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CompletedNCT03559101Updated Jun 15, 2018

Effects of Amino Acid/Electrolyte-based Beverages on Hydration Status

An interventional study of Distilled water and Medical Food 1 in Dehydration, sponsored by W. Larry Kenney. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 90 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-06-15.

Sponsored by W. Larry Kenney · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 11 months after the study started (first participant enrolled May 2017, registered May 2018).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
32
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 90 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Older adults typically do not drink later in the day to avoid the necessity of interrupting sleep to urinate. Sometimes they also limit ingestion of fluids to avoid the need to urinate when engaged in certain activities such as traveling or attending an event. Therefore, beverages that have greater fluid retention in the body leading to a more sustained positive hydration status could be advantageous in such situations. The composition of a beverage as well as other factors such as volume ingested and metabolism of components can affect the retention of the fluid in the body. Age may be another factor. The beverage hydration index (BHI), first described in 2016, was used to indicate the hydration response to thirteen well-known beverages in young male adults. The current study assesses the BHI of four beverages and how that response is affected by age following the standardized protocol. The four beverages have been chosen for inclusion in this study because they have been used by older adults to prevent dehydration.

Read the detailed description

Subjects sign an informed consent form and undergo a medical screening prior to participation. The screening includes a physical exam, anthropometry, chemical and lipid profiles, as well as measures of liver and renal function. The subjects are assigned to one of two groups based upon age.

Subjects participate in five experimental trials, one for each of the five beverages. The beverages are commercially-available and contain ingredients that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). The order of the beverages is randomized. The list of ingredients on the bottle containing the beverage is obscured. The trials are identical and separated by at least five days. For each experiment, baseline measurements are conducted. Then the subjects consume one liter of the test beverage over thirty minutes. Additional measurements are performed thirty minutes post ingestion and then every hour for four hours post ingestion.

This study yields two BHI numbers for each beverage, one number for each study-group. The BHI numbers are indicative of the amount of fluid remaining in the body four hours after consumption of the beverage. The BHI number is inversely related to the amount of urine produced over the four hours. A greater BHI number indicates better fluid retention and maintenance of plasma volume.

02

Conditions studied

  • Dehydration

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Keywords

  • Hydration
  • Plasma Volume
  • Amino acids
  • Glucose
  • Electrolytes
  • Fluid Retention
  • Aging
  • Beverage Hydration Index
  • Dehydration
  • Oral Rehydration
03

In context

Dehydration

204 studies on the registry are indexed under Dehydration; 29 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 32 is below the median of 43 across 147 interventional studies indexed under Dehydration.

Browse Dehydration studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with W. Larry Kenney as lead sponsor.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 90 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • 18-30 years or ≥60 years

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • cardiovascular, renal, or digestive diseases
  • pregnancy
  • breastfeeding
  • smoking and/or use of nicotine-containing products
  • illegal/recreational drug use
  • medications that alter fluid balance (e.g., diuretics)
  • allergy to Latex
  • men with prostate issues that interfere with urination.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Double (Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
32 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Beverage 1 - Control

    Distilled Water

    Other: Distilled water

  • Experimental
    Beverage 2

    Medical Food 1 (8 amino acids, 60 mmol/L Na, 20 mmol/L K + citrate, Cl)

    Other: Medical Food 1

  • Experimental
    Beverage 3

    Medical Food 2 (8 amino acids, 30 mmol/L Na, 10 mmol/L K + citrate, Cl)

    Other: Medical Food 2

  • Experimental
    Beverage 4

    Pedialyte

    Other: Pedialyte

  • Experimental
    Beverage 5

    Gatorade

    Other: Gatorade

Interventions

  • OtherDistilled water

    Commercially available beverage Subjects collect all morning urine and drink 500 milliliters of water. Baseline vital measurements (heart rate, blood pressure, oral temperature) and body weight collected Baseline blood samples and urine collected Beverage pretreatment consumed (1 liter over 30 minutes) Body weight measured and blood and urine collected at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

  • OtherMedical Food 1

    Commercially available beverage Subjects collect all morning urine and drink 500 milliliters of water. Baseline vital measurements (heart rate, blood pressure, oral temperature) and body weight collected Baseline blood samples and urine collected Beverage pretreatment consumed (1 liter over 30 minutes) Body weight measured and blood and urine collected at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

  • OtherMedical Food 2

    Commercially available beverage Subjects collect all morning urine and drink 500 milliliters of water. Baseline vital measurements (heart rate, blood pressure, oral temperature) and body weight collected Baseline blood samples and urine collected Beverage pretreatment consumed (1 liter over 30 minutes) Body weight measured and blood and urine collected at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

  • OtherPedialyte

    Commercially available beverage Subjects collect all morning urine and drink 500 milliliters of water. Baseline vital measurements (heart rate, blood pressure, oral temperature) and body weight collected Baseline blood samples and urine collected Beverage pretreatment consumed (1 liter over 30 minutes) Body weight measured and blood and urine collected at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

  • OtherGatorade

    Commercially available beverage Subjects collect all morning urine and drink 500 milliliters of water. Baseline vital measurements (heart rate, blood pressure, oral temperature) and body weight collected Baseline blood samples and urine collected Beverage pretreatment consumed (1 liter over 30 minutes) Body weight measured and blood and urine collected at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Beverage hydration index (BHI)

    Indicative of amount of fluid remaining in body four hours post consumption of beverage. Inversely related to amount of urine produced over 4 hours. Larger BHI number indicates better fluid retention and maintenance of plasma volume.

    Time frame: One BHI for each beverage for each age group is calculated and reported through study completion, an average of 1 year.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Body Mass

    Body weight measured on scale

    Time frame: Baseline before consumption of beverage and then 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

  2. Urine Mass

    Weight of urine produced

    Time frame: Baseline before consumption of beverage and then 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes for 4 hours post beverage consumption

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Pennsylvania State University
    University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Clarke MM, Stanhewicz AE, Wolf ST, Cheuvront SN, Kenefick RW, Kenney WL. A randomized trial to assess beverage hydration index in healthy older adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Jun 1;109(6):1640-1647. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz009. PubMed 31051498 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 15, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03559101
Lead sponsor
W. Larry Kenney
Responsible party
W. Larry Kenney (Professor of Physiology and Kinesiology, Penn State University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jun 15, 2018
Start date
May 25, 2017
Primary completion
Dec 18, 2017
Completion
Dec 18, 2017
Last update
Jun 15, 2018

Study contacts

William L Kenney, PhD
principal investigator · Penn State University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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