Health

Why water is so important as a vital foodstuff …

Water is our most important vital foodstuff. Barely any other foodstuff is checked as regularly and frequently as the drinking water from our public water supply. The stringent requirements profile of wellwasser® refines and safeguards the quality from the public water supply.

Water performs innumerable essential functions in our body, which is precisely why a sufficient intake of pure water is absolutely essential. After all, every adult consists of around 65 % of water, with water making up 45 % of our blood. 70 % of the body's total water content is within the body cells and 30 % is stored outside of these. Water has ideal properties, and all of the chemical reactions in our body depend on the water stored in our body.

• Water as a solvent: Water makes up over 90 % of our body fluids. Both nutrients and substances required for metabolism, which we dispose of by water in the metabolic process, are dissolved in these fluids. Drinking at the right time helps to return natural minerals that have been lost to the body.
• Water as a medium of transport: Water ensures the transport of highly diverse dissolved substances from one place to another in our body by blood or lymph fluid. Here, water carries out the function of transporting nutrients and oxygen to the cells via the bloodstream. Additionally, water plays the decisive role of disposing of harmful substances through the kidneys.
• Water as a coolant: Water conducts heat better than air, to the effect that water regulates the temperature in our body for the purpose of maintaining the core temperature of our body at a constant level of 36 to 37 degrees Centigrade, especially in heat and during physical exertion. If the body temperature is too high as a result of over-exertion or an illness, the body makes use of its water cooling system. When we perspire, water is excreted by the pores in our skin, thereby ensuring rapid heat emission.
• Water as a reaction partner: Vital chemical reactions involving water or reactions that aren't even possible without water are constantly taking place in every body cell.
• Water as a building material: Water is the most important building element in our body besides minerals, which e.g. bones and teeth are predominantly composed of, and protein, the main component of muscles. The concentration of water decreases with increasing age. It is 75 to 80 percent in a newborn baby, approx. 60 per cent in a normal-weight adult male and 50 to 55 percent in normal-weight adult females.
• Neutralisation through water: Our body becomes acetic in extreme situations such as stress, over-exertion, malnourishment, etc. Water "dilutes" substances causing acidity and neutralises them if fluid intake is sufficient.
• Note:
  We perspire a lot when doing sports. And that's good for us, as perspiration regulates our body's heat balance, thereby protecting us against heat collapse.
  
  As a prerequisite for optimum heat regulation, loss of water must already be compensated during physical exertion! Namely, depending on how exerting the sporting activity is and on climatic conditions, our body can easily excrete two litres per hour via perspiration and respiration! The body obtains these fluids from the blood and tissues, to the effect that the blood literally "thickens". Medical specialists refer to this as dehydration (deficit of water). As a result, the blood flows more slowly, the heart must pump against greater resistance, which is associated with higher oxygen consumption, and the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles deteriorates. Up to 5 grams of sodium chloride per hour can be lost through perspiration, thereby causing the risk of muscle cramps and strained muscles to increase.
  
  
  The following are possible consequences of a lack of water:
  • 1 l and over loss of water:
  Increase in the core temperature of the body (per 1 l loss of water up to 0.5°C) thirst, tiredness, weakness, nausea
  • 5 l and over loss of water:
  Schwindelgefühl, Kopfschmerzen, Atemnot, Gehunfähigkeit
  • 8 l and over loss of water:
  Cramps, unconsciousness
  
  
  Juice coolers made of wellwasser® mixed with fruit juices (juice content 10 to 20 per cent) are ideally suited as thirst quenchers for athletes in addition to water or wellwasser®. Herbal teas, fruit teas and vegetable juices are also good. As a rule of thumb, athletes should intake a minimum of 100 to 200 ml of fluids every twenty minutes or so.