Water lowers risk of chronic disease

W-O-W Part Six:  Help protect your child against the risk of chronic disease

Wiseup-On-Water!  Drinking enough water can help to protect the body against certain chronic diseases. Individuals who maintain good hydration levels have been shown to have a reduced risk of developing the following diseases:

• breast,37 colorectal,38 urinary tract cancer.39,40

• cardiovascular disease41

• gallstones 42

• kidney and bladder stones 43,44

Whether you give your child our Irish spring water, or pure water from elsewhere, please seriously consider the direct relationship between sufficient water intake and increased risk of these chronic diseases. 

Here's to happier, healthier kids!

Luna and Lara

37 Stookey JD, Belderson PE, Russell JM, Barker ME.

Correspondence re: J. Shannon et al. Relationship of food

groups and water intake to colon cancer risk. Cancer

Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 1997;6:657-658

38 Shannon J, White E, Shattuck AL, Potter JD. Relationship of

food groups and water intake to colon cancer risk. Cancer

Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prev. 1996;5:495-502

39 Bitterman WA, Farhadian H, Abu S-C, Lerner D, Amoun H,

Krapf D, Makov UK. Environmental and nutritional factors

significantly associated with cancer of the urinary tract

among different ethnic groups. Urologic Clinics of North

America 1991;18:501-8

40 Wilkens LR, Kadir MM, Kolonel LN, Nomura AM, Hankin JH.

Risk factors for lower urinary tract cancer: the role of total

fluid consumption, nitrites and nitrosamines, and selected

foods. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

1996;5:161-166

41 Chan J, Knutsen SF, Blix GG, Lee JW, Fraser GE. Water, other

fluids, and fatal coronary heart disease. American Journal of

Epidemiology 2002;155:827-33

42 Math MV, Rampal PM, Faure XR and Delmont JP. Gallbladder

emptying after drinking water and its possible role in

prevention of gallstone formation. Singapore Medical Journal

1986;27:531-2

43 Curhan GC, Willett WC, Rimm EB and Stampfer MJ. A

prospective study of dietary calcium and other nutrients and

the risk of symptomatic kidney stones. New England Journal

of Medicine 1993;328:833-38

44 Siener R and Hesse A. Fluid intake and epidemiology of

urolithiasis. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

2003;57(Suppl 2):S47-S51

Mom, I wet the bed...

W-O-W pt.4:  Toilet Troubles

Wiseup-On-Water!  Dehydration can contribute to health problems such as urine infections, bed-wetting, daytime wetting and constipation.  Good hydration is important in the prevention of urinary tract infection (UTI). One per cent of boys and three per cent of girls experience a UTI during the first ten years of life. UTI can be serious in children if it is associated with reflux of urine back up the ureter causing kidney damage. UTIs can also be a cause of bed- or pant-wetting and poor school attendance in older children.(24)  Bed-wetting can also worsen if insufficient fluid is drunk during the day.  This reduces bladder capacity so that the child may not then be able to cope with the compensatory increase in fluids drunk during the evening.(25)

Chronic constipation is a very common complaint affecting 3-8 per cent of children. It is three times more common in prepubescent boys than girls, but this ratio reverses in adolescence.  Inadequate fluid intake is one of the most frequent causes of chronic constipation.(26)  Additional water intake can increase stool frequency when a child’s voluntary fluid consumption is lower-than-normal for their age and activity level.(27)  Preventing constipation is important because this condition is a risk factor for colorectal cancer.(28)

Whether their water comes from a fountain or from a pure Spring in Ireland, Luna and Lara just want your child to be happy and healthy!  So Drink Up and Wiseup-On-Water!

24 The National Kidney Research Fund. What I tell parents

about... UTIs and reflux in children. Reproduced from the

British Journal of Renal Medicine, Autumn 1999, Volume 4,

25 Water is cool in school. FAQ: What's the link between

wetting problems and drinking water?

http://www.wateriscoolinschool.org.uk/faq.html

Water, electrolytes, minerals and trace elements. London:

Chapman & Hall 1997

Chloride and Sulfate (2004) Institute of Medicine of the

National Academies. Washington DC: The National

Academies Press. http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10925.html

26 Arnaud MJ. Mild dehydration: a risk factor of constipation?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2003;57(Suppl 2):S88-95

27 Young RJ, Beerman LE and Vanderhoof. Increasing oral fluid

in chronic constipation in children. Gastroenterology Nursing

1998;21:156-61

28 Sonnenberg A, Muller AD. Constipation and cathartics as risk

factors of colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis. Pharmacology

1993;47(Suppl 1):224-33