Pedialyte Sport Drink Review (2024): Not Just For Kids

Pedialyte is among the best electrolyte drinks for hydration and helps rehydrate children after fluid loss, usually due to excessive vomiting, diarrhea, or sweating. However, recently, sweaty adults had the thought, if it works so well for babies, why not us? 

For this Pedialyte Sport drink review, we had the electrolyte solution tested by Lauren Strong, CPT, GGR senior staff writer, and certified adult. We had Lauren use the powder form of Pedialyte as a rehydration tool after her workouts and report back her findings. 

Read on to find out what she thought of this hydration tool.

From Electrolytes to Protein Powder, We’re the Supplement Experts

The fitness professionals, registered dietitians, and personal trainers on GGR’s team test each nutritional product personally to provide you with a raw and honest picture of the supplements we review. 

We rate products using a 1 to 5 scale based on our custom GGR supplement testing methodology. This methodology examines criteria like:

• Quality of the formulation
• Taste/solubility
• Side effects
• Third-party testing
• Price/value
• Customer reviews/service

Pedialyte Sport Powder Packs

Pedialyte Sport Powder Packs

GGR Score: 3.7

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Product Highlights

• Contains 5 important electrolytes
• Great for on the go
• Scientifically balanced sugar and electrolytes
• Lemon lime and fruit punch flavors

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5 types of electrolytes
• Scientifically designed
• Great for on the go
• Additional electrolytes to support muscle

Cons

• Contains artificial ingredients
• Heavy salt flavor
• Only two flavor options

Bottom Line

Pedialyte Sport Powder Mix is a travel-friendly upgrade to a classic electrolyte solution.

A Quick Look at Pedialyte Sport

Pedialyte is a product of Abbott Nutrition, a company that hospital dietitians are very familiar with because they’re also one of few companies that makes tube-feeding formulas for the critically ill. 

Abbott also distributes baby formula, so it makes sense that Pedialyte’s initial purpose was for infant health. Pedialyte comes in powder and ready-to-drink, with the former being more affordable, but both have roughly the same formulation, depending on how much fluid you mix it with.

Before You Buy

• Don’t confuse Pedialyte Sport with Pedialyte AdvancedCare, which contains 3x the electrolytes and is more expensive.
• Be vigilant if you have hypertension; one liter exceeds the daily value of sodium for those with heart disease.

Is Pedialyte Sport Worth It?

Gatorade was the king of sports drinks, but now beverages like Pedialyte are right on their heels—without all the added sugar of the leading sports drink. However, for sports purposes, the sugar content is lower than the recommendation for athletic bodies. 

RELATED: Best Hydration Vests for Running

That said, there are plenty of electrolytes to get the job done if hydration is the goal, and while we liked the flavor, the price is pretty high at nearly $2 per serving. So, its overall value depends on your budget and personal preferences. 

Pedialyte Sport Specs

Experience Using Pedialyte Sport

For this review, we had GGR senior staff writer Lauren Strong, CPT, test it out and let us know what she thought. Lauren had tried Pedialyte for kids previously, so she was eager to try their sport’s version. After testing, she’s pretty convinced it’s just as effective at helping improve hydration status as the pediatric version. 

Price Per Serving

Lauren gave Pedialyte Sport a 1 out of 5 for the price. Though the price varies slightly depending on flavor, it still comes to about $1.61 to $1.90 per serving. That’s a bit expensive, considering 12 ounces of Gatorade, a similar sports drink, averages around $0.60 per serving. 

Formulation

Lauren gave 2 out of 5 for the formulation of Pedialyte Sport because while sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride are present, it also has added sugars and a few artificial ingredients. Here’s a breakdown of the formula per 14.1-gram serving:

• Sodium: 650 mg
• Acesulfame Potassium: 470 mg
• Magnesium: 55 mg
• Chloride: 920 mg
• Total Sugars: 14 g

Now, let’s talk about total carbohydrates and electrolytes. Electrolytes assist in maintaining fluid balance, permitting muscles to contract and relax properly. As a result, muscle cramps or feelings of weakness are often caused by a lack of hydration since the muscles cannot contract optimally.

So, don’t be alarmed by a liter of this stuff containing 60% of your daily value of sodium. Sodium and potassium are key electrolytes that, if not balanced, your muscles can contract but may not be able to relax. This is how muscle cramps happen¹. So, when these electrolytes are lost as you sweat during exercise, they need replacing, and that’s where drinks like Pedialyte Sport come in. 

RELATED: Best Detergent for Sweaty Clothes

Chloride is the most abundant electrolyte in your blood after sodium, and it keeps the body hydrated by retaining water², so it’s a good idea to consume it along with fluids and other electrolytes.

Magnesium helps shuttle glucose into your muscles for energy and clears out lactic acid buildup³, which causes muscle soreness and fatigue. One 2013 study even showed athletes who consumed magnesium daily had faster muscle repair and recovery⁴ after high-intensity training. 

That said, science also shows it may not give any benefits if you are not magnesium deficient⁵, so more research is needed before you get too excited. Phosphorus (or phosphate) is a nutrient that can help with muscular endurance by generating adenosine triphosphate (or ATP), the body’s primary unit of energy. 

Like creatine, phosphate can help the body generate ATP faster, thus delaying muscle fatigue⁶. 

RELATED: What Is Creatine?

Now, just one container of Pedialyte Sport contains 28% of your daily value of total sugars, but why? The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that an electrolyte solution or sports drink contain a 5 to 10% total carbohydrate solution⁷. In short, an optimal sports drink should contain 50 to 100 grams of glucose (or, in this case, dextrose) per liter. 

