Metabolic and clinical consequences with premixed rice based ORS acute diarrhea

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a rice-based ORS in children with acute diarrhea in comparison with a glucosed-based ORS [rehydralyte] solution. A randomized, parallel, non blinded efficacy study was conducted in 100 male children presented with the following inclusion criteria Age 3-24 months, diarrhea <6 days, has clinical signs of mild, moderate or severe dehydration and parents had given verbal informed consent. The patients fulfilling inclusion criteria were stratified by method of feeding at the study entrance [58 breast feeders versus 42 formula feeders], then randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. In the breast fed group 28 children received rice ORS and 30 children received glucose ORS. In the formula fed group 20 children received rice ORS and 22 received glucose ORS. So, it was concluded that rice ORS is not superior to glucose ORS in treating acute non-cholera diarrhea and there is no reason to advise a change from glucose to pre-cooked rice in the recommended ORS formulation as such change would be very costly to implement and without additional advantage