Comparison of glucose/electrolyte and maltodextrin/glycine/glycyl-glycine/electrolyte oral rehydration solutions in acute diarrhea in children

Abstract

Male children (N = 101) 6-35 months of age presenting with acute watery diarrhea for less than 48 h at home before hospitalization were admitted into a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Fifty-one children were treated with standard oral rehydration solution (ORS) (World Health Organization [WHO] formulation containing citrate) and 50 were treated with an improved ORS formulation (containing, in addition to the standard formula, 20 g maltodextrin instead of glucose, and 4 g glycine and 4 g glycyl-glycine). None were given antibiotics. No i.v. infusions were given. Rotavirus was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in stools of 43 children. Clinical characteristics of children in the two treatment groups were comparable. Improved ORS did not produce significant reduction in the volume of diarrhea stools. Children given improved ORS had greater weight gain than that observed in children treated with standard ORS, but the differences were not statistically significant except at the end of the first 24 h. Among children with rotavirus diarrhea, no significant differences were observed between the 23 children who received improved ORS and the 20 who received standard ORS.