Episode 282: Introducing MetaPWR Recharge!

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Today, we're excited to bring you a conversation between Saimoni Lesu, Senior Director of Creative Innovation, and Alex DaBell, Vice President of Global Nutraceuticals and Innovation. And they're going to talk about the new MetaPWR Recharge.

Saimoni Lesu: We're here on the podcast. We have Alex DaBell, who's our VP of Global Nutraceuticals and Innovation. And Alex, you got a pretty big job, man.

Alex DaBell: It's a lot of fun. We've got an amazing team and I have fun every day. Hardly feels like work. We got a lot of exciting things going on.

Great to be here with you, Saimoni.

Saimoni: Thank you. And we appreciate you. I think 2022, we introduced some things that you were innovating and cooking up: the whole MetaPWR family.

Alex: Yeah.

Saimoni: That hit, 2022. Also, 2023 has been a big MetaPWR year.

Alex: It has. We've been able to take that—introduced in '22, globalized to the rest of the world through 2023. It's been a very big year.

Saimoni: Awesome.

Alex: And we're not done yet.

Saimoni: And that's what we want to talk about. So, let's talk—this electrolyte drink. You know, nowadays you see electrolyte drinks all over the place. Why do we need this? Why is electrolytes so important?

Alex: Yeah, it's certainly not new. I mean, since our bodies have been around, which is forever, we've needed these electrolytes. These are important ions inside of our bodies. They play an important role, physiologically, with us. We have things like voltage-gated channels on cell surfaces. We have the propagation of a signal from our brain through nerves to make our muscles contract. All these different processes that just are happening every day. We take for granted.

These are including these electrolytes, things like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium. You may have heard of sodium potassium pump.

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: So, all of these different electrolytes are important. And they're important for hydration, for keeping our cells hydrated. We have organs (organ systems.) I'm thinking of the kidneys, in particular, that help to regulate the water system—the fluid balance in our body.

And so, we've got fluids that are pumping all throughout our body, throughout our veins, our blood pressure. These are all regulated, carefully, by electrolyte balance, by water retention. We have different hormones that play a role in telling our kidneys how to function, whether to retain water, whether to lose water. And that helps to maintain our blood pressure.

We don't want that blood pressure to be too high, though. And so having that right balance, that homeostasis for blood pressure, that's where electrolytes come into play. And when people talk about cellular hydration, the electrolytes certainly play an important role. But we've got some other some other tricks in this product as well.

Saimoni: So, let me ask you a question. It seems like electrolytes are huge. You named every system that could be impacted if we have a healthy intake of electrolytes. What were people doing before these electrolyte drinks? Like if they were super important, how were they—was it just through foods that our system would break down the potassium and the magnesium and the sodium and say, okay, these are your electrolytes.

Alex: If people eat a really nice, well-balanced diet from good sources of food, you know, whole foods and plants and things like that, they can have access to a lot of these important electrolytes. It's when people start to drift in their quality of their diet, they lose a lot of access to the electrolytes.

So, things like sodium. In today's world, most people get a lot more sodium than they should. And people like the way that foods that are high in sodium taste. But one of the nutrients we don't typically get enough of is the potassium. And sodium and potassium go together.

So we've been very conscientious in the formulation for this product of including three-parts potassium to one-part sodium. And part of that is a reflection of what people are typically consuming every day, that they get more sodium from their diet, and they need more potassium. And you can get potassium from fruits and things like that.

Saimoni: You said three parts potassium, to one part sodium.

Alex: Yeah, that three to one ratio.

Saimoni: Can I call this out because I think this is beautiful. With your team, you guys were intentional in understanding—can I say—the American diet.

Alex: Yeah.

Saimoni: And what we deal with.

Alex: Yeah.

Saimoni: I like that.

Alex: Absolutely. And that's important for how those different electrolytes will then influence our hydration status: the retention the way that our kidneys function. And then what that means for our cardiovascular system, things like our blood pressure. So, we want to have the right balances so that things stay not too low, not too high—right in in range.

Potassium is an important electrolyte in helping those—the elasticity of your blood vessels for example.