This is the recommendation for several reasons:

• To help replace the muscle glycogen that was lost during exercise 
• Sugar helps the cells soak up fluid more quickly for faster rehydration
• Sugar both hides the sometimes salty, metal flavor of the electrolytes and the sweet flavor helps prompt the athlete to drink more quickly

RELATED: Salt Pre-Workout

Now, there were ingredients we weren’t fans of, explaining the lower score, like the inclusion of the artificial sweetener sucralose despite there already being dextrose, an added sugar. Also, for unknown reasons, Pedialyte Sport contains milk and Red 40, so vegans and those allergic to milk, artificial flavors, and colors: beware. 

Taste and Solubility 

Lauren gave Pedialyte Sport 5 out of 5 for solubility as it mixed as an electrolyte powder pretty well. We also gave a 5 out of 5 for taste as Lauren tried the lemon-lime and thought it tasted great. She mixed the electrolyte powder in 20 ounces of water, though, as she felt using less than that gave too intense of a flavor, and using more water made it taste diluted. 

Side Effects

We gave a 5 out of 5 for side effects, as our tester reported no issues. 

Third-Party Testing 

We gave a rating of 2 out of 5 as Pedialyte Sport is not third-party tested, but the label is more or less transparent—aside from us not knowing where the milk is coming from.

Pedialyte Sport Vs Transparent Labs Hydrate

Transparent Labs Hydrate

Transparent Labs Hydrate V3

GGR Score: 4.8

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Product Highlights

• Includes taurine to help performance
• Naturally sweetened
• No artificial colors or flavors
• Contains SenactivTM for recovery

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Low cost per serving
• Easily absorbed electrolytes
• Aides in muscle recovery
• Subscribe & Save available

Cons

• Only one flavor option
• Contains the allergen tree nuts

Bottom Line

At an extremely low per serving cost, Transparent Labs Hydrate V3 is a great option for anyone looking to try out electrolytes or anyone looking for clean ingredients without the hefty price tag.

Transparent Labs Hydrate V3 topped our list of the best electrolyte powders, so we wanted to weigh it against Pedialyte Sport. Right away, you can see Transparent Labs Hydrate is significantly cheaper, but it’s also not a ready-to-drink solution, so the cost of convenience may be higher. Transparent Labs also has less potassium per serving and is third-party tested.

Though at first glance, it looks like it doesn’t have chloride. The sodium in Hydrate V3 comes from salt, so there’s chloride present, but it’s a bummer that you can’t quantify how much. Unlike Pedialyte Sport, Hydrate uses stevia as a natural sweetener, which means it’s sugar-free and doesn’t have the glucose or dextrose that gives sports drinks that little extra oomph. 

Customer Experience 

The manufacturer of Pedialyte Sport is Abbott Nutrition, a company that primarily creates products for clinical use for infants and the critically ill. As a result, many of their products are only accessible through memberships, which typically come from medical facilities.

You can get Pedialyte on Amazon and in most stores. If you buy from Amazon, be aware that food and beverages are not eligible for return, and you’ll likely end up buying in bulk as it can be difficult to find single bottles. 

Ordering Pedialyte Sport

If you purchase a Pedialyte product from Amazon, you’ll follow the same process as any other Amazon order. So, the cost and flow of checkout will depend on your membership.

Customer Reviews

There are a ton of 5-star reviews for Pedialyte Sport on Amazon (77% are 5-star reviews, to be exact), giving it an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 2,625 reviews. 

Most reviewers praise the taste and how quickly the electrolyte drink provides rehydration. However, negative reviews are people who hate the taste or have problems with the container. 

Final Verdict of Our Pedialyte Sport Drink Review

Pedialyte Sport contains plenty of key electrolytes to aid muscle support and hydration. It also has a great taste to mask the salty, metallic flavor of electrolytes and encourage faster fluid intake. However, the ready-to-drink beverage and powdered version are a bit pricey compared to other brands, so choose your rehydration occasions wisely if this is your electrolyte solution of choice. 

Full Rating

Pedialyte Sport

Pedialyte Sport Powder Mix is a travel-friendly upgrade to a classic electrolyte solution.

Product Brand: Pedialyte

Product Currency: $

Product Price: 20.36

Product In-Stock: InStock

Editor's Rating:
3.7

Pedialyte Sport: FAQs

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.

References

1. Sweeney HL, Hammers DW. Muscle Contraction. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2018;10(2):a023200. Published 2018 Feb 1. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a023200
2. Berend K, van Hulsteijn LH, Gans RO. Chloride: the queen of electrolytes?. Eur J Intern Med. 2012;23(3):203-211. doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2011.11.013
3. Zhang Y, Xun P, Wang R, Mao L, He K. Can Magnesium Enhance Exercise Performance?. Nutrients. 2017;9(9):946. Published 2017 Aug 28. doi:10.3390/nu9090946
4. Setaro L, Santos-Silva PR, Nakano EY, et al. Magnesium status and the physical performance of volleyball players: effects of magnesium supplementation. J Sports Sci. 2014;32(5):438-445. doi:10.1080/02640414.2013.828847
5. Wang R, Chen C, Liu W, et al. The effect of magnesium supplementation on muscle fitness: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Magnes Res. 2017;30(4):120-132. doi:10.1684/mrh.2018.0430
6. Allen DG, Trajanovska S. The multiple roles of phosphate in muscle fatigue. Front Physiol. 2012;3:463. Published 2012 Dec 11. doi:10.3389/fphys.2012.00463
7. American College of Sports Medicine, Sawka MN, Burke LM, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39(2):377-390. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597

Destini Moody, RD, CSSD, LD

Destini Moody, RD, CSSD, LD is a sports dietitian and the head of performance nutrition for the NBA G League Ignite. In addition to working with pro athletes, Destini has ghostwritten four weight loss and wellness cookbooks. She also authors online content covering fitness and nutrition topics.

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