The effect of cool water ingestion on gastrointestinal pill temperature.
Telemetric gastrointestinal (GI) temperature pills are now commonly used to measure core body temperature and could minimize the risk of heat illness while maximizing operational effectiveness in workers subject to high levels of thermal strain.


OBJECTIVE
To quantify the effect of repeated cool water ingestion on the accuracy of GI pill temperature.


METHODS
Ten operational firefighters ingested a pill to measure GI temperature (T1int) before overnight sleep. Two hours following breakfast and 11.5 h after ingesting T1int, the firefighters ingested a second pill (T2int) before performing 8.5 h of intermittent activity (repetitive cycles of 30 min of seated rest followed by 30 min of general firefighter duties). During the first 2 min of each 30-min rest period, the firefighters consumed 250 mL of chilled water (5-8 degrees C).


RESULTS
Water ingestion had a highly variable effect both within and between subjects in transiently (32 +/- 10 min) reducing the temperature of T2int in comparison with T1int. In general, this transient reduction in T2int became progressively smaller as time following ingestion increased. In some firefighters, the difference between T1int and T2int became negligible (+/- 0.1 degrees C) after 3 h, whereas in two others, large differences (peaking at 2.0 degrees C and 6.3 degrees C) were still observed when water was consumed 8 h after pill ingestion.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that a GI pill ingested immediately prior to physical activity cannot be used to measure core body temperature accurately in all individuals during the following 8 h when cool fluids are regularly ingested. This makes GI temperature measurement unsuitable for workers who respond to emergency deployments when regular fluid consumption is recommended operational practice.
Wilkinson
David M
DM
Optimal Performance Limited, Clifton, Bristol, UK. david@optimalperformance.co.uk
Carter
James M
JM
Richmond
Victoria L
VL
Blacker
Sam D
SD
Rayson
Mark P
MP
D000328:Adult; D001831:Body Temperature; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004326:Drinking; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014867:Water
D014867:Water