Detecting Your Level of Hydration
HydroSmart is a new way to determine if you are adequately hydrated at any given time. It is a handheld, portable, simple- to-use device that requires a stream of urine, and the results are given almost instantaneously via a color-changing reagent. A color change corresponds to the specific gravity of the urine specimen. Urine specific is a measure of a person’s level of hydration. The device avoids the need to urinate into a plastic cup, which is normally delivered to another person for lab analysis; a situation that is somewhat embarrassing and most importantly, time-consuming. The reagent is bromthymol blue, poly(methylvinyl ether/maleic anhydride) and an alkaline compound such as sodium hydroxide. It is absorbed on a porous membrane, such as a woven matrix of cellulosic fibers or other substrate material, which can retain the reagent. There is a cap that contains a color chart for comparison with the color resulting from the reaction of the urine and the chemical reagent.