Why is 7up good for you when you're sick??

clusk007

Any time I was sick as a child was always given 7up and told 'that will help you'. My father is sick at the moment (yes I know a tragedy on Father's Day!) and it's the very same thing, taking 7up to ease his stomach.

I heard it was a substitute for drinking sugar mixed with water or the citrus fruits in it are good for healing. Surely taking a a fizzy drink with all that sugar like this can't do any good.

Can anyone explain where this came from? Anyone else use it when they are sick and does it help at all?

akura

It's the same story in my house, if your sick drink 7up

dont know why though

Truman Burbank

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=66248868

CastorTroy

If I remember correctly from when I was a kid, wasn't it supposed to be flat 7Up? I never understood either

py2006

I thought it was lemonade?

reera82

Because Mammy said so.

kfallon

It has to be flat 7Up and you can only eat toast with a scrape of butter on it! If it's an injury rather than illness then Lucozade is your only man :pac:

bdoo

kfallon wrote: »

It has to be flat 7Up and you can only eat toast with a scrape of butter on it! If it's an injury rather than illness then Lucozade is your only man :pac:

Red lemonade warmed in a saucepan did have certain medicinal properties also.

sunflower27

Sugar. I think that is the main reason

kfallon

bdoo wrote: »

Red lemonade warmed in a saucepan did have certain medicinal properties also.

First I've heard of that but next time I'm poorly I'll be on it

CastorTroy

I remember when I was in hospital with pneumonia, my mum brought in the 7Up so it must be medically proven if the hospital allows it.

M cebee

ya flat 7up -think it has some merit
Buying lucozade for the hospital visits seems daft now-was common practice years back
Power of advertising

Shryke

It's a weird Irish thing. It's not good for you either except that it isn't too flavoursome so that when it's flat it's an easy way to get some carbs down.

FacePalmSam

I think flat 7up is good for you in that case because it gets some glucose into you without being to heavy/harmful on your stomach. Easier than forcing food on someone :P

ejmaztec

Doesn't Coca Cola cure everything these days?

Shenshen

Only ever heard about that in Ireland, tbh.
When I was sick as a kid, my granddad would give me warm, flat Coca Cola. The idea was that whatever it was you ate that is upsetting your stomache, the coke will help to digest faster.
Had to be warm and flat, though, because cold and fizzy drinks are bad for your tummy, according to granddad.

CastorTroy

And here I thought Calpol was the cure for all illnesses

jayteecork

Yeah I always noticed old people in hospitals always had a bottle of seven up beside their bed

The strange thing is they're almost ALWAYS the 1.5l bottle. Never a 2 litre or 500ml bottle.

Shryke

jayteecork wrote: »

Yeah I always noticed old people in hospitals always had a bottle of seven up beside their bed

The strange thing is they're almost ALWAYS the 1.5l bottle. Never a 2 litre or 500ml bottle.

Probably what the hospital shop sells.

sunflower27

Shenshen wrote: »

Only ever heard about that in Ireland, tbh.
When I was sick as a kid, my granddad would give me warm, flat Coca Cola. The idea was that whatever it was you ate that is upsetting your stomache, the coke will help to digest faster.
Had to be warm and flat, though, because cold and fizzy drinks are bad for your tummy, according to granddad.

It was the same in Australia. Flat lemonade as the fizz can upset the tummy.

Or flat Lucozade.

I always thought it was to get sugar/water into you and because it's "100% natural" you don't get any nasty chemicals. Had to be flat though. Can't be sprite, that's not got the naturalness!

Bambii_

My nanny still swears by hot 7up with a load of sugar mixed in. Whenever I ask how is it supposed to work, or how is it better than medicine she just tells me to shut up and drink it

kfallon

Natasha_95 wrote: »

My nanny still swears by hot 7up with a load of sugar mixed in. Whenever I ask how is it supposed to work, or how is it better than medicine she just tells me to shut up and drink it

This evening is the first time I've ever heard of anyone heating up minerals when you are sick, first TK red lemonade now 7Up.

