In his senior year of college, Dennis Frohlich’s stomach started hurting.
The pain soon developed into diarrhea, which often left him dehydrated and avoiding public excursions.
The UF teaching assistant and health communications Ph.D. student has ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease.
Patients like Frohlich can now rehydrate by drinking Enterade-R, a new beverage developed by a company based in Newberry. The drink, which is mainly marketed toward cancer patients undergoing treatment, launched Monday.
“In situations where you need rapid rehydration, the drink is very useful,” said Dr. Sadasivan Vidyasagar, an Enterade founder and gastrointestinal electrophysiology specialist.
Vidyasagar and two of his partners work for UF’s Department of Radiation Oncology and conduct their research at the Cancer and Genetics Research Complex on campus.
Radiation can negatively affect the small intestine, which controls 85 percent of the body’s electrolyte and nutrient absorptions, Vidyasagar said.
To replenish the electrolytes the intestines can’t totally absorb, the drink couples them with amino acids that the body can still accept postradiation, Vidyasagar said. That way, when the amino acids are absorbed, the electrolytes go with them, rehydrating patients.
Enterade-R differs from other rehydration drinks like Gatorade, because it does not contain glucose, which the body can reject after exposure to stressful situations, Vidyasagar said.
As a potential consumer, Frohlich was intrigued by Enterade-R’s concept. However, he said he’s concerned about the price of the drink and that it can only be ordered online.
At about $7 a bottle, the price is due to the company’s desire to make the drink as natural as possible, Vidyasagar said. Its proteins are taken from plants rather than fats, and its amino acids are synthesized rather than broken down, so there’s no chemical residue.
Vidyasagar said the price could drop with substantial sales, allowing the product to become more accessible.
Soon, Enterade plans to release a drink for general consumers, he said. But with Enterade-R, the company is targeting patients who could medically benefit from it.
That’s a concept Frohlich supports.
“For people in those really dire circumstances,” Frohlich said, “finding better ways of getting that nutrition is really needed.”
