Rice-based rehydration therapy

Rice-based, oral-rehydration therapy (ORT) solutions for infants with severe diarrhea are, in some respects, more effective than conventional rehydration with glucose oral-rehydration salts (ORS), according to a recent study reported in Archives of Diseases in Childhood. In a study of 52 infants, younger than 6 months, with moderate to severe diarrhea, rice-based ORT was more effective in reducing diarrheal stool volume in the first 24 and 48 hours of therapy than treatment with glucose ORS. Infants consumed less of the rice-based solution and showed no digestive problems. Duration of diarrhea was the same for both treatment groups.