Treatment of acute diarrhea with oral rehydration solutions containing glutamine.

Objective: In a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial we compared the efficacy of adding 90 mmol/L L-glutamine to the standard World Health Organization oral rehydration salts (WHO-ORS).

Subjects: One hundred twenty male infants, > 1 month and < 1 year of age, with acute non-cholera diarrhea and dehydration were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups.

Methods: Patients were kept in a metabolic unit where body weight, ORS, water and food intake, as well as stool, urine and vomitus output were recorded at 6-hour intervals. Laboratory evaluation, including blood gases and electrolytes, were monitored during hospitalization.

Results: Diarrheal stool output, duration of diarrhea and volume of ORS required to achieve and maintain hydration was not significantly different between the treatment groups.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a glutamine-based ORS did not provide any additional therapeutic advantage over the standard WHO-ORS during treatment of dehydration in infants with acute non-cholera diarrhea.