Water is the best drink of all. It is the ideal thirst quencher, doesn't make a single dent in your calorie intake and is cost-effective! Here we reveal how you can enhance the taste and appeal of your water to keep your body well hydrated.
You’ve heard it before but it’s worth stating again – our body is made up of around 60 per cent water with organs such as the brain and muscles containing as much as 75 per cent water.
Water performs a multitude of functions to keep your body healthy and in peak condition.
We need water to:
-
transport nutrients around the body via the blood and lymph system
-
remove wastes via the urine and faeces
- serve as a medium for the countless biochemical reactions that take place in the body
- moisten our food to facilitate chewing
-
maintain body temperature – when we sweat, heat is released as the sweat evaporates which cools you down.
Despite knowing how important water is, many Australians don’t drink enough each day.
Feeling tired? Could you be dehydrated?
Dehydration is often overlooked as a cause of fatigue. Even mild dehydration can quickly diminish the capacity of most of our organs to function properly, but especially the brain, the kidneys and skin. It can slow your metabolism and make it difficult to concentrate. Without enough fluid, you’ll feel lethargic and even come down with a headache. The telltale signs of dehydration:
| Mild |
Moderate |
Severe |
| Headache |
General weakness |
Muscle cramps |
| Feeling tired |
Rapid heart rate |
|
| Light headed |
Inability to think clearly |
|
| Skin loses its plumpness and becomes flushed |
|
|
It’s easy to forget to drink enough. Thirst is not always a reliable guide so don’t wait until you feel thirsty before you drink.
New recommendations for water intake
In 2006 the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) revised all their recommendations for vitamins and minerals – and for the first time, included water as well. Until then, there was that well-known suggestion of 6 to 8 glasses a day but the new guidelines recommended we drink an additional two glasses of fluid for adequate hydration and optimal health. So now we need to take in 8 to 10 glasses to prevent dehydration.
The NH&MRC determined that 5 factors increased the possibility of chronic mild dehydration, including:
- dissatisfaction with the taste of water
- a poor thirst mechanism, particularly among older people
- consumption of diuretics such as caffeine and alcohol
-
exercise
-
environmental conditions (humidity, high temperatures).
Other conditions that can put you at risk of dehydration:
- gastroenteritis
- diarrhoea
- vomiting
- very high fibre diets.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding also need to increase their fluid intake.
The new guidelines say adult males should drink 2.6 litres (8 to 10 cups) a day and females 2.1 (about 8 cups), with varying levels for children and infants. The intake for pregnant women increases to 2.3 litres a day. The guidelines have not set an upper limit of water intake, only a minimum consumption recommendation.
A Newspoll survey conducted by BRITA Water Filter Systems in 2006 found that Australians are chronically dehydrated with 4.5 million adults (or three in ten) drinking just three glasses or fewer of water each day, well under these new recommended daily intakes.
Water quality
In some parts of the country people do not trust the quality and safety of tap water. As a result they either drink less than they should, or drink bottled water exclusively.
The BRITA survey also supports the NH&MRC research that includes ‘dissatisfaction with the taste of water’ as a factor in the level of water consumption, with 38% of respondents to the survey concerned about the taste of water on tap. The survey also showed that half of all Australian adults (7.9 million) are concerned about the impurities in their water supply, 38% are concerned about the overall quality and 40% about additives such as chlorine.
So a water filter is a good idea when it comes to guaranteeing satisfactory levels of water quality. Recently Consumer magazine from the Consumers Institute of New Zealand summarised the different ways you can treat water at home ranging from the simplest using activated carbon or boiling, through to ceramic candle, distillation, ion exchange and the most expensive reverse osmosis.
They reported that the BRITA Marella Cool jug (based on activated carbon) was the least expensive and easiest way to improve the taste of drinking water. And it also proved to be a much cheaper option to buying bottled water.
Bottled water leaves you short on fluoride
Bottled water is the fastest growing category of beverages but it may not be the healthiest option for your teeth as it provides almost no fluoride.
According to the National Health and Medical Research Council, we all need to drink water with at least 0.5ppm (parts per million) of fluoride to prevent dental caries. Australian tap water is fluoridated with in the range of 0.7-1.0ppm, according to the Australian Water Association. On 2006, Melbourne researchers checked the fluoride concentration of 10 popular brands of still bottled water. They found all had very low fluoride concentrations of less than 0.08ppm.
To prevent this fluoride shortfall, dental experts would like manufacturers to add fluoride to their water at similar levels to that found in drinking water. They also recommend parents offer their children some tap water to get their fluoride. A filter that retains the fluoride as well as making the water taste better is a wise option.
References quoted:
National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC): Nutrient reference values for Australia and New Zealand including recommended dietary intakes. November 2005 (released May 2006)
The Newspoll survey was conducted in March 2006 on behalf of BRITA Water Filter Systems, among a random national sample of 1200 respondents aged 18 years and over. To reflect the population distribution, results have been post-weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics data on a range of criteria.
Consumer. Issue 466, How’s your drinking water. Jan/Feb 2007, page 14-17.
Cochrane N et al. Fluoride content of still bottled water in Australia. Australian Dental Journal 2006;51:242-244