When you’re fighting a cold or flu, the best things to drink are warm broth-based soups, herbal teas, water, and electrolyte drinks. Staying well-hydrated does more than just feel comforting. Fluids directly thin the mucus in your airways, helping your body clear it faster and keeping your natural defenses working.
Why Fluids Matter More When You’re Sick
Your airways are lined with a thin layer of mucus that traps viruses and bacteria, then tiny hair-like structures called cilia sweep it all out. This system is one of your body’s frontline immune defenses, and it depends heavily on hydration. When fluid is added to airway surfaces, the mucus layer swells, maintains contact with the cilia, and actually moves faster. Under well-hydrated conditions, mucus transport speeds up significantly.
When you’re dehydrated, the opposite happens. Mucus becomes thick and sticky, eventually adhering to the airway walls. Inflammatory signals get trapped and concentrated in that stagnant mucus, and immune cells can’t penetrate it effectively to kill bacteria. This creates a breeding ground for secondary infections. Fever, sweating, and reduced appetite during a cold or flu all accelerate fluid loss, making deliberate hydration essential.
For a baseline, men generally need about 15 cups of fluid per day and women about 11 cups. During illness, especially with fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, you’ll need more than that.
Warm Broth and Chicken Soup
Chicken soup’s reputation as a cold remedy has real science behind it. A well-known lab study found that chicken soup significantly inhibited the movement of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell involved in the inflammatory response that causes many cold symptoms. The effect was concentration-dependent, meaning more soup produced a stronger effect. Both the chicken and the vegetables in the soup individually showed anti-inflammatory activity, suggesting it’s the whole combination of ingredients that helps.
Since the miserable symptoms of a cold (congestion, sore throat, fatigue) are largely driven by your own inflammatory response rather than the virus itself, reducing that inflammation can genuinely make you feel better. Broth also delivers sodium and water together, which helps your body retain fluid more effectively than water alone.
Hot Drinks Relieve More Symptoms
Temperature matters. A study published in Rhinology compared a hot drink to the same drink served at room temperature. The hot version didn’t change objective nasal airflow measurements, but it provided immediate and sustained relief from runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness, and tiredness. The room-temperature version only helped with runny nose, cough, and sneezing. So while a hot drink won’t physically open your nasal passages more than a cold one, it will make you feel considerably better across a wider range of symptoms.
This means any warm liquid you enjoy, whether it’s tea, broth, or just hot water with lemon, is doing real work simply by being warm.
Herbal Teas Worth Trying
Ginger tea is one of the strongest options. Ginger is well established as a remedy for nausea and digestive upset, which matters during the flu when stomach symptoms are common. One study found that ginger improved nasal symptoms from allergic rhinitis as effectively as the antihistamine loratadine, suggesting it may help with congestion too.
Peppermint tea works as a mild expectorant, helping loosen and clear mucus from your airways. The menthol in peppermint also soothes sore throats and calms coughs. Like ginger, peppermint can ease nausea and vomiting, making it a good choice if the flu has hit your stomach.
Honey in Warm Drinks
Stirring honey into tea or warm water does more than add flavor. A Cochrane review of multiple clinical trials found that honey is probably more effective at relieving cough than no treatment, a placebo, or the antihistamine diphenhydramine. It performed about as well as dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in most over-the-counter cough suppressants. The benefit was strongest in the first three days of illness. After that, honey didn’t show a clear advantage over other treatments.
A spoonful of honey in a cup of warm ginger or peppermint tea gives you the combined benefits of hydration, warmth, and cough relief in a single drink. One important note: honey should never be given to children under one year old due to the risk of botulism.
Elderberry Drinks
Elderberry has shown promising results for shortening colds. In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of air travelers, participants who took elderberry extract experienced cold episodes that lasted about two days less than the placebo group (roughly 4.75 days versus 6.88 days). Their overall symptom severity was also lower. Elderberry syrups can be mixed into warm water or tea, though the clinical evidence comes from standardized extracts rather than homemade preparations, so potency will vary.
When to Choose Electrolyte Drinks Over Water
Plain water is fine for a typical cold with mild symptoms. But if you’re dealing with vomiting, diarrhea, or high fever, you’re losing electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) along with water. In those situations, an oral electrolyte solution replaces what your cells actually need to absorb and retain fluid. The World Health Organization recommends these solutions for mild to moderate dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea because the specific balance of electrolytes, glucose, and sodium helps your cells pull water in more efficiently than water alone.
On a normal day, you get enough electrolytes from food. But when you’re barely eating and losing fluids from both ends, an electrolyte drink fills that gap. Sports drinks contain electrolytes but also tend to have high sugar content, so a product designed for rehydration is a better choice during illness.
Keeping Sick Children Hydrated
Children dehydrate faster than adults, and getting fluids into a miserable kid takes patience. The key is small, frequent sips rather than large amounts at once. For babies under one year, give 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 mL) of an oral electrolyte solution, breast milk, or formula every 5 to 10 minutes using a spoon or syringe. For children over one year, start with about half an ounce to one ounce every 20 minutes and gradually increase.
As a rough guide from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, children weighing 21 to 40 pounds should get at least 6.5 ounces (three-quarters of a cup) per hour. Kids weighing 41 to 60 pounds need at least 10 ounces per hour. These minimums go up if the child has vomiting, diarrhea, or fever.
What to Avoid
Alcohol is the worst choice when you’re sick. It impairs mucosal immunity in both the gut and the lower respiratory system, weakens both branches of your immune response, and is associated with slower, less complete recovery from infections. Even moderate drinking while fighting a virus works against your body’s ability to heal.
Caffeine in moderate amounts (a cup or two of tea or coffee) is unlikely to cause problems and can even help with fatigue and headaches. But in large quantities, caffeine acts as a mild diuretic and can contribute to fluid loss. If you’re already struggling to stay hydrated, stick to decaffeinated options. Sugary sodas and fruit juices are also poor choices. The high sugar content can worsen diarrhea and doesn’t provide the electrolyte balance your body needs.
A Practical Drinking Plan
You don’t need to follow a rigid schedule, but variety helps. Start your morning with a warm cup of ginger or peppermint tea with honey to soothe your throat and settle your stomach. Through the day, alternate between water, warm broth, and more tea. If you have a bowl of chicken soup for lunch or dinner, that counts toward your fluid intake too. If you’re experiencing vomiting or diarrhea, switch to an oral electrolyte solution and take small sips every few minutes rather than gulping large amounts.
The simplest sign you’re drinking enough is your urine color. Pale yellow means you’re well-hydrated. Dark yellow or amber means you need more fluids. During a cold or flu, keeping a water bottle or thermos of tea within arm’s reach makes it easier to sip consistently, especially when you feel too tired to get up.