The habit of snacking at random can have a bad impact on your health. The condition of the body that was previously healthy and fit can be immediately disturbed by consuming food or drink from the results of a processing process whose cleanliness is not guaranteed. Plus with changing weather conditions join affect the condition of the body, causing diarrhea.
Snacks on the roadside do have their own charm when compared to food sold in restaurants. But unfortunately, apart from the delicious taste and affordable price, this type of snack sometimes overrides the health safety factor and the hygiene factor. Snacks that are cooked undercooked, for example, are at risk of being contaminated with a number of bacteria that trigger diarrhea.
What Happens When You Have Diarrhea?
Diarrhea is a health disorder characterized by an increase in the frequency of bowel movements (BAB) up to three times or more than your normal habit in a day. At each defecation, the stool that is excreted is liquid in texture.
WHO, as a world health institution, states that diarrhea is the second highest annual cause of death, with 760 thousand children under five years old. However, diarrhea is a common disease that can still be prevented and treated before the condition gets worse.
In addition to food or drink contaminated with bacteria, the most common cause of diarrhea is infection with the flu virus, norovirus, and rotavirus. Children aged 3-8 years can also develop diarrhea due to bacterial infections, viral infections, and/or side effects of antibiotics. Diarrhea in children caused by parasites that can be transmitted from their playmates. Symptoms of diarrhea in children can be easily detected through changes in the texture of the bowel movements that look more fluid and the frequency of bowel movements increases.
Almost the same symptoms experienced by adults, but accompanied by the appearance of other conditions, such as cramps or pain in the stomach, frequent trips to the bathroom to defecate, nausea, and vomiting.
Diarrhea that lasts for two days or longer must be checked by a doctor because there is a risk of causing loss of water and ion content in the body. Most of the causes of death in patients with diarrhea are severe dehydration. Therefore, several actions need to be taken to prevent dehydration due to diarrhea, one of which is by maintaining adequate fluids and the body's ion balance.
Restore Body Fluids with Rehydration Efforts
The Indonesian Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has established a five-step program to solve diarrhea (LINTAS Diarrhea), which consists of:
- ORS administration
- Administration of zinc
- Breastfeeding or food
- Administer antibiotics only when needed
- Educate the mother or caregiver on how to give fluids and medications and when the patient should be taken to the nearest hospital.
One of the keys to therapy in cases of diarrhea is to prevent dehydration and restore lost fluids through rehydration efforts. Rehydration or fluid therapy is an effort to restore body fluids that are wasted with feces by consuming adequate fluids, one of which is taking ORS. If not available, broth, vegetable gravy can also be used as an alternative choice as a substitute liquid.
Help Prevent Dehydration with Electrolyte Drinks
Although plain water is still recommended to drink to prevent dehydration, experts say that consuming water alone is not enough to restore lost ions. Plain water does not contain the ions needed to maintain the ionic balance in the body. For that, the researchers recommend consuming drinks that contain the essence of the rehydration process itself. You can choose a drink that contains the ions that the body needs so that the lost ions can be returned immediately.
For those of you who have diarrhea or have felt the symptoms, make sure to always meet your daily fluid and ion needs. Not only consuming fluids, but it is recommended to maintain personal hygiene as well to avoid bacterial infections.
