Study Shows CeraLyte® Can Reduce IV Therapy and Save Burn Patients' Lives

HILTON HEAD, S.C., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A study in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (JHPN), Dec. 2011, demonstrated the potential to substantially decrease IV fluid requirement of burn patients, decreasing the risk of such complications as line infection, by using CeraLyte oral rehydration.  Supplementing with CeraLyte is cost-effective since IV hydration costs thousands of dollars compared to CeraLyte at $3 per liter.   

According to the study, "Burn injuries often occur as mass casualty events.  The initial loss of life is due to rapid loss of fluids and electrolytes into the area affected by the burn."  Prompt replacement with IV fluid is standard of care for burns of more than 10 to 15 percent of total body surface area.  Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is less likely than IV fluids to produce fluid overload, which occasionally causes compartment syndrome within the muscle sheaths or abdomen, as well as pulmonary congestion or edema.

ORT was formulated in the 1960s to treat cholera.  "CeraLyte rice-based ORT provides dual action, sustained hydration while reducing fluid loss, thus preventing and correcting dehydration," says Charlene Riikonen, CEO of Cera Products.  "CeraLyte is a unique, patented, mixed-chain carbohydrate formula that improves absorption of valuable electrolytes and fluids that match the body's natural composition."  

The JHPN report, "From Cholera to Burns:  A Role for Oral Rehydration Therapy," involved patients with burns over 20 to 40 percent of their bodies.  By supplementing with CeraLyte^®90, physicians reduced IV fluid therapy by an average 58 percent in the first 24 hours of treatment and over 77.5 percent in one case.  See www.banglajol.info/index.php/JHPN/article/view/9902

"We have demonstrated a significant reduction in the 24-hour IV fluid requirement of patients with moderate burn injuries...using Ceralyte^®90.  This simple treatment holds promise in the future of fluid resuscitation of the thermally injured," stated study authors S.M. Milner, W. B. Greenough III, M.E. Asuku, M. Feldman, R. Makam, D. Noppenberger, L.A. Price, M. Prosciak, and I.N. van Loon, all from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Cera Products pioneering, rice-based oral electrolyte blends correct dehydration, restore fluid volume and cell balance for various medical conditions, and were formulated along with doctors at a major U.S. medical center.  For more information, see www.ceralyte.com or call 843-842-2600.

SOURCE Cera Products