Drinking water exposed to sunlight can work wonders in combating diarrhoea among children in poor countries like India, says a recent study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

In the study, Indian researcher Prof. G Kang from the department of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore, in association with researchers from the Uppsala University, Sweden, studied children aged less than five years at an urban slum in Vellore. They worked on assessing the efficacy and acceptability of solar irradiation in the prevention of morbidity from diarrhoea.

The researchers assigned 100 children, who were offered water in specific bottles. The bottled water was made disinfected by sunlight exposure. A group of another 100 children were given water that was not treated through sunlight disinfection. Prof. Kang and colleagues followed up both groups of participants for six months through regular home visits.

They also discussed with women in the slum to check whether solar disinfection was an acceptable and feasible method for them in comparison to other procedures of making water germ free.

“There was a significant reduction in the incidence, duration and severity of diarrhoea in children receiving solar disinfected water,” the researchers found. “The risk of diarrhoea was reduced by 40 per cent by using solar disinfection,” the researchers write in the paper.

“Solar disinfection of water is an inexpensive, effective, and acceptable method of increasing water safety in a resource limited environment, and can significantly decrease diarrhoea morbidity in children,” the researchers conclude.

3 other health benefits of sunlight

1 rheumatoid arthritis: A study in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism suggests that sunlight may help prevent rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers studied 29,368 women aged 55 to 69 and noted the subjects’ eating habits and lifestyle patterns. They found that women with highest intake of vitamin D, which is found in rich amount through sunlight exposure, were least likely to suffer rheumatoid arthritis.

2 hypertension: Blacks in US are at a higher risk of suffering from high blood pressure than blacks in Africa. This is, researchers write in the journal Hypertension, because people in US are less exposed to sunlight, which helps in lowering blood pressure.

3 mood disorders: A study in American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that treatment by exposure to sunlight could be as effective as treatment with anti-depressants in persons suffering mood disorders. The study is based on a review of 20 other studies that came up in various scientific literature.