Water works in maintaining a healthy body

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Just like plants, human body would wither without adequate water supply. And though water is an important element of human lives, many people often ignore thirst which is a signal that the body needs water supply.

Not only to the fact that water provides an essential part for the living things but it also makes up over half of human body. An adult body consist of about 55 percent to 60 percent of water, while babies have 70 percent of water content.

"Water is a vital part of human life and it is required in various functions of human body and organs. This is why water level should always be maintained at a constant level," said Pauline Endang Praptini a nutritionist from the Jakarta Hospital.

Water is then converted into various body fluids like perspiration to protect the body from overheating, urine to help remove toxic materials and impurities from the system, saliva and gastric fluid to help digest food.

Water can also lubricate joints and help smoothen fecal discharge.

"People are not aware that drinking too little water can expose them to constipation," Pauline warned, while explaining that without having water into the colon, the digested food would become hard and difficult to excrete.

Moreover, our blood contains about 90 percent of water and if a person don't drink adequate water, his blood volume would drop and the condition will get in the way of normal process, carried out by blood, such as transporting nutrients to muscles and carrying away waste product.

She added that thirst is already a sign of early dehydration and without immediate water supply, the body would send a stronger signals such as headache, mouth and tongue dryness and a drop in blood pressure, which are often accompanied with dry and inelastic skin and apathy.

While impurities would build up in the body, the condition can worsen into unconsciousness and in turn disturb the normal function of kidney, exposing the person to a serious renal disease or even death.

People with normal activities have to take about eight glasses of water everyday (or about two litters) to cover water loss. "Average daily water loss is from 1,500ml to 2,500ml through urine, sweat, feces and breathing," Pauline explained.

As for people with strenuous activities, athletes or those who work outdoor lose more water than normal people do and they need higher water intake.

Sometimes water loss can be misinterpreted as weight loss, a wrong perception common among dieters. "This can be dangerous if the sweat is not replaced by adequate liquid," she added.

Heavy perspiration while exercising or doing strenuous activities causes the body to shed fluid and minerals. This is why taking water alone is not sufficient.

"Heavy perspiration should be balanced by taking ionized rehydration liquid to ensure proper replacement of both water and minerals," she said, while adding that failures to balance mineral loss would lead to weakness and drop of blood pressure.

Besides athletes, people who suffer from diarrhea or vomiting also need to immediately take rehydrating drink. They can prepare "emergency" rehydrating drink at home by mixing 200ml of water, one teaspoon of sugar (for calorie) and a little bit of salt (to replace the loss of natrium).

Pauline dismissed the possibility of overwater intake, saying that the body has a mechanism to maintain the right balance of water level.

The amount of water in the body tissues is detected by the "detector" cells located in the hypothalamus. When too little water is detected, the pituary gland (in the lower hypothalamus) will secrete antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which promotes the reabsorption of water from the urine. When too much water is detected less ADH is produced and water is excreted through urine to reduce the risk of waterlogging in the tissues.

"Urine can give you a clue. A copious and diluted urine means you have enough water intake but when you don't take medications or supplement and you excrete bright yellow urine means you don't drink enough water," said Pauline.