Saimoni: Okay. So just so that we're clear, electrolytes are made up of potassium, sodium, magnesium . . .

Alex: And calcium. Those are the core four.

Saimoni: Those are the core four, okay. Now, I understand that we're very intentional because of the diet that we typically deal with. We have three parts potassium to one part sodium. What happens if we have—because I feel like you can look around the market—do people have to be very intentional with the levels that are put into their liquid electrolyte drink?

Alex: Yeah.

Saimoni: Could it be too much sodium? Could it be too much potassium?

Alex: Absolutely, you can. So, there's conditions such as salt-sensitive blood pressure. And this affects a segment of the population—a relatively large segment of the population. They estimate 30 to 50% of people have salt sensitive blood pressure. And that means that when you consume too much salt, your blood pressure rises, which is not a good thing, especially over a prolonged period of time.

People are consuming a lot of salt or sodium—typically sodium chloride is the primary salt form that people consume, whether it's poor diet or whatnot. Some people will advocate for higher levels of that sodium replenishment or other salts, you know, the chlorides and the potassium, calcium, magnesium. And those types of people, they may be following particular lifestyles. So, hardcore athletes, for example, where they're sweating a lot, they're losing a lot of these electrolytes. It might make sense for them to either double up or augment their intake of these salts, based on what they're losing.

That's not your everyday person, though. Most people are not training for an Ironman, and losing a lot of that. But if you have a hardcore athlete or if they're following certain dietary protocols—intermittent fasting or people who are on a keto diet—they may lose a little bit more of those electrolytes because they're shedding more water. And with the water goes those electrolytes. So, replenishing those becomes even more important for those populations.

Saimoni: Okay. So, that's a big thing to call out.

Alex: Yeah. Well, and I just want to call out, we love to make our products special. And one other way that we've made this product special is how we're delivering these electrolytes.

So, we talk about the importance of electrolytes. How do we make sure that they're actually absorbed by the body and then they're retained by the body, that they aren't just removed, excreted? And that's why we've chosen to deliver them in a liposomal format.

What does that mean? Yeah, what is a liposome? imagine a little almost a little sphere, kind of like a ball, a basketball. And the outside of that ball is this lipid bilayer. The bilayer's got a head and a tail. Anyway, it forms this little sphere. And that becomes the delivery vehicle for these nutrients.

So, in this case, we've got the electrolytes that we want to make sure are well-absorbed by the body and then retained by the body. And these little cells, these are micron-sized liposomes. This is mimicking how our body communicates intercellularly from cell to cell. There's a process of an exocytosis and endocytosis where these little spheres are formed. So, your body is already very familiar with this whole process and being able to absorb these types of nutrients. So, we're leveraging some pretty cool technology there to enhance it.

Saimoni: The thing that I that I feel is huge here is just how intentional we are in actually making the product good. We talk a lot about just different things that people can make. But part of our goal, our mission, is to actually source the best. That's a famous line here at doTERRA.

Alex: And part of what goes into that, with this formula, is the things that we aren't including in there. So, for example, a lot of electrolyte products in the marketplace contain a whole bunch of ingredients that you aren't looking for.

Saimoni: Cane sugar.

Alex: A bunch of sugar. A bunch of artificial colors, artificial flavors. So, we're sure to not only include the right things, but to exclude the things that we don't want.

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: And the other thing on the intentionality that goes into our product development process. We consider: what other products are people using that we offer?

So, for example, we have a core nutritional offering in Lifelong Vitality. And in Lifelong Vitality we get certain vitamins and minerals and things like this. And so, we have some calcium and magnesium from our Mircoplex formula. We aren't providing the sodium and potassium, but one of the unique aspects of the Recharge formula is that we include a unique form of magnesium: magnesium L-threonate , and that threonate traffics that magnesium to the brain.

A lot of people can become deficient of magnesium in their brain, and it doesn't do the right things for helping us to cope with anxiety or stress or to sleep well, our cognitive function, memory—these things are all impacted if we have lower amounts of magnesium in the brain. So, we want to increase that magnesium in the brain, hence the right form of magnesium.

Saimoni: Can we reiterate that? Because I think that's a big callout. You mentioned that we already have magnesium in LLV, right?

