What is Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) & Why Does It Work So Well Against Dehydration?

Hundreds of millions of people live with the effects of dehydration every day. But in America, we don’t have a commonly used, effective and affordable remedy. The good news is that’s about to change.

There’s a dehydration solution ready for wide public consumption. It’s called Oral Rehydration Therapy or ORT.

ORT was first introduced worldwide in the 1970s to treat millions of children suffering from severe dehydration in crisis-stricken and impoverished areas. At the time, the world's leading general medical journal The Lancet called ORT “potentially the most important medical advance since penicillin.”

The science of this success is simple: ORT combines three ingredients -- salts, sugars and water -- to quickly reverse the signs of dehydration. Through the process of osmosis, the salts and sugars pull water into your bloodstream and speed up rehydration.

ORT also replenishes your blood with essential electrolytes (minerals) that are lost due to intense exercise, exposure to extreme weather conditions, or diarrhea and other illnesses. Water doesn’t contain electrolytes and so, ironically, water alone cannot cure dehydration like ORT.

Clearly, the benefits of ORT drinks to average Americans are enormous.

Athletes; people with illnesses, especially babies and toddlers; seniors; military personnel stationed in extreme climates; air travelers who lose electrolytes every time they fly: They all stand to dramatically improve their health and well-being with ORT.

So why aren’t ORT products flying off the shelves in the U.S.?

For one, patient compliance—consuming ORT drinks regularly as prescribed—hasn’t been great because the high sodium content doesn’t taste good. People simply didn’t want to drink it.

And what about sports drinks—Gatorade, Powerade, Vitamin Water—aren’t they designed to replenish electrolytes and combat dehydration?

The short answer is that sports drinks have lower sodium and more sugar, which reduces their ability to deliver key electrolytes and increases calories. In the end, they just don’t measure up to ORT.

So what do we consumers do? What can we drink to keep dehydration at bay?

The answer is DripDrop ORS. DripDrop ORS is an ORT drink that rehydrates swiftly while tasting good enough to drink every day.

Launched in 2007, DripDrop ORS was developed by Mayo-trained physician and Stanford University lecturer Eduardo Dolhun, who took pains to create a formula with a balance between salts, sugars and good taste. Dispensing DripDrop ORS in disaster areas in Asia and Africa, Dolhun has helped save thousands of lives.

Today, with DripDrop ORS now available in the America consumer market, the fight against dehydration is about to change in a big, big way.

Images via A Night Owl Blog.