It’s extremely concentrated hydration that you eat rather than drink…and I availed myself of some this year at SHOT Show. Called Aqua-Gard (available on Amazon), it’s ready-to-eat out of the long-term, storage-stable packet and it delivers 3.5 to 4 hours of hydration in just three ounces of product.
Once for ounce, Aqua-Gard hydrates at least 200 percent more effectively than water.
You don’t have to take their word for it, either. In addition to clinical trial results on their website, there are military test results such as these from the Air Force Research Laboratory.
I found the lightly orange-flavored gel perfectly palatable, if slightly boring. It’s easy to consume and, in theory, it kept me hydrated while I did over 17,000 steps yesterday wandering the SHOT Show floor. At the same time, hydrating with Aqua-Gard doesn’t make you pee like hydrating with liquids does. The gel has the absolute bare minimum amount of liquid in it to make it edible and functional.
It’s sterile, contains no junk or anything that isn’t listed in the ingredients, is gluten free, low carb, has no allergens…cool stuff!
Given how small, lightweight, and shelf-stable these packs are, I can see this becoming a staple in my hunting kit to lighten my load when walking all over the countryside as well as something I’ll keep in my truck for emergency use.
A canteen or a bottle of good-old-fashioned water is lots cheaper…
Hard pass…
The human body is designed to function a particular way…and requires water.
Hydration with out urination is not healthy…think toxin buildup. Not to mention that lack of urination is one of the early signs of dehydration in the human body.
“Sucralose”
Not for me then
Will there be steak and pizza flavors?
🤣
It should be noted this is not intended as a replacement for water so do not assume it is, it does not place water in your body. When it says ‘hydration’ it is talking about body cell hydration and not whole body function hydration, there are other body functions that need water to operate and this gell does not address that need. In the sense of cellular death, which is what causes death in 3 days (average) without water, in that sense of hydrating body cells it will help maintain life (maybe not functionality, but your life). It works by causing EXISTING water in your body to be transported more quickly into, and retained longer in, body cells. This is normally a body function that does this about every 3-4 hours (varies some per person, and also depends on health and activity and environmental conditions), and when your body water level gets too low for what the body needs to hydrate the cells you begin to be thirsty because your body is telling you it needs water to top off the body cells.
Although this gell can sustain life in the sense of keeping the cells hydrated, it can’t do that indefinitely without some actual water intake because without water at some point you will not have enough water in your body for the gell to use. Without enough water in your body even though using this gell the body will start to consume ‘stores’ of fats in an attempt to get water to keep you alive (The body can produce water by metabolizing fat. When fat is broken down it generates metabolic water as a byproduct). When the body starts doing that if you use this gell its going to suck up all that water more quickly than the body would have normally used it which will cause the body to keep feeding on fat stores to get more water. You will grow weaker and despite using this gell, without some water intake you will die although it might be a little longer than 3 days and maybe up to as long as 5 days because the gell is putting every ounce of water it can get into your cells (depends on the person, 3 – 4 days is the max average point where the body fat no longer contains enough water to sustain life, in other words, you body has metabolized as much water from your fat stores as it can and when that point is reached this gell is not going to help you because there is simply no more water for it to use.).
So at best, this gell:
1. Could be used to stretch out existing water supply for a much longer period of time.
2. Could be used in ‘short term’ ‘survival/sustainability’ situations where drinking water is not available. Optimum – maybe a few days but it depends on the person, health, and activity and environmental conditions.