Alex: Yep.

Saimoni: But yet we're providing a different type of magnesium through our MetaPWR Recharge.

Alex: That's right.

Saimoni: Or through this electrolyte drink.

Alex: Yep. Yeah. Different forms of nutrients. We can just say like elemental magnesium. But you have all different forms. Same thing with calcium. Different forms are more or less bioavailable. They function in different areas of the body, maybe in the brain, versus bones, versus the heart. And so, we need to be intentional about which form we're selecting for, how it's delivered. It's not enough to just put it in the formula. We need to have it in there in the right form, in the right amount, so that it can do its job.

Saimoni: That's big time. I love the intention behind this. We're really trying to provide products that actually benefit you and actually work. And so, I think the callout right there is: be very mindful of what you might be purchasing as an electrolyte substitute.

Alex: Yeah, right. Flavored drink.

Saimoni: Flavored drink. Cane sugar. Yeah. Okay. So, this electrolyte drink is very intentional. But again, the core ingredients are: potassium sodium magnesium and calcium.

Alex: That's right. Now, those aren't the only ones. Even the name "Recharge—" what does that imply? I mean, you almost think of like, a battery. What are you recharging? A battery. And our bodies are kind of like a battery. We can generate and store electricity, the charge of these ions. This is hence the name recharge. It's very fitting for this type of product. I love it.

In addition to these core electrolytes we've included, we have a deep ocean mineral blend. So, we have 80+ trace minerals from the deep ocean. We have fresh ginseng extract with unique RG3 ginsenosides for mitochondrial function. Energy. Producing real energy. Our mitochondria make ATP, which is a real energy form.

And then we've also included baobab extract. Have you heard of the baobab tree?

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: Yeah, amazing tree in Africa. It's incredible. So, this baobab tree has a unique ability to store a whole bunch of water.

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: And to facilitate now, the exchange of water between cells, we've included this baobab extract, which helps with activation of the aquaporin-3 gene.

Saimoni: Wow.

Alex: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Chloride is another ion. So, you often see it in a salt form. So, potassium chloride, sodium chloride—chloride is the negatively charged—the anion. So, you have a cation and an anion. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium—these are positively charged. Chloride is a negatively charged ion.

Saimoni: Opposites attract.

Alex: Yeah, exactly. So, you need those pairs. And you often find electrolytes in salt format, combined with a cation and an anion. And the chloride is the common anion.

Saimoni: Wow. Again, another question for you. You have this liquid form that we have. It's special, right? Because the delivery system is very intentional on how we've put this together.

Is it bad to take it before a workout? After a workout? Do you drink it hot? Can you not drink it hot?

Alex: So, you can drink it hot.

Saimoni: Okay.

Alex: So, this one is a liquid format. We've talked about other types of product formats, like why we've delivered them in powder versus liquid, if they're going to be exposed to heat and degrade certain nutrients. But these electrolytes are fine in the liquid format. It's a stable delivery there, yep. So, it's not going to be a problem if you want to heat it up.

Saimoni: Oh wow.

Alex: I don't know what that's going to do to the flavor. For example, over time we've got a pretty amazing wild strawberry flavor and a lemon lime. And it's interesting, people gravitate towards one flavor or the other, but I actually like them both.

Saimoni: Yeah. I will say this, though. I was at the BDPD summit, and we had both flavors on tap, like this huge fountain. I don't know how many times I went to the bathroom after I was drinking those. Like, is that part of just the benefits? Is there a cleaning type of process that happens because you're hydrating so much with these benefits, through the electrolytes?

Alex: Yeah, I mean, your kidneys—part of their job is to regulate that fluid balance. So, if you're bringing in a bunch of water and you don't need to retain that water, maybe you're not. If you're not working out, you're not losing a lot of water, then your body is going to eliminate it.

Saimoni: Yeah, okay.

Alex: There are no like diuretics in the formula. So, "diuretic" meaning like you're going to flush out a bunch of water from your system. We're not looking to remove or eliminate water. In fact, by providing these electrolytes, these salts to your body, it actually would encourage your body to retain some water, to maintain that hydration status.

