Palatability of colonic lavage solution is improved by the addition of artificially sweetened flavored drink mixes.
A frequent complaint of patients asked to drink polyethylene glycol (PEG) colonic lavage solution is the salty flavor. This often results in failure to ingest the entire 4 liters of the solution and compromises bowel cleansing. The purpose of this study was to determine systematically whether the addition of a flavored drink mix sweetened with aspartame to the PEG lavage solution would improve palatability without significantly altering the osmolality of the solution. Eighty-seven (87) staff volunteers participated in a taste test of PEG lavage solutions containing varying amounts of commercially available drink mixes. The solution containing two packages of lemon-flavored KoolAid drink mix sweetened with aspartame was significantly more palatable than the others (p less than 0.005), while osmolality remained within the range specified by the manufacturer of Colyte.
Gruber
M
M
Fay
D
D
Pudhorodsky
T
T
Lance
P
P
D003106:Colon; D006801:Humans; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013649:Taste; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation / Q000379:methods*
D011092:Polyethylene Glycols