Be wary of fake ORS with higher sugar content, warn health experts

Parents are being misled into giving commercially available ORS to their children thinking that it is ORS. However, such ready to drink ORS have excessive sugar, more than the WHO recommendations. Such drinks only end-up worsening diarrhea and causing dehydration, says pediatrician Dr Sivaranjini Santosh

Hyderabad: Consumers of readily available Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) drinks should be wary of the pitfalls of excessive sugar content in them, as public health experts advise careful review of the nutrition label to track sugar content in them.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends 1.35 grams of sugar (glucose) per 100 milliliters, which is also its standard formula for manufacturing ORS.

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“Parents are being misled into giving commercially available ORS to their children thinking that it is ORS. Diabetic patients consume such drinks thinking it is ORS. However, such ready to drink ORS have excessive sugar, more than the WHO recommendations. Such drinks only end-up worsening diarrhea and causing dehydration,” says senior pediatrician from Hyderabad, Dr Sivaranjini Santosh.

The developmental pediatrician, who has been active in making public aware about excessive sugar content in commercially available ORS products, advises “Parents must purchase ORS packets which have clearly written ‘WHO recommended formula’ message. Usually, such ORS packets will also be cheaper than other ORS juices”.

The senior pediatrician pointed out that there is a glut of products in the market that are marketed as ORS. “Nobody realises that in some of ORS products, sugar content is 10 times more than the recommended WHO level. When we started objecting to such practice, the companies started adding the message ‘do not use during diarrhea’ in microscopic print. However, this is still a misleading label,” Dr Sivaranjini pointed out.

With the annual ORS market turnover in India for 2024 reaching close to Rs 700 crore, almost all the major food-based multinational companies have flooded the market with ORS-based drinks.

“It is clear that commercially available high sugar drinks that are marketed as ORS are the barriers for effective control of diarrheal complications. Today, if anybody visits a pharmacy and asks for ORS against fatigue, they are first handed such drinks, which is dangerous,” Dr Sivaranjini lamented.