Rehydrating with Soda On a Hot Day May Worsen Dehydration

08 Jun 2016 --- Repeated heat-related dehydration has been associated with increased risk of chronic kidney damage in mice. A new study in rats reports that drinking soft drinks to rehydrate worsened dehydration and kidney injury.
The research was conducted at the INC Ignacio Chávez, Mexico.

A major epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is occurring in Central America among workers in the sugarcane fields. To date there have been reported to be over 20,000 deaths. While the etiology is unknown, most studies suggest that recurrent dehydration is a major risk factor.

For this study, rats were exposed to mild heat-induced dehydration followed by access to water, water containing the fructose and glucose content of a typical soft drink, or water with stevia, for four weeks. Fructose and glucose, which are sugars that naturally occur in food, are added to soft drinks for sweetness. Stevia is a sugar substitute derived from a plant and has no calories.

Rats that drank the fructose-glucose water after repeated heat-induced dehydration were more dehydrated and had worse kidney injury than rats that drank plain water or water with stevia.

"Our studies raise serious concerns for the common practice, especially among adolescents and young adults, to drink soft drinks as a means to quench thirst following an episode of dehydration," the authors wrote.

“These studies emphasize the danger of drinking soft drink-like beverages as an attempt to rehydrate following dehydration.”

The authors recommend that further studies investigating the mechanisms involved in this injurious process are warranted in the future.

Members of the research team are inventors on patent applications for drugs to prevent kidney injury by blocking fructose metabolism, and have funding from Amway and Danone.

The article "Rehydration with soft drink-like beverages exacerbates dehydration and worsens dehydration-associated renal injury" is published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Journal Reference:
Fernando E. Garcia-Arroyo, Magdalena Cristóbal, Abraham Said Arellano-Buendía, Horacio Osorio, Edilia Tapia, Virgilia Soto, Magdalena Madero, Miguel A. Lanaspa, Carlos A. Roncal-Jimenez, Lise Bankir, Richard J. Johnson, Laura-Gabriela Sanchez-Lozada. Rehydration with Soft Drink-like Beverages Exacerbates Dehydration and Worsens Dehydration-associated Renal Injury. American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2016; ajpregu.00354.2015 DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00354.2015