Nutrition & Health OnLine Magazine

WATER ! The Most Important Nutrient

By Davey Dunn

Water is taken for granted by most people but did you know that plain old water is the most important nutrient of all. You body is comprised of as much as 70% water and every part is dependent upon the quantity and quality of water that you ingest each day. The proof of how important water is to your body is seen in the rapid deterioration of performance that occurs as soon as you start to become dehydrated. For optimum health and maximum performance it is essential that you supply you body with enough of the right kind of water every day or you could literally die.

The research on the quantity that your body needs sends a pretty clear message that if you do not maintain proper hydration your performance will dramatically decrease. Several studies have shown that even when you lose as little as 2% of your body weight in water you will experience a noticeable decrease in performance. Lose over 5 % of your body weight in water and your performance will decrease substantially. Go over 6% to 10 % in water lost and you are susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke which can even become life threatening.^1,2

The key to knowing how to supply your body with the proper amount of water is understanding how much water your body requires in different types of exercise and environments. Research has shown that athletes in heavy training can use as much as 3 quarts of water every hour. Increasing the temperature and/or the humidity can increase the consumption by another quart an hour.³ Athletes are not the only ones susceptible to dehydration. Similar effects from dehydration have been shown among workers engaged in strenuous activities and/or hot humid environments.⁴ In order for you to maintain optimum performance in any activity it is critical that you understand that your body can use as much as a gallon of water an hour.

Replacing the water that your body uses is challenging but not altogether hopeless. Drinking water is not the only way that your body replenishes lost fluid as many foods contain a good percentage of water as constituent including milk, tea, fruit juice and even whole fruits and vegetables. There are also many commercial beverages available ranging from Gatorade to better designed products like Cytomax and Hydra Fuel. The best products for fluid replacement will contain no more than 6% carbohydrates as greater levels have been shown to reduce water absorption by the body.⁵ On the other hand, it is important that your beverage contain carbohydrates as opposed to just water as such a mixture has been shown to increase the uptake of water into the body better than water alone.⁶ The best fluid replacement drink is one that contains about 6% carbohydrates (about 25 grams of simple carbs in a 16 oz beverage) composed of approximately 4% glucose and 2 % fructose.

Finding the right beverage is only half the battle as knowing how and when to use the beverage is equally important. The American College of Sports Medicine has some general recommendations on maintaining proper hydration that help in understanding how and when to ingest fluids:

Individuals should consume a nutritionally balanced diet and drink adequate fluids during the 24 hour period before and event, especially during the period that includes the meal prior to exercise, to promote proper hydration before exercise or competition.
Individuals should drink about 17 ounces of fluid about 2 hours before exercise to promote adequate hydration and allow time for excretion of excess ingested water.
During exercise individuals should start drinking early and at regular intervals in an attempt to consume fluids at a rate sufficient to replace all the water lost through sweating, or consume the maximal amount that can be tolerated.
Ingested fluids should be cooler than ambient temperature (between 59 degrees and 72 degrees F) and flavored to enhance palatability and promote fluid replacement.
Fluids should be readily available and served in containers that allow adequate volumes to be ingested with ease and with minimal interruption of exercise.
Fluids should contain an addition of proper amounts of carbohydrates and/or electrolytes for events of duration greater than 1 hour since it does not significantly impair water delivery to the body and may enhance performance.
During intense exercise lasting longer than 1 hour it is recommended that carbohydrates be ingested at a rate of 30-60 grams per hour to maintain oxidation of carbohydrates and delay fatigue. This rate of carbohydrate intake can be achieved without compromising fluid delivery by drinking approximately 36 to 72 ounces each hour of solutions containing 4% to 8% carbohydrates. The carbohydrates can be sugars (glucose or sucrose) or starch (e.g., maltodextrin).
Inclusion of sodium in the rehydration solution ingested during exercise lasting longer than 1 hour is recommended since it my be advantageous in enhancing palatability, promoting fluid retention, and possible preventing hyponatremia in certain individuals who drink excessive quantities of fluid.⁷

The above recommendations by the American College of Sports Medicine are sensible and basically advise that you should: Drink adequate fluids prior to a strenuous event; Continue to drink adequate amounts of fluid during the event; Choose a beverage that is designed to maximize water absorption and enhance performance.

