Hydration Research Articles
Fluid replacement promotes optimal physical performance.
Adequate fluid replacement helps maintain hydration and, promotes the
health, safety, and optimal physical performance of individuals participating
in regular physical activity. Med Sci Sports Exercise
1996 Jan;28(1):i-vii.
American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid
replacement.
Convertino VA, Armstrong LE, Coyle EF, Mack GW, Sawka MN, Senay LC Jr,
Sherman WM.
- It is the position of the American College of Sports Medicine that
adequate fluid replacement helps maintain hydration and, therefore,
promotes the health, safety, and optimal physical performance of individuals
participating in regular physical activity. This position statement
is based on a comprehensive review and interpretation of scientific
literature concerning the influence of fluid replacement on exercise
performance and the risk of thermal injury associated with dehydration
and hyperthermia. Based on available evidence, the American College
of Sports Medicine makes the following general recommendations on the
amount and composition of fluid that should be ingested in preparation
for, during, and after exercise or athletic competition: 1) It is recommended
that individuals consume a nutritionally balanced diet and drink adequate
fluids during the 24-hr period before an event, especially during the
period that includes the meal prior to exercise, to promote proper hydration
before exercise or competition.
- It is recommended that individuals drink about 500 ml (about 17 ounces)
of fluid about 2 h before exercise to promote adequate hydration and
allow time for excretion of excess ingested water.
- During exercise, athletes should start drinking early and at regular
intervals in an attempt to consume fluids at a rate sufficient to replace
all the water lost through sweating (i.e., body weight loss), or consume
the maximal amount that can be tolerated.
- It is recommended that ingested fluids be cooler than ambient temperature
[between 15 degrees and 22 degrees C (59 degrees and 72 degrees F])]
and flavored to enhance palatability and promote fluid replacement.
Fluids should be readily available and served in containers that allow
adequate volumes to be ingested with ease and with minimal interruption
of exercise.
- During intense exercise lasting longer than 1 h, it is recommended
that carbohydrates be ingested at a rate of 30-60 g.h(-1) to maintain
oxidation of carbohydrates and delay fatigue. This rate of carbohydrate
intake can be achieved without compromising fluid delivery by drinking
600-1200 ml.h(-1) of solutions containing 4%-8% carbohydrates (g.100
ml(-1)). The carbohydrates can be sugars (glucose or sucrose) or starch
(e.g., maltodextrin).
- Inclusion of sodium (0.5-0.7 g.1(-1) of water) in the rehydration
solution ingested during exercise lasting longer than 1 h is recommended
since it may be advantageous in enhancing palatability, promoting fluid
retention, and possibly preventing hyponatremia in certain individuals
who drink excessive quantities of fluid. There is little physiological
basis for the presence of sodium in n oral rehydration solution for
enhancing intestinal water absorption as long as sodium is sufficiently
available from the previous meal.
Electrolyzed-reduced water scavenges active oxygen & protects DNA
from oxidative damage.
Electrolyzed-reduced water scavenges active oxygen species and protects
DNA from oxidative damage.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun.
1997 May 8;234(1):269-74.
Shirahata S, Kabayama S, Nakano M, Miura T, Kusumoto K, Gotoh M, Hayashi
H, Otsubo K, Morisawa S, Katakura Y.
Institute of Cellular Regulation Technology, Graduate School of Genetic
Resources Technology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. sirahata@grt.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Active oxygen species or free radicals are considered to cause extensive
oxidative damage to biological macromolecules, which brings about a variety
of diseases as well as aging. The ideal scavenger for active oxygen should
be active hydrogen . Active hydrogen can be produced in reduced water
near the cathode during electrolysis of water. Reduced water exhibits
high pH, low dissolved oxygen (DO), extremely high dissolved molecular
hydrogen (DH), and extremely negative redox potential (RP) values. Strongly
electrolyzed-reduced water, as well as ascorbic acid, (+)-catechin and
tannic acid, completely scavenged O.-2 produced by the hypoxanthine-xanthine
oxidase (HX-XOD) system in sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). The superoxide
dismutase (SOD)-like activity of reduced water is stable at 4 degrees
C for over a month and was not lost even after neutralization, repeated
freezing and melting, deflation with sonication, vigorous mixing, boiling,
repeated filtration, or closed autoclaving, but was lost by opened autoclaving
or by closed autoclaving in the presence of tungsten trioxide which efficiently
adsorbs active atomic hydrogen. Water bubbled with hydrogen gas exhibited
low DO, extremely high DH and extremely low RP values, as does reduced
water, but it has no SOD-like activity. These results suggest that the
SOD-like activity of reduced water is not due to the dissolved molecular
hydrogen but due to the dissolved atomic hydrogen (active hydrogen). Although
SOD accumulated H2O2 when added to the HX-XOD system, reduced water decreased
the amount of H2O2 produced by XOD.
