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A Spoonful Of Sugar

In Dispute: Red cordial (ObTWIAVBP: non-carbonated fruit-flavoured drink concentrate) can prevent traveller's diarrhoea.

Commercial cordials do exhibit significant antibacterial effects in vitro. Incubation for one hour dramatically reduces numbers of Vibrio cholerae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Shigella sonnei, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli bacteria, according to a study by Gracey and friends in 1985. But drinking the stuff has not been shown to have any benefits.

The red-cordial sterilisation technique is not 100% effective, and is not routinely recommended by travel medical advice bureaux, and it's certainly easier (though less palatable) to carry iodine tablets for water sterilisation. Giving strong sugary drinks to a person with gastroenteritis is positively dangerous - the high sugar content draws further water out of the body via osmotic diarrhoea, raising the risk of dehydration. Coca-Cola syrup and Lucozade are similarly not recommended for ill people.