Consumer Forum

Oral Rehydration for Children

This letter pertains to an article entitled "Preventing Dehydration in Children" that was printed in the July-August 1996 FDA Consumer. The article provided an informative discussion of the benefits of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the management of diarrhea in children. However, the following statement included in the article on page 22 inaccurately conveyed that oral rehydration fluids are provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC):

"To help with that expense, the federally funded and state-administered WIC Program pays for ORT along with certain foods for pregnant women, new mothers, and children under 5."

WIC-eligible formulas issued to program participants include products classified by FDA as infant formulas and exempt infant foods. The Food and Consumer Service (FCS), Department of Agriculture (USDA), also recognizes as WIC-eligible formulas enteral medical foods that are formulated to provide nutrition support for individuals with a diagnosed medical condition, when the use of conventional foods is not possible, inappropriate or inadequate.

A WIC-eligible formula may be either nutritionally complete or incomplete, but it must serve the purpose of a food, provide a source of calories and one or more nutrients, and be intended for enteral digestion via an oral and/or tube feeding. All WIC-eligible exempt infant formulas and medical foods must be prescribed by a medical authority for a documented and warranted nutritional need.

As stated in the subject article, ORT fluids (e.g., Pedialyte, Infalyte, Naturalyte, and Rehydralyte) are intended for very short-term use primarily with infants or children to replace water and electrolytes lost during severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. An ORT fluid does not serve the same purpose as a food; therefore, it is not a WIC-eligible formula. In addition, an ORT fluid does not meet the definition of any of the other WIC foods.

FCS administers the WIC Program at the federal level. Any questions about the WIC eligibility of ORT fluids can be directed to my division under FCS at the address cited below:

Stanley C. Garnett, director
Supplemental Food Programs Division
Food and Consumer Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 540
Alexandria, VA 22302-1500

FDA Consumer magazine (January-February 1997)