Why kids’ hydration status is improved with fruit, vegetable intake

        

 Posted on August 22, 2013 by Stone Hearth News

                 Contribution of fruit and vegetable intake to hydration status in schoolchildren 1,2,3 First published August 21, 2013, doi: 10.3945/​ajcn.112.051490 Am J Clin Nutr October 2013 ajcn.051490 Gabriela Montenegro-Bethancourt, Simone A Johner, and Thomas Remer

 + Author Affiliations

1From Institut für Ernährungs-und Lebensmittelwissenschaften Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany.

 + Author Notes

↵2 Supported by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany (DONALD Study), and a research fellowship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD; to GM-B).

↵3 Address correspondence and requests for reprints to T. Remer, IEL-Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Heinstück 11, 44225 Dortmund, Germany. E-mail: remer@fke-do.de.

Abstract

 Background:

 The specific effects of fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake on water balance and consequently on 24-h hydration status (HS) are unknown.

Objectives:

In a large observational cohort of German children, we examined whether a higher F&V intake per se is associated with improved HS and attempted to quantify the influence of greater consumption of F&Vs on HS.

 Design:

A total of 1286 complete 3-d weighed dietary records and 24-h urine samples for 442 children (4- to 10-y-olds) collected in 2000–2010 in the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study were analyzed. Free water reserve [FWR; urine volume (mL/24 h) minus obligatory urine volume (mL/24 h)] served as an HS biomarker. Median FWR and water balance variables were analyzed in different categories of solid-F&V intakes. Repeated-measures regression models (PROC MIXED; SAS Institute), adjusted for all other dietary water sources, were used to quantify the separate effects of solid-F&V and F&V-juice consumption on FWR.

Results:

 Negative FWR values, which indicated risk of hypohydration, were observed in 22% of children. FWR was significantly higher in solid-F&V consumers with high intakes than in those with low intakes (P < 0.0001). PROC MIXED models predicted an increase of 46 mL in FWR (average in boys and girls) when increasing solid-F&V intake by 100 g. Similar results were observed for F&V juice (β = 43, P < 0.0001). Drinking water and milk were the other significant dietary predictors of FWR. Solid F&Vs and F&V juices contributed 12% and 10%, respectively, to total water intake.

Conclusions:

These data confirm that regular intake of F&Vs may relevantly improve HS in children. Dietary interventions to increase F&V intake may be a promising strategy to achieve positive water balance in this population.

Source