Second leading cause of death in children worldwide...
...dehydration due to diarrhea.
"Between 1980 and 2000, ORT decreased the number of children under five dying of diarrhea from 4.6 million worldwide to 1.8 million - a 60% reduction. According to The Lancet (1978), ORT is "potentially the most important medical discovery of the 20th century".
ORT = Oral Rehydration Therapy = drinking something like gatorade, basically.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy
Fascinating. I was led on this journey because the can of coconut juice I'm drinking claims to be a natural "isotonic" beverage and I wondered what "isotonic" meant.
I remember from biology, (maybe chemistry), the concept of Ringers' solution, which is water and salt in concentrations comparable to a healthy body. At the time, it was mentioned as being a way to protect open wounds as with burn victims. Ringers' solution is considered a perfect buffer because the salt water has a tendency to equalize Ph values, regardless of whether they are acidic of alkaline. And that fact alone gives it a slight antiseptic quality. Any time a medical tv show talks about hanging a saline drip or Ringers IV they're talking about essentially the same concept used for generic fluid replacement.
"Isotonic" apparently suggests oral intake, and for that to work successfully, they've found it requires both sugar, (usually glucose), as well as salt and potassium. Hence, the sugar in sports drinks is actually a chemical requirement rather than a superfluous luxury.
I wonder if they're bathing burn victims in gatorade these days.
"Between 1980 and 2000, ORT decreased the number of children under five dying of diarrhea from 4.6 million worldwide to 1.8 million - a 60% reduction. According to The Lancet (1978), ORT is "potentially the most important medical discovery of the 20th century".
ORT = Oral Rehydration Therapy = drinking something like gatorade, basically.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy
Fascinating. I was led on this journey because the can of coconut juice I'm drinking claims to be a natural "isotonic" beverage and I wondered what "isotonic" meant.
I remember from biology, (maybe chemistry), the concept of Ringers' solution, which is water and salt in concentrations comparable to a healthy body. At the time, it was mentioned as being a way to protect open wounds as with burn victims. Ringers' solution is considered a perfect buffer because the salt water has a tendency to equalize Ph values, regardless of whether they are acidic of alkaline. And that fact alone gives it a slight antiseptic quality. Any time a medical tv show talks about hanging a saline drip or Ringers IV they're talking about essentially the same concept used for generic fluid replacement.
"Isotonic" apparently suggests oral intake, and for that to work successfully, they've found it requires both sugar, (usually glucose), as well as salt and potassium. Hence, the sugar in sports drinks is actually a chemical requirement rather than a superfluous luxury.
I wonder if they're bathing burn victims in gatorade these days.