The beverage meant for helping hydrate young children who suffer from vomiting and diarrhea is also helping some young adults with their hangovers.
According to the New York Daily News, college students and adults in their 20s have been driving up Pedialyte sales by purchasing the beverage after nights of heavy drinking. The adults who turn to the electrolyte-loaded solution compare it to a sports drink, but with less sugar.
"It's like 10 Gatorades in one bottle," musician Jason Isbell told The New York Time Magazine.
The trend of replacing Gatorades and other hangover friendly soft drinks with Pedialyte seems to have spread across the country. The drink has become a popular hangover remedy for undergraduates and graduates in Chicago, where the app, Foxtrot, which is used to have corner store goods delivered to doorsteps, is working on adding the beverage to their menu after witnessing an increase in request.
"They were almost 'demands' more than request," the company told the Daily News.
According to Grid Chicago, the figures from market research firm IRI showed Pedialyte sales with up 16 percent in August compared to the same month in 2012. An analyst for Morningstar, who covers Abbott Laboratories, which makes Pedialyte, said the sales have been more or less flat over the years.
Although the drink may have college students swearing by the brightly-colored hydrating beverages, there is no proof the stuff actually works.
According to CBS News, the lemon lime soda, Sprite, reportedly helps the body better metabolize alcohol according to Chinese researchers. Plain soda water had a similar effect. A study published in the September 2013 issue of Food and Function showed that chemicals in the non-caffeinated beverage can halt that awful next-day feeling.
After examining 57 beverages in a lab, researcher Hua-Bin Li and his colleagues at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou determined that Sprite was one of the drinks that best relieved hangover symptoms.
