When I'd fall ill with a stomachache at my grandmother's house, she always poured me a cup of cola, then stirred it with a spoon to make it flat. It always seemed to work to settle my tummy, but according to new research, flat soda isn't the best home remedy to treat kids who are dehydrated after a stomach bug.

Researchers couldn't find any scientific evidence to back up the use of flat sodas for rehydration, so they did a side-by-side comparison of soda and rehydration drinks which are specifically created to aid in mild dehydration. What they found is that soda is far too high in sugar and doesn't contain enough sodium and potassium, essential nutrients in treating dehydration.

Rehydration drinks for children are those like Pedialyte, while adults might drink a sports drink like Gatorade. Grandmothers everywhere may still use flat soda to treat a mild case of nausea, but when it's a case of dehydration, rehydration drinks appear to be the best way to go.

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Walk into the locker room of a professional sports team, and you may find the athletes acting like babies -- or drinking like babies anyway. Pedialyte -- a liquid often recommended for babies and children to replace fluid and electrolytes after a bout with the stomach flu -- has become popular with professional athletes for its ability to rehydrate quickly. With nearly twice the sodium of Gatorade and half the sugar, Pedialyte has apparently been popular with extreme athletes for some time and is now catching on with professional and amateur athletes alike.

Gatorade refuses to believe Pedialyte is a better product for sports enthusiasts and says it doesn't contain near enough of the right amount of sugars to fuel muscle. They have responded, however, by putting out Gatorade Endurance, which has more sodium and fewer calories. Health experts say that either drink should be safe for athletes to use, as long as they're healthy with good functioning kidneys, but if it were me, I'd check with my doctor first.

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