Diabetes. Sweat A Lot. Drinking Gatorade. Is There A Good Electrolyte Replacement Mix That Is Good For Diabetics?

Posted on Sun, 29 Sep 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 Answered on

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I am a 300 Lb man with diabetes who is doing hard labor in AZ heat. I sweat a lot and I know I am losing a lot of salts working. I have been drinking Gatorade, but A it is expensive and B it has a whole lot of sugar. Is there a good electrolyte replacement mix that is good for diabetics and not ridiculously expensive

Answered by Dr. Vaishalee Punj (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Hi

Detailed Answer:
Hi

Thanks for posting your query on XXXXXXX

Ceralyte is type of Oral Rehydration solution (ORS) that has been devised for diabetics. Ceralyte is available as 50, 70 and 90 according to sodium concentration. In mild cases of diarrhea or sweating, ceralyte 50 should be enough. I think Ceralyte should be more cost-effective than pedialyte etc.

I will suggest that you make your own ORS at home that does not have sugar in it. The following is the recipe:

Take 1 liter of pure drinking water (from reverse osmosis technique like aquafina or kinley) or sugar free lemonade. Just make sure that it is not mineral water, as we need it to be free of salts to start with. Also you can add some lemon juice to give it some flavour. Add 1/2 Teaspoon of common salt. This will work equally well.

Let me know if I can assist you further.

Dr Vaishalee

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar