Content
Oral rehydration salts and solutions are products that are indicated to replace the accumulated losses of water and electrolytes, or to maintain hydration, in people with vomiting or with acute diarrhea.
The solutions are ready-to-use products that contain electrolytes and water, while salts are just electrolytes that still need to be diluted in water before being used.
Oral rehydration is a very important step in the treatment of vomiting and diarrhea, as it prevents dehydration, which can have serious consequences for the body. Learn how to identify the signs and symptoms of dehydration.
What products to use
Oral rehydration salts and solutions can be found in pharmacies under the names Rehidrat, Floralyte, Hidrafix or Pedialyte, for example. These products have sodium, potassium, chlorine, citrate, glucose and water in their composition, which are essential to prevent dehydration.
How to use
Oral rehydration solutions should only be used if recommended by a healthcare professional.
Generally, these solutions or diluted salts, should be taken after each diarrheal dejection or vomiting, in the following amount:
- Children up to 1 year of age: 50 to 100 mL;
- Children from 1 to 10 years of age: 100 to 200 mL;
- Children and adults over 10 years: 400 mL or as needed.
In general, oral rehydration solutions and prepared salts should be kept in the refrigerator after being opened or prepared, within a maximum of 24 hours.
Do juices, teas and soups replace oral rehydration?
To maintain hydration, industrialized or homemade liquids such as juices, teas, soups, homemade whey and green coconut water can be used. However, it is important that the person knows that although they are considered safe liquid oral moisturizers and with acceptable concentrations of sugar, they have very low levels of electrolytes in their composition, with amounts of sodium and potassium below 60 mEq and 20mEq respectively, and are not recommended as oral rehydrators in more severe cases, because they may not be enough to prevent dehydration.
Thus, in more severe cases and justified by the doctor, it is recommended that oral rehydration be done with industrialized solutions whose concentrations of its constituents are within the ranges recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, the use of homemade serum should be avoided as a rehydration in more severe cases, as its composition may have very different concentrations of solutes, as the risk of being inadequate because it contains more sugar and / or more salt than recommended .