In addition to utilizing a beverage to replace fluids after they have been lost it may also be possible to increase the amount of stored fluid in your body prior to an event thereby delaying the time it takes for dehydration to begin adversely affecting performance. The most promising agent for increasing water in the body is Glycerol. In several research studies Glycerol has been shown to be effective at hyperhydrating individuals who consumed approximately 2 to 6 grams per pound of bodyweight each day along with approximately 2 ounces of water per pound of bodyweight.^8,9,10,11 To increase your hydration level in preparation for a strenuous event try taking about 400 to 500 grams of Glycerol along with about 2 to 3 gallons of water over a 12 hour period prior to your event.

Obviously, from the amount of time that we have just spent, knowing the quantity of water that your body requires is critical but you should also know that the quality of water you consume is equally important. Do not think that all water is created equal because most water is contaminated with chemicals that are hazardous to your performance and health. Even many of the spring waters that people pay top dollar for are nothing more than well-packaged tap water. Government officials will try to convince you that there is nothing wrong with drinking tap water but the truth is that they do not even try to remove all of the chemicals that are contained in tap water. The best source of clean water is distilled water since the distillation process removes just about everything other than water.

A few final points to consider in relation to water is if you are going to make the effort to stay properly hydrated do not do something stupid like ingesting anything that will cause you to lose water prior to or during an important event. Beverages like Coffee that contain Caffeine or weight loss products with MaHuang will cause you to dehydrate quickly so if you plan to use them do so knowing you will have to compensate for their effect by ingesting even more fluids. You should also be careful drinking fruit juices prior to strenuous activity since the citric acid they contain can cause a diuretic effect. By understanding the needs of your body for water as outlined in this article and by properly preparing to replace the water you will lose during a strenuous event you can effectively avoid the decreases in performance associated with dehydration.

¹Naghii MR The significance of water in sport and weight control. Nutr Health 2000;14(2):127-32
²Sawka MN, Montain SJ, Latzka WA. Hydration effects on thermoregulation and performance in the heat. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2001 Apr;128(4):679-90
³Rehrer NJ. Fluid and electrolyte balance in ultra-endurance sport. Sports Med 2001;31(10):701-15
⁴Clap AJ, Bishop PA, Smith JF, Lloyd LK, Wright KE. A review of fluid replacement for workers in hot jobs. AIHAJ 2002 Mar-Apr;63(2):190-8
⁵Davis JM, Burgess WA, Slentz CA, Bartoli WP, Pate RR. Effects of ingesting 6% and 12% glucose/electrolyte beverages during prolonged intermittent cycling in the heat. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 1988;57(5):563-9
⁶Carter JE, Gisolfi CV. Fluid replacement during and after exercise in the heat. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1989 Oct;21(5):532-9
⁷Convertino VA, Armstrong LE, Coyle EF, Mack GW, Sawka MN, Senay LC Jr, Sherman WM. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1996 Jan;28(1):i-vii
⁸Montner P, Stark DM, Riedesel ML, Murata G, Robergs R, Timms M, Chick TW. Pre-exercise glycerol hydration improves cycling endurance time. Int J Sports Med 1996 Jan;17(1):27-33
⁹Riedesel ML, Allen DY, Peake GT, Al-Qattan K. Hyperhydration with glycerol solutions. J Appl Physiol 1987 Dec;63(6):2262-8
¹⁰Wagner DR. Hyperhydrating with glycerol: implications for athletic performance. J Am Diet Assoc 1999 Feb;99(2):207-12
¹¹Koenigsberg PS, Martin KK, Hlava HR, Riedesel ML. Sustained hyperhydration with glycerol ingestion. Life Sci 1995;57(7):645-53

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