Original ArticleEfficacy of a New Hypotonic Oral Rehydration Solution Containing Zinc and Prebiotics in the Treatment of Childhood Acute Diarrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Section snippets
Methods
We performed a prospective, randomized, single-blind controlled trial in collaboration with family pediatricians, who care for children up to 14 years of age in the Italian Public Health System. The study protocol was illustrated and discussed during 3 meetings. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of the University Federico II of Naples.
From November 2007 to March 2008, all children aged 3 to 36 months consecutively observed in pediatrician offices with diarrhea
Results
Figure 1 (available at www.jpeds.com) shows the flow of children through the study; 65 children in each group were allocated to intervention. The baseline, demographic, and clinical characteristics were similar in the 2 groups (Table II). Resolution of diarrhea at 72 hours was observed in 30 of 60 children in group 1 (50.0%) and in 43 of 59 children in group 2 (72.9%, P = .010; Figure 2). The number of daily outputs was significantly reduced in group 2 compared with group 1 at 24 hours (4.5;
Discussion
In this trial, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of a new commercially available hypotonic ORS containing zinc and prebiotics in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children. The positive clinical effect exerted by this new ORS on diarrhea could be related to a synergistic effect between prebiotics and zinc. Prebiotics have been proposed for the prevention and treatment of acute diarrhea, but efficacy data of FOS and xilooligosaccharides in the treatment of acute diarrhea are still scant
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2020, LWTCitation Excerpt :GOS were used at a final concentration of 2% (v/v) in the in vitro assays (Shoaf et al., 2006) and 0.5% (v/v) in the brine shrimp lethality test. One mmol/L ZnSO4.7H2O (J.T. Baker, Mexico) was used in all the experiments (Passariello et al., 2011). The stock solutions of GOS (20% (v/v)) and zinc (50 mmol/L) were prepared in milliQ water, sterilized by filtration through a membrane of 0.22 μm and diluted in the eukaryotic culture medium or the Artemia salina medium (see sections 2.3, 2.4 and 2.7).
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.