Flat Soda Doesn't Help Dehydration

Soft Drinks No Substitute For Balanced Oral Rehydration Solutions

(WebMD)  Drinking flat soda or other carbonated beverages is no substitute for specially formulated rehydration drinks when it comes to treating a dehydrated child.

A new study shows there's no scientific evidence to back up the notion that drinking soft drinks, flat or otherwise, helps treat child dehydration. Researchers say parents should be discouraged from using sugar-laden soft drinks as a treatment and stick to oral rehydration solutions for mild cases of child dehydration.

Oral rehydration solutions are beverages that contain the ideal balance of electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium) and sugar for avoiding dehydration in people who are losing fluids because of diarrhea and vomiting. They are also called electrolyte solutions and are available by brand names and generic brands.

Researchers at the children's emergency department at Watford General Hospital in the UK say it's commonly believed that drinking flat soft drinks is an effective alternative, especially for children who don't like the taste of rehydration solutions.

Sodas No Substitute

But in their review of research on the issue, published in the Archives of Childhood Diseases, they couldn't find any published studies to support this recommendation.

As an alternative, researchers analyzed the contents of common soft drinks vs. oral rehydration solutions to see if they were comparable. They found carbonated soft drinks contained too much sugar and not enough sodium and potassium to be an effective treatment for mild dehydration in children.

For example, World Health Organization recommendations call for oral rehydration solutions to contain 75 millimoles/liter of sodium and the same amount of glucose (sugar). In comparison, soft drinks contain less than 10 mmol/L of sodium and up to 550 mmol/L of sugar, more than seven times the recommended amount.

[rf35]

We needed a research study to figure this out? What kind of idiot thinks giving a kid flat soda will treat dehydration? Anyone who does this needs to have their children taken away and be forcibly sterilized.

[gmond]

I never heard of drinking flat soda as a remedy for anything. Who makes this stuff up?

[cyberus-2009]

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I believe all soda should be rename High Fructose Corn Syrup then be listed as a flavor such as Coke or Pepsi.

Posted by Baileycc
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Hehehe

*10% Solution of High Fructose Corn Syrup*
*Pepsi Flavored*

Doesn''t sound all that refreshing anymore does it?

I believe all soda should be rename High Fructose Corn Syrup then be listed as a flavor such as Coke or Pepsi.