Published Apr 09, 2026 | 6:57 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 09, 2026 | 8:16 PM
ORS works through sodium-glucose co-transport, a mechanism that drives water and electrolyte absorption in the gut.
Synopsis: The Indian Academy of Pediatrics has backed the FSSAI’s October 2025 order restricting the term ORS to products that meet the WHO formula, stating that electrolyte drinks and ORS are not interchangeable. It warned that similar branding can cause confusion in pharmacies and delay proper treatment of diarrhoeal dehydration, especially in young children.
The Indian Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s October 2025 orders that restricted the term “ORS” to products meeting the WHO formula.
The statement comes from a 28-member expert committee chaired by IAP President Dr Neelam Mohan.
The IAP has said that the two products “are not interchangeable.”
ORS works through sodium-glucose co-transport, a mechanism that drives water and electrolyte absorption in the gut. CDSCO, India’s drug regulator, licenses it as a therapeutic product for diarrhoeal dehydration.
Electrolyte drinks are food products, regulated by FSSAI. The IAP says they carry a supportive role in non-diarrhoeal conditions—fever, heat exposure, reduced intake—but hold no established role in treating diarrhoea.
In children under two, the statement goes further: electrolyte drinks “are not recommended for routine use and have no established role in hydration.”
The academy names what it calls a LASA—look-alike, sound-alike—risk.
ORS and electrolyte drinks are often stocked together in pharmacies, and similar branding or naming patterns “can occasionally lead to confusion at the point of dispensing.”
The IAP describes the FSSAI’s October 2025 action as “a significant step toward reducing such confusion.”
The risk the academy warns against is direct: “Inappropriate substitution of electrolyte beverages in place of ORS in diarrhoeal illness may delay optimal management.”
What the FSSAI orders triggered
The FSSAI orders, issued on 14 and 15 October 2025, directed that no product could carry the term “ORS” unless it met the WHO formula.
JNTL Consumer Health (India) Pvt Ltd, the Kenvue group company behind ORSL, challenged the orders before the Delhi High Court. The court declined to grant a stay. The company withdrew the petition and retired the ORSL brand name, introducing ERZL as a replacement in approximately November 2025.
The position statement arrives months after a public dispute that brought this issue to national attention.
Hyderabad paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, who commands over 800,000 Instagram followers, spent approximately eight years raising concerns that ORSL’s name resembled the medical abbreviation ORS and that it sat alongside genuine oral rehydration solutions in pharmacies.
In March 2026, JNTL Consumer Health sent her a legal notice demanding she remove all posts on ORSL and ERZL within seven days. The notice described her posts as a “malicious and unscientific campaign.”
Dr Santosh declined to comply, stating the FSSAI orders vindicated her position and that the notice amounted to a corporate attempt to silence a healthcare professional.
The IAP’s statement does not reference Dr Santosh or the legal dispute directly. But its endorsement of the FSSAI action and its naming of the LASA risk sit squarely on the ground she had occupied for years.
ERZL, the product that replaced ORSL, contains sucralose – a non-nutritive sweetener that Dr Sivaranjani Santosh also raised concerns about.
The IAP’s position tracks the regulatory consensus. It cites JECFA and EFSA, both of which set an acceptable daily intake for sucralose at 15 mg/kg body weight per day, and notes that FSSAI permits up to 300 mg/L in drinks.
But the academy also references the WHO’s 2023 guideline, which issued a conditional recommendation against non-sugar sweeteners as a regular replacement for sugars for weight control, flagging “potential long-term metabolic effects.”
The IAP holds both positions together: “Non-nutritive sweeteners such as sucralose are regulated and considered safe within established acceptable daily intake limits; however, their safety is dose-dependent.”
The academy calls on industry to avoid marketing that implies therapeutic equivalence between electrolyte drinks and ORS, and to stop marketing electrolyte drinks for routine use, particularly in young children.
It asks regulators to add front-of-pack statements on electrolyte drink labels that read “not for use in diarrhoeal dehydration.”
And its message to caregivers cuts through the noise: “ORS saves lives in diarrhea. Electrolyte drinks are not ORS and should not be used in diarrhea.”
