We are very grateful to everyone who buys our Fasting Salts products and shares their positive experiences.

But we also sometimes see negative comments about the price, pointing out that it's much cheaper to make your own fasting electrolytes mix at home.

This is true. Making your own mix is cheaper.

And it's a valid and sensible choice for many people. We are not going to try and talk you out of it.

But it's also not the full picture. Let's look into the costs a bit closer.

Buying electrolyte salts separately is cheaper

Almost all ready-made products out there are more expensive compared to DIY options.

It's cheaper to make your own meals from scratch, sew your own clothes and build your own furniture. But what about your time and effort?

People who choose to buy pre-mixed supplement powders are not stupid.

They know it's cheaper to buy raw ingredients and mix them at home. But they value their time and convenience more.

Making your own means finding the right ingredients (sodium, potassium, magnesium) in the right amounts and with some quality assurance.

Then measuring them out in the right ratios and blending thoroughly. You will need to use a blender. Simply mixing with a spoon won't be sufficient. Unlike industrially-blended mixes, home-made can settle and separate over time and may need re-blending.

Making your own mix at home is absolutely fine if you are happy to spend the time and the effort, and as long as you get quality raw ingredients and follow a tried-and-tested recipe to get your ratios right.

Have a look at our article on how to make your own DIY fasting electrolytes at home.

Upfront costs of DIY blends

Here's another point to consider.

It's hard to find small quantities of potassium and magnesium powders, in the quantities you'd need for a single fast. Retail packs are typically larger.

So you probably will end up buying a larger pack and have some of it leftover.

The upfront costs will therefore climb up, and could easily go up to around £20 (roughly $25 in the USA).

If you factor in the cost of your time and labour, you will find that the final cost is not that far off from ready-made products.

Does this mean we make a huge profit margin on our supplements?

Some people compare the price of Nutri-Align products (and more expensive ones such as LMNT) with the cost of raw ingredients. And get justifiably outraged, thinking we just pocket this difference as our net profit.

But that's not at all how it works!

The cost of raw ingredients is a fraction of the total product cost.

Here is where the rest of it goes.

Labour

If a supplement is made in Europe or the USA, labour costs are much higher than in countries like China or Vietnam. And yes, many cheaper supplements on Amazon and other marketplaces do come from those countries.

Regulatory compliance

Similar to the above, manufacturing in countries with higher safety standards is more expensive due to much stricter rules and regulations. Third-party lab testing is another extra cost.

Transportation

Fulfilling a product internationally means you have to ship it to local fulfilment centres first. This is getting more and more expensive, given the rising fuel prices.

Fulfilment

Many customers these days expect free or low-cost shipping. These fulfilment and postage costs are also absorbed by the seller.

Advertising

People assume the biggest cost in a supplement is what's inside the tub. For most brands, it isn't.

The biggest cost is getting you to see the product at all.

Platforms like Amazon, Google and Meta take a large cut just for visibility. That cost is baked into the price of virtually everything you buy online, not just supplements.

A brand that refused to advertise wouldn't be cheaper. You'd simply never find it. And it wouldn't last long enough to matter.

Both options are valid choices, pick the one that works for you

Once again, if your preference is to make your own DIY mix, there is nothing wrong with that. But the claim that 'the salts only cost pennies' was never the full picture.

And if you choose to purchase a pre-made supplement like our Fasting Salts, it doesn't make you a dummy or a profligate spender!