The single most effective drink for stopping diarrhea is an oral rehydration solution, a precise mix of water, salt, and sugar that replaces lost fluids while helping your intestines absorb water again. Beyond rehydration, certain teas and probiotic drinks can calm your gut and shorten how long symptoms last. Just as important is knowing which drinks make diarrhea worse.
Why Salt and Sugar Together Work Best
Your small intestine has a built-in transport system that pulls sodium and glucose (simple sugar) into its cells together. When both arrive at the intestinal wall in the right ratio, water follows them through. This is not a minor effect. In people who genetically lack this transport system, unabsorbed sugar and sodium stay in the gut and cause severe diarrhea and dehydration on their own. That same mechanism is why the right drink can reverse the process: give your intestines the correct balance of salt and sugar, and they pull water out of the gut and back into your body, even while you’re sick.
This is also why drinking plain water alone during diarrhea isn’t enough. Water replaces volume, but it doesn’t replace the sodium and potassium you’re losing, and it doesn’t trigger that active absorption mechanism nearly as well.
Oral Rehydration Solution: The Top Choice
The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration solution (ORS) contains 2.6 grams of salt, 13.5 grams of glucose, 1.5 grams of potassium chloride, and 2.9 grams of trisodium citrate per liter of water. You can buy pre-mixed ORS packets at most pharmacies. Pedialyte and similar products use a comparable formulation with relatively low sugar and adequate sodium.
If you can’t get to a store, you can make a reliable version at home. The University of Virginia School of Medicine recommends this recipe: 4 cups of water, half a teaspoon of table salt, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Stir until everything dissolves. Sip it steadily rather than gulping it down, which gives your intestines more time to absorb each mouthful. This homemade version won’t have potassium, so eating a banana or a few bites of potato alongside it helps fill that gap.
Why Sports Drinks Fall Short
Reaching for a sports drink like Gatorade is a common instinct, but the formula isn’t designed for diarrhea. A typical sports drink contains about 18 millimoles of sodium per liter and nearly 6% carbohydrate. A proper ORS contains roughly 60 millimoles of sodium and only about 3.4% carbohydrate. In other words, sports drinks have three times less sodium and almost twice the sugar compared to what your gut needs during diarrhea.
That extra sugar can actually make things worse. When there’s more sugar in your intestines than the transport system can absorb, the leftover sugar draws water into the gut through osmosis, loosening your stool further. Sports drinks are built to replace sweat losses during exercise, not the electrolyte pattern you lose through diarrhea. If a sports drink is all you have, diluting it with an equal amount of water and adding a small pinch of salt gets you closer to what your body needs.
Teas That Can Help Calm Your Gut
Warm, unsweetened tea won’t rehydrate you as effectively as ORS, but certain varieties can ease the cramping, bloating, and urgency that come with diarrhea.
Peppermint tea relaxes the muscles lining your intestines. A 2023 review found that peppermint oil reduces intestinal pain and may help manage irritable bowel syndrome, which frequently involves diarrhea. Chamomile tea has a similar calming effect on digestive muscles and has traditionally been used to ease diarrhea, gas, and nausea. Spearmint tea contains a compound called carvone that reduces contractions in the digestive tract, and animal research suggests it may also lower gut inflammation.
Black tea is worth considering too. A 2025 review highlighted its anti-inflammatory effects and its ability to positively shift gut bacteria. The tannins in black tea have a mild binding effect in the intestines that can help firm up stool. Brew any of these teas lightly, skip the milk and sweetener, and drink them warm. Very hot liquids can irritate an already sensitive stomach.
Probiotic Drinks and Fermented Options
Probiotic drinks introduce beneficial bacteria that can compete with whatever is disrupting your gut. The strain with the strongest evidence behind it is Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, which has been shown to be both safe and effective for antibiotic-associated diarrhea at doses up to 40 billion colony-forming units per day. You can find this strain in certain yogurt-based drinks and probiotic supplements.
Kefir is another option. It’s a fermented milk drink that naturally contains a diverse mix of bacterial and yeast strains. Because it’s fermented, most of the lactose has been broken down, so it’s generally easier on a sensitive stomach than regular milk. Look for plain, unsweetened versions. Sweetened probiotic drinks can contain enough sugar to trigger the same osmotic problem that makes sports drinks counterproductive.
Probiotics won’t stop diarrhea within an hour, but they can shorten the overall duration of an episode, particularly if the cause is a viral infection or antibiotic use.
Drinks That Make Diarrhea Worse
Some of the beverages people reach for when they feel sick are precisely the wrong choice during diarrhea.
- Coffee and caffeinated drinks. Caffeine stimulates intestinal motility, speeding up contractions and pushing contents through your gut faster. That worsens both urgency and loose stool.
- Alcohol. It draws water into your intestinal tract like a laxative, speeds up gut transit time, and inflames the intestinal lining. Beer and sugary cocktails are especially problematic because bacteria in your large intestine ferment the excess carbohydrates, producing gas and further loosening stool.
- Fruit juice. Apple juice, pear juice, and other high-fructose juices contain more sugar than your intestines can absorb at once. The unabsorbed fructose pulls water into the gut through osmosis. Prune juice is even more potent because it contains sorbitol, a natural sugar alcohol with a strong laxative effect.
- Soda. Carbonation can increase bloating and gas, while the high sugar content creates the same osmotic draw as fruit juice. Diet sodas aren’t better, as artificial sweeteners like sorbitol and mannitol are known to cause diarrhea on their own.
- Milk. During a bout of diarrhea, your intestines may temporarily lose some of their ability to digest lactose, even if you’re not normally lactose intolerant. Undigested lactose ferments in the colon and produces gas, cramping, and more watery stool.
Recognizing Dehydration Early
Diarrhea becomes dangerous when fluid losses outpace what you’re drinking. Mild dehydration shows up as thirst, slightly darker urine, and a mildly increased heart rate. At moderate dehydration, your skin loses its normal bounce. If you pinch the skin on the back of your hand and it takes more than a second or two to flatten back down, you’re significantly dehydrated. Your heart rate will be noticeably elevated, and you may feel dizzy when standing up.
Severe dehydration causes a very fast heart rate, skin that “tents” when pinched and stays raised, sunken eyes, confusion, and little to no urine output. In children, watch for no tears when crying, a dry mouth, and unusual sleepiness. Severe dehydration requires medical attention, as oral fluids alone may not be enough at that stage.
A Practical Drinking Schedule
Start sipping ORS or your homemade salt-and-sugar solution as soon as diarrhea begins. Take small, frequent sips rather than large gulps, aiming for at least a cup after every loose stool. Between rehydration doses, plain water and light herbal tea are fine. If you’re tolerating food, broth adds sodium and is gentle on the stomach.
As symptoms improve, you can gradually reintroduce diluted probiotic drinks or plain kefir. Hold off on coffee, juice, and alcohol until your stools have been normal for at least a day. Reintroducing gut irritants too early is one of the most common reasons diarrhea bounces back after seeming to improve.