Someone published a recipe here for rehydration fluids to have in case of diarrhea, and others recommended Pedialyte. How about just storing plenty of caffeine-free Coke? Wouldn't that work pretty well, and be drinkable even if no one got diarrhea?

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), April 30, 1999

Answers

Coke for rehydration? You want to make people better not worse, one man's opinion....

Try this instead. P.S. it's cheaper, plus it works better.

http://home.earthlink.net/~kenseger/surv/ORIENT which is a page from

http://home.earthlink.net/~kenseger

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 30, 1999.

To add to Pearlie's queston, any thoughts on Gatorade type drinks for rehydration, and ginger ale for the G.I. trots?

-- churchorganist (swedemusic@webtv.net), April 30, 1999.

Ken, Thanks for the info. I'll be printing out that recipe and adding it to my "medical library."

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), April 30, 1999.

I know a couple Docs who like Pepsi and coke for rehydration as long as it's NOT cafeinated. I like All Sport, but then it's a chance to get the illegal sugar (LOL). The recipe that is taught in 3rd world countries is as follows::

one litre of water a five finger pinch of sugar (usu brown or unprocessed) a 3 finger pinch of salt.

translates to about 3 or 5 TBsp Sugar and 1-2 tsp salt per litre.

Chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 30, 1999.

I just finished reading a book on baking soda, which apparently is good for approximately 1.7 billion things you never thought of. One of those uses is related to this, as follows:

Create an inexpensive drink which replaces salts lost from such problems as diarrhea or vomiting -- often known as the "GI drink" -- as follows: for each quart of boiled water, add 1 level teaspoon table salt, 1 rounded teaspoon baking soda, and 4 rounded teaspoons sugar. Stir until clear and add 1 package of sugarless kool-aid or similar flavoring drink product. Make it fresh daily and keep it in the refrigerator.

I suppose one could just make small amounts at a time.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 30, 1999.

I've never tasted Gatorade -- I've heard that it doesn't taste very good. PJ's recipe must be cheaper.... Sweetened iced tea with a dash of sea salt ought to do the job just as well. All that's needed is to restore fluid (lost in sweat and urine) and electrolytes (sodium & potassium) lost in urine.

In basic training at Ft. Benning in the summer of 1943 we were issued salt tablets. Came in right handy. Lotta hot days. Lotta "brisk" exercise in large doses.

Ground rules at the time --

If it moves, salute it. If it doesn't move, pick it up. If you can't pick it up, paint it.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), April 30, 1999.

Regular salt will do nothing to replace potassium. Lack of potassium is what causes people to die if they follow that "hollywood" diet.

For those that don't like to click, One teaspoon of "Lite Salt"(by Morton, 1/2 iodized potassium chloride, 1/2 sodium chloride in a blue cylinder), 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), 10 teaspoons of table sugar (sucrose), and one quart of water.

For the full story. http://home.earthlink.net/~kenseger/surv/ORIENT

Orient = Dr. Jane Orient of DDP fame.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 30, 1999.

As I understand emergency re-hydration formulas, the critical elements are salt and potassium both together. These elements, known as "electrolytes," must be in balance in the body. The name "electrolytes" has to do with the property of being very reactive with other elements thus facilitating various metabolic processes.

In normal metabolism, it's the job of the cell membranes to keep the sodium on the outside of the cell and the potassium on the inside. When a person gets diarrhea, the body finds it harder and harder to do this, from loss of these elements, which exit the body with the liquids.

One function of sodium and potassium is to keep the blood pH within a very narrow range around 7.43. People whose blood pH rises as high as 7.50 or 7.40 get very sick or die. When your extracellular pH decreases, potassium exits from cells to bring your plasma level back up to normal. The reverse is true when the extracellular pH increases. In the presence of potassium deficiency and/or sodium excess there is a limit to how much defense can take place. In the case of severe dehydration from thirst or diarrhea, we need to give both sodium and potassium in balance, in fluids, to help the body do what it's become unable to do. The situation is even more acute when the diarrhea is from fighting a virus or bacteria, which itself renders the blood acidic.

The above is way oversimplified, but gives some idea why the re-hydration solutions are designed as they are. As for the sugar in the re-hydration formula, it is probably there because it supplies immediate glucose for the brain. The brain (which directs your body's metabolism) requires glucose to function, and the sugar (sucrose) would be converted readily to glucose. (A healthy brain obtains glucose in many other ways, and ingesting plain sugar has long-term bad effects on health, but that's a different issue. This is an emergency "shot" for the brain.)

So, reasoning as above, I conclude that Diet Coke would be inadequate, since all it supplies is the water. It lacks the sugar, and has inadequate sodium or potassium. It is also highly acidic, which is just what a body in crisis doesn't need. (But because of the water, it would probably be better than nothing... even then I'm not sure!) Diet Coke also contains high amounts of phosphorous, which in excess causes excretion of calcium. (They key to healthy mineral metabolism is keeping them in balance.) It also contains aspartame, no boon to health.

Gatorade and Morton Lite Salt are recommended, since for a person who's electrolyte-deprived, they have both sodium and potassium in relatively good balance. Potassium by itself is harder to come buy, but a source for it (KCl or pure potassium chloride) is Wholesale Nutrition.

http://www.nutri.com/wn/wn-p l.html

(This doesn't constitute an endorsement of the political opinions at this site!)

Then you need to figure out the right proportions of potassium to sodium. This is already done if you follow recipes for re-hydration fluid. (Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, medical tech, or biochemist, just someone who reads a lot.)

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), April 30, 1999.

Not to be nitpicky, but think I might have just caused more confusion from my post, whose only purpose was to discuss the why of the various components of the re-hydration formula, which Ken posted.

...which bears repeating:

One teaspoon of "Lite Salt"(by Morton, 1/2 iodized potassium chloride, 1/2 sodium chloride in a blue cylinder), 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), 10 teaspoons of table sugar (sucrose), and one quart of water.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), April 30, 1999.

Watch out for Gatorade - it is too concentrated to help in rehydration. Maybe a doctor could common whether there is a level it could be safely diluted to.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), April 30, 1999.

Thank you Debbie, thank you very much. In case somebody didn't get Debbie said, perhaps I should restate. If you make the formula with regular salt, there is no potassium, if the person needs potassium, and doesn't get any THEY DIE. If your burn, cholera, diarrhea patient gets the true Dr. Orient formula, THEY LIVE.

This SHOULD help you on your next shopping list.

P.S. One of the reasons that burn victims die is because the skin holds in the heat. When the skin is removed the victim needs all of the calories they can get to stay alive, like say 5,000 a day or so. Ie, lots of easy to metabolize sugar. The skin also holds in water and it's accompaning electrolytes, if this is lost and not replaced, the person dies.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 30, 1999.

Dear Brooks, Dr. Orient, past president of both The American Civil Defense Assoc., and Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, practicing physician, editor/writer of two preparedness newsletters, and creator of the video First Aid for Survivalists HAS commented. Use the proper formula, why settle for second best or inadequate if the best is cheaper, more compact, more portable, etc.

Another level of DGI.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 30, 1999.

It is my understanding that the "correct" formula is 2 parts Gatorade plus 1 part water. A previous poster is correct, Gatorade by itself is too concentrated, and it needs a modest dilution.

-- David Holladay (davidh@brailleplanet.org), April 30, 1999.