Hangover Fight: Gatorade Vs Pedialyte
How are you feeling today? A little sluggish? Nausea? Have you made a promise to yourself that you will never drink again? If this sounds familiar, then you are probably looking for a hangover cure. Two popular folk remedies claiming scientific support are Pedialyte and Gatorad. Let’s see if they really work.
Applicants
While almost everyone who ever drank alcohol, has its own medicine from a hangover from the “dog fur” to fatty foods , little guidance as common as drinking Gatorade or Pedialyte. The idea is simple: if drinking alcohol dehydrates you, then drinking a drink designed to combat dehydration should make you feel better. Let’s take a quick look at both options:
- Gatorade : Gatorade is a sports drink designed to fight dehydration better than water. It presumably does this better than regular old water because it contains potassium and sodium, which are electrolytes. Electrolytes promote rapid hydration by keeping the kidneys from urinating too much. Since it is a sports drink , Gatorade also contains carbohydrates, sugars, and calories added to boost endurance.
- Pedialyte : Pedialyte was created to help dehydrated children recover from disease. The method of rehydration is similar to that of Gatorade. Pedialyte is high in sodium and potassium, but fewer in calories and sugar than Gatorade. Celebrity support for Pedialitis from Miley Cyrus and Farrell (as well as appearances on True Detective ) helped propel him into the public consciousness as a hangover cure.
Let’s take a closer look at both options to see if any of them will help get rid of the headache.
Both contain electrolytes, but that doesn’t mean they “cure” a hangover.
While we’re still not entirely sure exactly what alcohol causes a hangover , we do know what’s going on in your body after the fact. After drinking overnight, the body releases acetaldehyde and cytokines , two causes of nausea and headaches. Your liver is also overwhelmed by trying to process all this alcohol. Dehydration is another hangover effect that occurs when alcohol is diuretic and makes you urinate more.
Gatorade and Pedialyte are supposedly good cures for the dehydrated part of your hangover because they contain electrolytes. Electrolytes help you retain more water and urinate less, which helps you rehydrate quickly. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at the nutrition metrics on both Gatorade and Pedialyte:
- A 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade contains 440 mg of sodium and 140 mg of potassium, but also contains about 200 calories and 56 g of carbohydrates.
- A 33.8 ounce container of Pedialitis contains 1012 mg sodium and 768 mg potassium. It contains 100 calories and 24 g of carbohydrates.
In theory, all of these electrolytes should help with hangover headaches, and since Pedialyte has more electrolytes, this is the best option. Dehydration is only part of your hangover, so treating it will not “cure” the hangover altogether. At this point, The Atlantic spoke with renal physician and medical school professor Stanley Goldfarb and Amy Hess-Fishl , a nutritionist at the University of Chicago:
Goldfarb explains that hangovers aren’t caused by a lack of water or electrolytes like sodium, potassium or magnesium after a night out. In contrast, the chemicals produced by the breakdown of alcohol in the body are toxic and painful. Thus, the most reliable hangover cure is one that the market does not usually favor: patience. (Although Goldfarb says dehydration does not play a large role in determining the intensity of a hangover, it may be important to drink fluids if water loss occurs due to diarrhea or vomiting.)
Amy Hess-Fishl … says drinking fluids before bed makes a difference when it comes to hangovers, but Pedialyte is no better than water nonetheless. “By itself, Pedialyte really helps because it replenishes moisture,” she says. “But any decaf soft drink will do the same.”
Regardless of how big a role hydration plays in a hangover, we know that dehydration causes the brain to contract, and this could be one of the minor causes of headaches . The best counteraction to this is hydration, which is especially necessary if you vomit at night (or in the morning).
There is at least some theoretical truth to the fact that both Pedialyte and Gatorade provide a slight improvement in hydration over regular old water , in which case Pedialyte will theoretically outperform Gatorade.
Gatorade has many more flavor options and is significantly cheaper
While the taste is subjective, it cannot be denied that Gatorade wins in the number of options available. Gatorade offers 29 Thirst Quencher flavors . It also has eight low-calorie flavors and four flavors of a powder blend that you can add to your water . You can find 32-ounce Gatorade at your local or grocery store for $ 1-2, or get larger packs such as eight 20-ounce bottles for about $ 6 .
Pedialyte has five main flavors: a mixture of fruits, strawberries, grapes, chewing gum, and odorless, although they all taste lightly chalk dust flavored. The same flavors also come in frozen food bags andpowder packs . One 33.8 oz Pedialyte container retails for about $ 5 . Pedialyte is also a little harder to find than Gatorade and you have to risk going to the grocery store or pharmacy for a bottle rather than your local store.
Gatorade is the cheaper option of the two and is easier to find. Gatorade doesn’t have as many electrolytes per bottle as Pedialyte, but it is much cheaper. The number of flavor options means you’re more likely to drink more Gatorade, and that’s all that matters. If money is not a problem, choose whichever you like best.
Verdict: Drink whatever you can (no more booze)
We don’t know if Gatorade or Pedialyte is better than plain old water. We know hydration is one of the little things that can help cure a hangover, so drinking anything will help but not cure a hangover completely. Besides, water is much cheaper.
Drink whatever you like to taste and whatever you can drink in your deplorable state. Better yet, create a time machine, go back to last night and drink water in between each alcoholic beverage .