If you could imagine, if you simply eliminated water and you weren't also removing electrolytes, then the concentration of those salts would go up in your body. And you get things like hypernatremia or hyperkalemia, where you have too much of some of these electrolytes, or too much sodium or too much potassium. We don't want that. We want to have that right balance.

Saimoni: The right balance. But again, going back to just the intentionality behind you and your team of understanding what the current landscape here in America is. And because we're so sodium-heavy, we need to balance that out even more.

Alex: Exactly. And that's why the higher levels of potassium. So, a lot of electrolyte products, you'll see a huge sodium content. And for certain populations that might be appropriate, based on the amount of sodium that they're losing through intense exercise, maybe in a hot climate.

But for the average person—number one, they're already getting usually more sodium from their diet than they should. And then secondarily, most people are not exercising that intensely in a hot environment where they'd be losing that much sodium. So, a lot of people who are replacing these amounts of electrolytes or sodium in particular—they're not necessarily doing themselves a lot of good. You want to have that right balance. So hence the three to one potassium to sodium, more potassium than sodium, which helps with, uh, the kidneys, and cardiovascular, blood pressure.

Saimoni: Love it. And Lauren and I—we talked about just MetaPWR Recharge and how it impacts everything on the doTERRA Wellness Pyramid. Starting with the digestive system, all the way up to informed self-care, and everything in between.

Alex: Yeah. We like to break things out, to simplify in how we talk about things or how we understand things, but our bodies are not segmented. Everything is very connected, and there's a lot of interplay between the different systems of the body. So, we're not just impacting how our kidneys function with electrolytes, we're also impacting how our brain functions, how our muscles function, how our heart functions. All these different things are intertwined. So, take care of the whole.

Saimoni: Love it. Hydrate out there, family. It's not necessarily just regular water. We love water. But there's important things that we're missing out on because of our diet and other things and activity levels.

Alex: Yeah. Take the time to "recharge." And I mean, like you said, you can use it before, if you're going to work out, for example. It's easy to use it during or even after, whatever works for people. Sometimes we get really particular about, "Oh, I have to use this exactly right at this moment."

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: And there's something to be said for optimizing our product usage. But the first box that we need to check is to use the product. Then we can get into the particulars about refining it.

Saimoni: Is there ever a time in the day where it's too late to drink an electrolyte drink? Like we talked about "recharge."

Alex: Yeah.

Saimoni: At 8 p.m. I'm not trying to recharge. I'm trying to down-charge.

Alex: Yeah. We're not stimulating our body—we don't have stimulants in there that are going to keep you up at night, for example.

Saimoni: Yeah.

Alex: So, if your body is repairing, helping to, you know, maintain those body fluid systems, the cellular hydration, the only thing I can think of—and you kind of alluded to this with the BDPD experience—if you're drinking a bunch of fluids and then you're losing fluids, maybe that would be a reason for you to be up at night. So, maybe earlier in the day would be better. I actually like to combine my wild-strawberry MetaPWR Recharge with my MetaPWR Advantage.

Saimoni: Oh, so you can combine.

Alex: I have been combining those and I love the flavor of the wild strawberry and putting that with my MetaPWR Advantage. I'll mix those up together and drink that in the morning. And I I've been doing that for the past couple of weeks and I really enjoy it.

Saimoni: I wonder . . . I've been seeing a I don't know if you're trying to get a scholarship, but you're looking well. Come on, walk on. You know, let's go. Transfer portal.

Alex: Nice.

Saimoni: Alex, anything else you'd like to add to this? It's been an awesome conversation. Thank you for sharing. But any last bit of advice?

Alex: I love that we can talk a little bit more, in detail, about our products. We've kind of highlighted the intentionality, the detail that goes into each of these products. It's very intentional, each ingredient is selected. The dosage of each ingredient is intentionally designed. So, we're excited about it.

Saimoni: Thank you so much, Alex, for being here and sharing about this awesome product that drops on February 1st. MetaPWR Recharge. This is the year to recharge. 2024, let's go, let's go.

Alex: Always great to chat with you, Saimoni.

Saimoni: Thank you, Alex.

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