|
 The treatment of stomach flu, or gastroenteritis, usually focuses on
replacing fluids lost through diarrhea or vomiting, but the
electrolyte solutions are relatively expensive and kids often don't
like the way they taste.
“In many high-income countries, the use of dilute apple juice and
preferred fluids may be an appropriate alternative to electrolyte
maintenance solution use in children with mild gastroenteritis and
minimal dehydration,” Dr. Steven D. Freedman from University of
Calgary in Alberta, Canada told Reuters Health by email.
Freedman’s team studied 647 children ages six months to five years
old who came to the emergency department with mild dehydration from
stomach flu.
Half the children were given half-strength apple juice followed by
their favorite drink, and half received an apple-flavored
electrolyte solution, the researchers reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Twenty-five percent of the kids who drank the electrolyte solution
still needed intravenous (IV) fluids or other additional treatment,
compared to only about 17 percent of the kids who drank apple juice
and their favorite drink.
Two-year-olds and older children responded best to apple juice, but
even the younger group fared slightly better with apple juice than
with the electrolyte solution.
In addition, children treated with apple juice required fewer IV
fluids and had lower hospitalization rates than children treated
with the electrolyte solution.
"These results challenge the recommendation to routinely administer
electrolyte maintenance solution when diarrhea begins," the
researchers say.
But apple juice is not always the best treatment.
[to top of second column] |
“Our study specifically excluded high-risk children, and such
children should continue to receive electrolyte maintenance
solution,” Freedman said. “This would include children younger than
six months of age, those with moderate to severe dehydration,
children receiving care in a region where severe disease and
dehydration are common, and those at risk for electrolyte
abnormalities.”
He also favors electrolyte solutions for children with other
significant medical conditions.
Dr. Francois Angoulvant from Hopital Necker-Enfants Malades in
Villejuif, France, who has studied this topic, told Reuters Health
by email, “If a child more than two years of age with mild
dehydration refuses to drink electrolyte maintenance solution, the
use of half-strength apple juice/preferred fluids therapy is
legitimate.”
He would not use half-strength apple juice in younger children,
however.
Dr. Ivan D. Florez from Universidad de Antioguia, Medellin, Colombia
told Reuters Health by email that more information is needed before
switching from electrolyte solution to apple juice.
"(People) should think of apple juice as a promising intervention
that needs further studies," he said, adding that "these results are
not applicable in low- and middle-income settings."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1SV1GGi Journal of the American Medical
Association, online April 30, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
