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Water and your dietIn nutrition, water is more essential than food itself, for a person may live for weeks without food but only a couple of days without water. Water is an essential component of blood, lymph, bodily excretions as well as every part of every cell in the body.
In man's body more than half the weight is water. Fluid it is necessary for the functioning of every organ and a body and is a structural component of cells. When cells lose the water they lose their shape. It plays an important role in digestion and absorption as well as circulation and is essential in the regulation of body temperature, lubrication of joints and the movement of waste material. Water is the carrier of nutrients through the body. Water is lost in four different ways, through the skin through perspiration, from the lungs as water vapor, from the kidneys as urine and from the intestines in the feces. Fluids are replaced by ingesting fluids and foods containing water. Once such water containing food is ingested the water is absorbed rapidly from the digestive tract into the blood and lymph. The balance of water is regulated by the body and is balanced between intake and output. The weight of a person may vary by as much as two kilograms (4 lbs) within 48 hours due to the changes in the amount of water and salts taken in and excreted. It and the event of severe water losses through sweating or diarrhea, the kidneys conserve water by producing less urine. Excessive loss of water will result in the sensation of extreme thirst, and the mechanism for this stimulation is located in the hypothalamus, which is activated by the increase of soluble concentration in body fluids. Dehydration of your bodyDehydration can be fatal, which emphasizes the importance of water in the body. It is that it has been said to that we can lose all our reserve to glycogen, or all reserve fat, but that a loss of 10 per cent of body water is serious and as a loss of 20 to 25 per cent of body water can be fatal. The term dehydration implies more than just a change in water balance - there is always accompanying changes in the balance of electrolytes as well. When the water supply is restricted or when water losses are excessive, the rate of water loss exceeds the rate of electrolyte loss. The extracellular fluid becomes more concentrated and osmotic pressure draws water from inside the cells into the extracellular fluid to compensate for this. This condition is called intracellular dehydration and is accompanied by extreme thirst and nausea. Quality of waterThe quality of tap water, or water available for human consumption, has been under discussion for some time. Great debate has been argued regarding the quality of water supplied by local councils for household water, and we have seen a great surge in sales of water purification systems for home use. A variety of contaminants have been found in drinking water, including heavy metals, and other contaminants such as cyanide, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Although most water supply companies contend that the water is safe to drink the greater majority of Western people prefer to have their water filtered instead of drinking water from the taps or faucets. The selection of waste materials sometimes found in drinking water can be detrimental to your health and people traveling overseas must rely on bottled water to ensure a source of clean drinking water. The availability of clean drinking water is a major source of worry in Third World countries where either bad water management has radically compromised the water tables or the infiltration of contaminants from other sources have compromised the water quality. Fluoride and drinking waterAdding fluoride to drinking water has been discussed for years where proponents contend that fluoride occurs naturally in water and that it is needed for the development and maintenance of strong bones and teeth, and whereas opponents contend that fluoride can be toxic and that a toxic buildup can happen in the body, which can cause damage to the immune system. The choice of your drinking water is also dependent on what you are prepared to spend on the water you drink since bottled spring water for daily consumption can cost a great deal of money. The general rule of eight glasses of water per day is still a great rule to follow - it might just depend on how safe and clean those eight glasses of water really are. In the final analysis it might be worth your while to install a small water purification system to your faucet to ensure that the water contains no contaminants.
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