinach and calcium: the NHS says spinach contains high levels of calcium but the body can't digest it all, so it doesn't list spinach as a calcium source. It lists curly kale instead.
- Sardines: the NHS lists fish where you eat the bones, such as sardines and pilchards, as a calcium source.
- Portions: you rarely eat 100g of seeds. A 30g handful of almonds gives about 220mg of potassium, 81mg of magnesium and 81mg of calcium, for 1.6g of carbs.
Who should check with a GP first
More isn't better with these minerals, and some people need to be careful with potassium in particular. Here's what UK health bodies say:
- Kidney disease: the NHS says people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) can develop high potassium levels, and that: "If you have CKD, it's important to avoid taking potassium supplements and some medicines used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure because they can make your potassium levels too high."
- Older people: the NHS says older people should not take potassium supplements unless advised to by a doctor, because their kidneys may be less able to remove potassium from the blood.
- Medicines: the NHS says your electrolyte levels may be checked if you're prescribed medicines such as diuretics or ACE inhibitors, which are often used for high blood pressure.
- Salt substitutes: NICE says salt substitutes containing potassium chloride should not be used by older people, people with diabetes, pregnant women, people with kidney disease and people taking some blood pressure medicines, such as ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers.
- Blood pressure: the NHS says eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure, and NICE says doctors should not offer calcium, magnesium or potassium supplements as a way of reducing blood pressure.
- Pregnancy: the British Dietetic Association says ketogenic diets should not be followed by women who are pregnant.
Our Keto Electrolytes contain potassium, magnesium and salt. If any of the points above applies to you, or you take any medicines, ask your GP or pharmacist before you use them.
Speak to your GP, diabetes nurse or a registered dietitian before you make big changes to your diet. This is especially important if you have diabetes and take insulin or other medicines that can cause hypos, or take SGLT2 inhibitors, as your medication may need to change. The same goes if you're pregnant, breastfeeding or have a history of eating disorders.
Our Keto Electrolytes: what's on the label
Our Keto Electrolytes Powder is a flavoured drink powder sold as a food supplement. It comes in three flavours, lemon, forest fruits and passionfruit papaya, in 250g tubs of 50 scoops. These are the figures on the tub labels for one 5g scoop:
| Per scoop | Lemon | Forest fruits | Passionfruit papaya |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potassium | 504mg | 504mg | 504mg |
| Magnesium | 50.4mg | 50.4mg | 50mg |
| Sodium | 0.40g | 0.40g | 0.40g |
| Salt | 1.02g | 1.02g | 1.02g |
| Vitamin C | 20mg | 20mg | 20mg |
| Carbohydrate | 0.15g | 0.15g | 0.1g |
| of which sugars | 0.0g | 0.0g | 0.0g |
From the tub labels shown on our product pages, checked 30 October 2026.
The lemon ingredients are potassium tri citrate, sea salt, malic acid and citric acid (acidity regulators), magnesium tri citrate, natural lemon flavouring, steviol glycosides of stevia (sweetener), vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and turmeric (natural colouring). The other flavours differ slightly, so check the label for the one you choose.
The labels say to dissolve one scoop (5g) or two (10g) in 500ml to 1 litre of cold liquid, and suggest starting with a single scoop if you haven't used electrolytes before. Two scoops give 1,008mg of potassium, about 100mg of magnesium and 2.04g of salt. Count these towards the NHS salt limit and the supplement amounts in the table above, along with any other supplements you take. The labels also say not to exceed the recommended daily intake, and that food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied diet.
Free delivery on orders over £30.
Key takeaways
- No special keto amounts. The NHS figures are the same on any diet: 3,500mg of potassium, 300mg or 270mg of magnesium and 700mg of calcium a day.
- Keep salt to 6g a day or less. That includes salt already in food, such as bacon, cheese and olives, and any electrolyte drinks.
- Food first. Almonds, sesame seeds, baby spinach, avocado and salmon give you potassium and magnesium for few carbs.
- Check with your GP first if you have kidney or heart problems or high blood pressure, take medicines, or are pregnant.
Frequently asked questions
What are keto electrolytes?
They're the same electrolytes as on any other diet. The NHS describes electrolytes as salts and minerals, such as sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate, that are found in the blood. It gives no separate daily amounts for keto. Our Keto Electrolytes drink powder adds potassium, magnesium, sodium and vitamin C.
How much salt can you have on keto?
The NHS says adults should have no more than 6g of salt a day, including the salt already in food, and it gives no different figure for keto. Salt on UK labels is sodium multiplied by 2.5, so 6g of salt is 2.4g of sodium. One 5g scoop of our Keto Electrolytes has 1.02g of salt.
Which keto foods have the most potassium and magnesium?
Of the foods we checked, seeds, almonds and baby spinach. CoFID lists 820mg of potassium per 100g for pumpkin seeds and 733mg for almonds, and 370mg of magnesium for sesame seeds. Raw baby spinach has 682mg of potassium and 80mg of magnesium per 100g, with only 0.2g of carbs.
Who should check with a GP before taking electrolyte supplements?
The NHS says people with chronic kidney disease should avoid potassium supplements, and older people shouldn't take them unless a doctor advises it. Ask your GP or pharmacist first if you have kidney or heart problems or high blood pressure, take medicines such as diuretics, or are pregnant.
What's in Groovy Keto Electrolytes?
According to the labels, a 5g scoop of our Keto Electrolytes Powder has 504mg of potassium, about 50mg of magnesium, 0.40g of sodium (1.02g of salt), 20mg of vitamin C and 0.1–0.15g of carbs. It comes in lemon, forest fruits and passionfruit papaya, sweetened with steviol glycosides.
Sources
- NHS. Electrolyte test.
- NHS. Vitamins and minerals: others (magnesium, potassium and sodium chloride sections) and calcium.
- NHS. Salt in your diet.
- NHS. Chronic kidney disease: treatment.
- NICE. Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management (NG136), recommendations 1.4.5 and 1.4.6.
- British Dietetic Association. Low carb diets food fact sheet.
- Public Health England / Food Standards Agency. Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID) 2021: sheets 1.3 Proximates and 1.4 Inorganics, food codes 19-517 (salami), 19-500 (bacon rashers, back, grilled), 14-340 (olives, green, in brine, drained), 12-496 (Halloumi), 16-412 (salmon, smoked, cold-smoked), 12-525 (Feta), 12-346 (Cheddar, English), 12-937 (eggs, chicken, whole, raw), 16-356 (salmon, farmed, raw), 14-842 (pumpkin seeds), 14-896 (almonds, whole kernels), 13-521 (spinach, baby, raw), 14-386 (avocado, Hass), 14-844 (sesame seeds), 13-234 (curly kale, raw), 13-502 (broccoli, green, raw), 13-505 (mushrooms, white, raw), 16-424 (sardines, canned in brine, drained), 11-980 (bread, white, sliced) and 14-318 (bananas).
- Retained Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers: Annex I (definitions of salt, carbohydrate and fibre), via legislation.gov.uk.
- Groovy Keto product labels: Keto Electrolytes Powder (lemon), (forest fruits) and (passionfruit papaya), checked 30 October 2026.
