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  • Response to Letter to the Editor
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Water as an essential nutriment: the physiological basis of hydration

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, page 877 (2011)Cite this article

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In his letter, Dr Arnaud (Arnaud and Noakes, 2010) mentions that their study (Szinnai et al., 2005), carried out in healthy young volunteers, showed that an acute dehydration up to a level of 2.6% of body weight did not affect their cognitive-motor function. On the contrary, other authors (Ritz and Berrut, 2005; Shirreffs, 2005) showed that a mild dehydration can lead to a significant impairment in both cognitive function and physical performance. Furthermore, experimental acute dehydration in healthy volunteers, such as reported by Szinnai et al., may not be a valid model for severe chronic dehydration in elderly subjects. Therefore, the concept that ‘severe dehydration affects the function of many systems and is a life-threatening condition’ is supported by many studies.

Dr Arnaud claims that elderly subjects are prone to the development of hyponatremia and emphasizes the risks of over-hydration leading to water intoxication. Although this condition may occur, the increased mortality rate in the French elderly population during the heat wave of summer 2003 was mainly due to hypertonic dehydration.

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References

  • Arnaud MJ, Noakes TD (2011). Should humans be encouraged to drink water to excess? Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 875–876.

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  • Ritz P, Berrut G (2005). The importance of good hydration for day-to-day health. Nutr Rev 63, S6–S13.

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  • Shirreffs SM (2005). The importance of good hydration for work and exercise performance. Nutr Rev 63, S14–S21.

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  • Szinnai G, Schachinger H, Arnaud MJ, Linder L, Keller U (2005). Effect of water deprivation on cognitive-motor performance in healthy men and women. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 289, R275–R280.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    E Jéquier

  2. NESTLE WATERS MT, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France

    F Constant

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  1. E Jéquier
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  2. F Constant
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Correspondence to E Jéquier.

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Jéquier, E., Constant, F. Water as an essential nutriment: the physiological basis of hydration. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 877 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.41

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