Found this looking for Gatorade alternatives.

" You can make an inexpensive rehydration drink at home. But do not give this homemade drink to children younger than 12. Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful. Mix the following:
1 quart (950 mL) water
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt
¼ teaspoon (1.25 g) salt substitute (potassium-based), such as Lite Salt or Morton Salt Substitute
2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar"
WebMD
I'll give it a try.
It would sure beat $8.99/6 gal Gatorade for stocking away.

Maybe a bit more sugar and some Kool Aid and it could be a nice drink.

tag

For a good rehydration drink, just add water.

A fistfull of sugar and a pinch of salt to a liter of water has been used for years in third world countries.

This is the one I'm familiar with.

Let's don't underestimate the original rehydration beverage:
........WATER.......

Why add baking soda?

No, not really. If you're treating something minor and aren't losing a lot of fluid to diarrhea, water is probably fine. ORS/ORT is designed to improve outcomes for gravely ill patients with severe diarrhea. It is more effective than water in these cases. The reason for its effectiveness lies in the mechanism for uptake of sodium at the intestinal epithelium. During severe diarrhea you lose sodium rapidly. Ion imbalance is what kills the patient, not a lack of water. The transporter that facilitates uptake of sodium from the fluids you drink is a large transmembrane protein that acts as a cotransporter for sodium ions and glucose molecules, at a 2:1 ratio (2 Na+ : 1 Glucose). Sodium transport from the intestinal lumen (cavity) into the cells of the epithelium is inefficient unless glucose is added. So, if you're shedding lots of Na+ through severe diarrhea, adding table salt AND glucose to water before trying to rehydrate is better for you than pure water.





ORS recipes are easy to prepare. You can buy packets. You can make it from table salt, sugar, and fruit. It's worth knowing how just in case. There's a very accessible chapter on this in 'Where There is No Doctor', available to download as a PDF from this webpage.

Most people will need these kind of things pretty rarely. For instance in cases where someone has serious diarrhea. Normal thirst is best handled by drinking water.

FWIW, the ORS packets I've used in medical missions do not included bicarbonate (baking soda). They use sodium citrate, which serves primarily as a buffer (in this case, an antacid) and secondarily as a source of sodium.

The simplest ORS recipes are measured in liters of water, tablespoons of table salt and sugar, and cups of mashed fruit.

Here's a good site with several different recipes, including one with baking soda (recipe 3):

http://rehydrate.org/ors/made-at-home.htm

cool homemade gator sub. Another option for those that don't want to make their own is the individual packeged gatoraid type stuff from Kroger. They come in a pack of 10 individually wrapped plastic sleeves of the stuff and comes in a variety of flavors. Just tear the top off the sleeve and dump it in a liter of water and shake. Works super easy and is very convenient for bobs. We go with the lemon lime which taste alot like the traditional gatoraid. We also like the orange for variety and makes a good breakfast drink. We bought a ton of it when it was on sale this year and highly recommend it.

While I agree with yge diagram above, I still don't understand what I have been told by 2 different ER doctors.

Twice over the last 10 years I have been to the ER for severe dehydration due to an intestinal virus. Both times prior to going I had been trying to stay hydrated with normal Gatorade.  Both doctors told me I was wrong and I should have been using pedialyte instead. That the Gatorade was actually aggravating the diarrhea.

Gatorade has too much sugar in it. (Especially when you're downing a whole bottle, as opposed to the ~8oz serving size.) That much sugar aggravates the diarrhea. Pedialyte or the new G2 would be a better choice.

People seem to forget that while water does indeed hydrate, it doesn't do shit for electrolyte replacement. Most people who suffer heat/hydration related problems are often suffering from electrolyte imbalance. I work outside, and I sweat like the proverbial pig. In the high points of the summer I'll go through three gallons of water per day, and still piss yellow at the end of the day. By 9am, I look like I've been in swimming. But drinking three gallons of water by itself would and has still left me feeling craptastic if I wasn't cycling it with some kind of electrolyte replacement, and/or getting something substantial to eat during the day. There's a balance to both.

Gatorade is actually a hypotonic solution once the sugar has been absorbed and quickly metabolized. That means there's more dissolved stuff in it than in your blood, BUT most of that stuff is sugar. Gatorade causes hyponatremia and hypokalemia (low sodium and low potassium concentrations, respectively) in some patients, and particularly in those with severe diarrhea. A breakdown of the three fluids is given below in the table.    

Here's a snip from a study that looked at ORS, Gatorade, and Pedialyte:



And here's a composite of a table, a chart, and a quoted paragraph from the same paper:





What's worth noting here is that in mildly dehydrated patients Gatorade seems to aggravate hypokalemia and hyponatremia. In a severely dehydrated patient this could be fatal. Gatorade doesn't have sufficient sodium or potassium for a severely dehydrated patient.  

Here's a link to the paper's abstract. If anyone wants the full PDF IM me your email address:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=gatorade%20pedialyte

Good to someone else show up that understands water alone just doesn't cut it.
Sometimes, I'll head out with just water; by 2 o'clock I've hit the wall and am wandering around like I just woke up.
I start with 9 Qts of Gatorade mixed to about 60% strength; at the end of the work day, the jug is empty and I haven't taken a leak yet.  I'll knock out about another 1/2 gallon of liquids in the evening as well.

Am I understanding this correctly that there are  two forms maybe more of dehydration?  And each form requires different ORS treatment?

Think of it more as degrees of badness. ORS is always an ok treatment for dehydration. Gatorade is ok for light or mild dehydration, but not if they don't improve or if they are very sick.

Slightly Bad –– Patient is losing some fluids due to diarrhea, but isn't terribly sick –– Rehydrate with soup, water, gatorade, etc.

Bad –– Patient is losing lots of fluids to diarrhea and has been sick for a several hours –– Rehydrate more cautiously; Gatorade is ok, but if the patient doesn't improve quickly get them to a doc. If you can't get to the doc, switch to Pedialyte and/or ORS only and stop giving Gatorade.

Very Bad –– Patient is losing tons of fluids to diarrhea and is in rapid decline (i.e., Cholera) –– Rehydrate only with ORS or Pedialyte. Avoid Gatorade. Get medical help ASAP, to include IV fluids managed by a doc.


SF docs, got any insight, corrections, advice on this?

Just stock up on Oral IV (Gookinaid) and call it good.

Instead of iodized table salt use pink Himalayan salt. It's packed full of trace minerals that your body needs.