Sandhya Raghavan
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July 29 is celebrated as ORS Day to focus attention on the importance of oral rehydration solution (ORS), a live-saver for infants and young children in a developing country like ours. Diarrhoea and vomiting can cause the depletion of water and salts in the human body, which can be fatal. That's why ORS or electrolyte powder is given to prevent this loss due to dehydration. The latest formula or ORS released by the WHO is a combination of a sodium chloride or salt, potassium chloride, trisodium citrate and anhydrous glucose which simulates water and electrolyte absorption in the gut.
Dehydration and diabetes
Although it was introduced to combat infant mortality due to diarrhoea, ORS is also administered to adults who lose fluids as a result of illness or excessive sweating. Among the diabetics, dehydration is a serious issue. Insulin production in diabetics is less, which makes it difficult for the body to remove carbohydrates from the body. This causes the body to increase urine production to flush out the carbs, causing dehydration. Drinking a lot of water could fix the issue, but that wouldn't do on its own. The body also has to be replenished with the essential electrolytes which are flushed away.
(Read: How to prevent dehydration)
Since the large part of the ORS solution is glucose, some diabetic patients express concern over drinking it, lest it spikes up their sugar level. So, to put an end to this riddle, researchers from International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh conducted a study to ascertain whether it is safe for diabetic patients to have the ORS solution, in case they suffer from dehydration.
(Read: Tips to maintain acid-alkali balance for diabetics)
What the study says
The researchers themselves were sure, even before they conducted the study, that 2-4 litres of ORS a day which contains 20-40gms of glucose per litre wouldn't cause any problems. However, they carried out the study to allay any fears diabetics would have. The subjects of the study were 15-60-year-olds who were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. These patients had had diarrhoea for the past 72 hours.
The results of the study were encouraging; as predicted by the team, it was found that the ORS given to the patients (WHO oral rehydration solution, rice oral rehydration solution and glycine oral rehydration solutions) could be safely had by those who have diabetes! It didn't cause any spike in their blood glucose levels.
In case you are still not convinced, there are other ways of replenishing the salts and water in the body apart from ORS.
Reference:
Haider, R., Khan, A. A., Roy, S. K., Dewan, N., Alam, A. N., & Mahalanabis, D. (1994). Management of acute diarrhoea in diabetic patients using oral rehydration solutions containing glucose, rice, or glycine. BMJ, 308(6929), 624-626.
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