Your Water & Your Health

Because water plays such a vital role in our health it is important to ensure that the water you drink is of good quality. Water comprises on average 55 to 75 percent of an adult’s body weight. Water is used by the body to regulate temperature, carry nutrients and oxygen to cells, remove waste, to cushion joints and protect organs and tissues.

A 1998 consumer survey conducted by Yankelovich Partners for the Nutrition Information Center at the New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center and the International Bottled Water Association revealed that of the 3000 consumers surveyed, the average American consumes only 4.6 servings of water per day which may be too little and lead to dehydration. Children are of special concern as children become dehydrated quickly when playing in heat and don’t tolerate heat as well as adults.

The Center for Disease Control has also identified the following populations as being at risk for dehydration:

• Elderly
• Persons who work outdoors
• Persons who sweat excessively
• Persons who are overweight
• People on some medications

Source: Human Nutrition Spotlight Newsletter, Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service, May-June 1999. www.oznet.ksu.edu/ext_f&n/spotlight/mayjun99.htm