And to be fair to your Nan it was probably a lot cheaper than buying medicine

meoklmrk91

Ah yes flat 7up for a dodgy tummy and lucozade for everything else. I fecking hate 7up makes me feel ill so I always refused to drink it, anything lemon makes me feel ill for some reason.

phasers

My Ma told me it was so there was something in you to throw up because dry heaving is really bad for you :pac:

skyflyer

I swear by 7up for an upset stomach. I just can't face much else if I'm sick. I don't understand how it helps, but it does.

starbelgrade

7Up - when it was first brought out - used to contain lithium.

Strange, but true!

mauzo

My mam used to have me shaking the bottle until it went flat, but the time it was flat Id be wrecked and fall asleep!

She must have been too lazy to heat it up!

In fairness Id rather flat 7up than dioralyte anyday...that stuff was awful

Rasheed

syndeyfife wrote: »

My mam used to have me shaking the bottle until it went flat, but the time it was flat Id be wrecked and fall asleep!

She must have been too lazy to heat it up!

In fairness Id rather flat 7up than dioralyte anyday...that stuff was awful

Dioralyte is rotten surely. It is helpful to help push fluids, especially when a person may be dehydrated from vomiting and/or diarrhoea, plain water can be hard to keep drinking. 7up has sugar to keep strength up and because it's clear, won't upset or irritate an already raw stomach. Also I think it's a comfort thing that Mammy used to give so it automatically makes you all better again!

Precious flower

Well I always thought it helped settle your stomach but I think we were mostly given it to keep us hydrated as 7up is easier to get a child to drink than water. We were also given flat 7up as well? Maybe it does settle your stomach a bit and it's something that not harsh on your stomach so you'll keep it down. Maybe? I don't know it always worked anyway!

patwicklow

Bovril and honey mixed with hot water cures any flu i swear by it

Lyaiera

When we were younger my brother got very sick over in France. He was in hospital for a few days and they asked him did he like Coke, Sprite, Fanta, etc. He said Coke and they gave him flat Coke, as much as he wanted (I think they had hacked their machine not to carbonate it.)

My parents asked the doctor why, and they said that it was because people like Coke, Fanta, 7up, etc. and so they'd be willing to drink it. It has the added benefit of being full of sugar, which sick people will be low on, but the base of it was that getting a sick person to drink anything is good for them to avoid dehydration. If someone preferred tea, they'd give them tea, or water with glucose dissolved in it, but really it's just to get people to keep drinking, so they don't end up on a drip. Or to supplant a drip if they do have one.

The only thing I know that is actually good for the stomach, is coffee. A small amount, like a single cup or an espresso helps with digestion, and can cut through bloatedness. And that's the root of places offering a coffee after dinner. But in hospitals, the root of the 7up thing is simply to get people to keep drinking.

stoneill

The flat 7up is used to stop getting dehydrated when ill - vomiting and the stuff pouring out the other end can get kids dehydrated really quickly.
7up is used as it has citrus which can aid electrolyte absorption.

languagenerd

We always heated the 7up in the microwave and drank it out of the glass mugs usually used for hot chocolate or Irish coffees. Honestly don't know why, it was just what we were always given when we were sick as kids. Everyone said it was good for you when you were sick, it's probably some sort of placebo effect :P

My auntie brought me a bottle of Lucozade when I had chickenpox and claimed that Lucozade was proven to work on chickenpox (no idea what that was about !)

Thefirestarter

Started this exact thread over 3 years ago :cool:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56391851

7up cures all ails.

Jesus Wept

They should make it prescription only.

OakeyDokey

I'm after drinking about a litre of the stuff today to nurse my sick belly, never knew the explanation behind it just did it because Mammy said so haha.

BUBBLE WRAP

Thefirestarter wrote: »

Started this exact thread over 3 years ago :cool:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56391851

7up cures all ails.

