Battle continues for doctor who taught India to spot real oral rehydration solutions formula

Learn about the crucial battle to distinguish real Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) from misleading sugary drinks in India. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BENGALURU – About nine years ago, Sivaranjani Santosh, a paediatrician from Hyderabad, made a decision: She would not let any child or parent in India be misled into buying the wrong products to treat diarrhoea and dehydration. Little did she know that her clinical conviction would turn into a crusade against what she calls “sugary packaged juices masquerading as life-saving oral rehydration salts (ORS) ”. The self-confessed internet unsavvy doctor’s relentless campaign on social media against fake ORS raised a red flag for consumers and pushed the Indian food regulator to ban non-standard drinks from using the ORS label. However, the battle is far from over. Misleading advertisements and crafty labelling continue to confuse consumers. It all began in 2018, when Sivaranjani treated some children with diarrhoea and prescribed ORS for rehydration. But instead of improving, many of them got worse. How did her patients get so dehydrated despite drinking ORS, a solution specifically ...