If you care about your health, you should seriously limit your intake of sugary, chemical-y (and, it's made out of tap water, fyi), phosphorus-draining soda. And don't think drinking flat gingerale is doing yourself any favors either, especially for children!
From Newswise, the journalists'-only site:
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Newswise — ‘Flat’ carbonated drinks should not be used as an alternative for oral rehydration solution to prevent dehydration in children with acute vomiting and diarrhoea, according to advice published in the May issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood .
Oral rehydration solution is a liquid containing the ideal balance of salts and sugars for avoiding dehydration in people with gastroenteritis who are losing fluids, salts and sugars through diarrhoea and vomiting.
It is commonly believed that ‘flat’ carbonated drinks are an effective alternative to these solutions, particularly for children who don’t like their taste. However, researchers at the children’s emergency department at Watford General Hospital were unable to find any published trials to back this up, so they looked for information about the contents of different types of liquids and compared them.
Carbonated drinks were found to contain too much sugar and not enough salts.
...The authors concluded there was little information available from clinical studies on the effectiveness of using carbonated drinks compared with oral rehydration solution for the prevention of dehydration in children with gastroenteritis, but that there were many scientific analyses demonstrating their inappropriateness.
“Carbonated drinks, ‘flat’ or otherwise, including cola, provide inadequate fluid and electrolyte replacement and cannot be recommended,” they conclude.
Click here to view the paper in full: http://press.psprings.co.uk/adc/may/ac142521.pdf
If you care about your health, you should seriously limit your intake of sugary, chemical-y (and, it's made out of tap water, fyi), phosphorus-draining soda. And don't think drinking flat gingerale is doing yourself any favors either, especially for children!
From Newswise, the journalists'-only site:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Newswise — ‘Flat’ carbonated drinks should not be used as an alternative for oral rehydration solution to prevent dehydration in children with acute vomiting and diarrhoea, according to advice published in the May issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood .
Oral rehydration solution is a liquid containing the ideal balance of salts and sugars for avoiding dehydration in people with gastroenteritis who are losing fluids, salts and sugars through diarrhoea and vomiting.
It is commonly believed that ‘flat’ carbonated drinks are an effective alternative to these solutions, particularly for children who don’t like their taste. However, researchers at the children’s emergency department at Watford General Hospital were unable to find any published trials to back this up, so they looked for information about the contents of different types of liquids and compared them.
Carbonated drinks were found to contain too much sugar and not enough salts.
...The authors concluded there was little information available from clinical studies on the effectiveness of using carbonated drinks compared with oral rehydration solution for the prevention of dehydration in children with gastroenteritis, but that there were many scientific analyses demonstrating their inappropriateness.
“Carbonated drinks, ‘flat’ or otherwise, including cola, provide inadequate fluid and electrolyte replacement and cannot be recommended,” they conclude.
Click here to view the paper in full: http://press.psprings.co.uk/adc/may/ac142521.pdf