Glucose pre-dive drink may prevent decompression sickness
Decompression sickness is caused by nitrogen being released from the blood too quickly, forming bubbles which may expand and injure tissue or block blood vessels. Anything that reduces bubble formation should decrease the risk of decompression sickness. Researchers from the French Navy have found that drinking 1.3 litres of a saline-glucose drink an hour and a half before the dive decreased bubble formation. This provides an easy means of reducing decompression sickness risk.