![]() When the body has too much sodium, it gets flushed out with water to bring levels back to normal, and that makes dehydration worse. So, why not give a dehydrated patient salt water? If you grimaced, you intuitively know and can probably recall a time that you were thirsty after eating a salty meal. Because water conservation is top priority, the kidneys slow down the blood filtering process that would have regulated sodium levels in the blood. The kidneys, which normally help regulate the body’s sodium levels, can’t sound the alarm during a state of dehydration. Sodium, in the right amount, is essential because it maintains the acid-base concentration in the blood is part of the chemical process that allows cells to absorb nutrients and participates in neuromuscular function.ĭuring an infection that causes diarrhea, sodium, like water, passes through the intestine and out of the body, unabsorbed. ![]() Let’s talk first about sodium, the salt ingredient in ORS. How do these three ingredients work together? Its simplicity belies the complex biochemical research breakthroughs that made its application possible. But it can and it does save lives, day after day, working its magic sip by sip in unassuming oral rehydration therapy corners in clinics all over the world. It seems too easy, too simple to address diarrhea, a leading cause of death and suffering in children around the world. These are the ingredients of oral rehydration solution, or ORS. A mother spoon-feeds her child oral rehydration solution in the oral rehydration therapy corner of Malava County Hospital in Kakamega, Kenya.
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