Cool story bro.

Martyn1989

Shenshen wrote: »

Only ever heard about that in Ireland, tbh.
When I was sick as a kid, my granddad would give me warm, flat Coca Cola. The idea was that whatever it was you ate that is upsetting your stomache, the coke will help to digest faster.
Had to be warm and flat, though, because cold and fizzy drinks are bad for your tummy, according to granddad.

Afaik in Cokes early days it was sold as a digestive aid, seeing as it was made from herbs and stuff like that. Your grandad probably still had that image of it? Still, the caffeine and sugar would have given you energy which is what a sick person needs.

I went to the chemist for my gf when she was sick and he had these sachets of powdered flavoured drinks that he said would help. Apperently they just did the same thing as 7up as they replaced electrolytes lost from throwing up etc.

confuseddotcom

In our house we used to get cold flat 7-up with an upset tummy, and heated red or white preferably red lemonade for colds and flu's. Did ye all boil yere 7-up? So long as it was flat for an upset tummy that's all that's needed is what we were told, it didn't need to be hot.


Does anyone remember Goody?! Yeeeeeuuuucccchhhhh!!

hondasam

Not familiar with the 7 up thing, lucozade is what I would drink.

FanadMan

Flat 7up was my mums remedy when we were sick - did seem to work but as a lot of people said already, it all about getting fluid and sugar into the system.

But for a cold or flu, warm red lemonade with a spoon of honey. Tasted way too sweet but it worked. Sweated buckets in bed after, but the cold would clear up.......aren't mammys geniuses

When I was a kid, Letterkenny hospital wouldn't allow Lucozade to be given to the patients.......or maybe that was only in the paediatric ward - and I really loved Lucozade too For a hangover, it's still the only remedy.....

Angeles

Don't question the power and knowledge of the Irish mammy!
If you were told to drink 7up when you were sick as a kid... you damn well drank 7up when you were sick as a kid!

Shenshen

Martyn1989 wrote: »

Afaik in Cokes early days it was sold as a digestive aid, seeing as it was made from herbs and stuff like that. Your grandad probably still had that image of it? Still, the caffeine and sugar would have given you energy which is what a sick person needs.

I went to the chemist for my gf when she was sick and he had these sachets of powdered flavoured drinks that he said would help. Apperently they just did the same thing as 7up as they replaced electrolytes lost from throwing up etc.

To be honest, it's more likely he remembered a chemistry experiment most schools in Germany would do : You place a bit of meat into a petri dish with coke, and it will disolve overnight.
So my granddad figured if it can disolve things this easily, must be good for getting rid of anything bad you may have eaten

FanadMan

Shenshen wrote: »

To be honest, it's more likely he remembered a chemistry experiment most schools in Germany would do : You place a bit of meat into a petri dish with coke, and it will disolve overnight.
So my granddad figured if it can disolve things this easily, must be good for getting rid of anything bad you may have eaten

Think if you put a piece of meat into orange juice it'll disolve too....same with rusty bolts etc. Snopes have a lot of stuff on Coke. But think in the end the medicinal benefits are due to the sugar and caffeine in the coke.

D1stant

7Up is magic, but useless on its own. It must be mixed carefully with exactly the right amount of green grapes from a brown paper bag

Anyone who survives hospital does so because of 'Up n grapes. The doctors are trying to kill you.

FanadMan

D1stant wrote: »

7Up is magic, but useless on its own. It must be mixed carefully with exactly the right amount of green grapes from a brown paper bag

Anyone who survives hospital does so because of 'Up n grapes. The doctors are trying to kill you.

Damn right! Who gets well with people sticking bits of metal into your body and forcing you to eat horrible food

kierank01

Rasheed wrote: »

Dioralyte is rotten surely.

When i was sick as a child, i'd be given dioralyte, and couldn't get enough of it, i'd get up in the middle of the night, and start drinking it out of the fridge