Reduced water, as well as catalase and ascorbic acid, could directly
scavenge H2O2. Reduced water suppresses single-strand breakage of DNA
b active oxygen species produced by the Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of
ascorbic acid in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that reduced water
can scavenge not only O2.- and H2O2, but also 1O2 and .OH.
Environmental electrochemistry of water.
Effects of alkaline ionized water on formation & maintenance of
osseous tissues
by Rei Takahashi Zhenhua Zhang Yoshinori Itokawa
(Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Dept. of Pathology and
Tumor Biology, Fukui Prefectural University)
Effects of calcium alkaline ionized water on formation and maintenance
of osseous tissues in rats were examined. In the absence of calcium in
the diet, no apparent calcification was observed with only osteoid formation
being prominent. Striking differences were found among groups that were
given diets with 30% and 60% calcium. Rats raised by calcium ionized water
showed the least osteogenetic disturbance. Tibiae and humeri are more
susceptible to calcium deficiency than femora. Theses results may indicate
that calcium in drinking water effectively supplements osteogenesis in
case of dietary calcium deficiency. The mechanism involved in osteoid
formation such as absorption rate of calcium from the intestine and effects
of calcium alkaline ionized drinking water on maintaining bone structure
in the process of aging or under the condition of calcium deficiency is
investigated.
Osteoporosis that has lately drawn public attention is defined as "conditions
of bone brittleness caused by reduction in the amount of bone frames and
deterioration of osseous microstructure." Abnormal calcium metabolism
has been considered to be one of the factors to contribute to this problem,
which in turn is caused by insufficient calcium take in, reduction in
enteral absorption rate of calcium and increase in the amount of calcium
in urinal discharge. Under normal conditions, bones absorb old bones by
regular metabolism through osteoid formation to maintain their strength
and function as supporting structure. It is getting clear that remodeling
of bones at the tissue level goes through the process of activation, resorption,
reversal, matrix synthesis and mineralization. Another important function
of bones is storing minerals especially by coordinating with intestines
and kidneys to control calcium concentration in the blood. When something
happens to this osteo metabolism, it results in abnormal morphological
changes. Our analyses have been focusing mostly on the changes in the
amount of bones to examine effects of calcium alkaline ionized water on
the reaction system of osteo metabolism and its efficiency. Ibis time,
however, we studied it further from the standpoint of histology. In other
words, we conducted comparative studies on morphological and kinetic changes
of osteogenesis by testing alkaline ionized water, tap water and solution
of lactate on rats.
Reduced Water for Prevention of Disease.
Dr.Sanetaka Shirahata
Graduate school of Genetic Resources Technology, Kyushu University,
6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
It has long been established that reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause
many types of damage to biomolecules and cellular structures, that, in
turn result in the development of a variety of pathologic states such
as diabetes, cancer and aging. Reduced water is defined as anti-oxidative
water produced by reduction of water. Electrolyzed reduced water (ERW)
has been demonstrated to be hydrogen-rich water and can scavenge ROS in
vitro (Shirahata et al., 1997). The reduction of proton in water to active
hydrogen (atomic hydrogen, hydrogen radical) that can scavenge ROS is
very easily caused by a weak current, compared to oxidation of hydroxyl
ion to oxygen molecule.
Activation of water by magnetic field, collision, minerals etc. will
also produce reduced water containing active hydrogen and/or hydrogen
molecule. Several natural waters such as Hita Tenryosui water drawn from
deep underground in Hita city in Japan, Nordenau water in Germany and
Tlacote water in Mexico are known to alleviate various diseases. We have
developed a sensitive method by which we can detect active hydrogen existing
in reduced water, and have demonstrated that not only ERW but also natural
reduced waters described above contain active hydrogen and scavenge ROS
in cultured cells. ROS is known to cause reduction of glucose uptake by
inhibiting the insulin-signaling pathway in cultured cells.
Reduced water scavenged intracellular ROS and stimulated glucose uptake
in the presence or absence of insulin in both rat L6 skeletal muscle cells
and mouse 3T3/L1 adipocytes. This insulin-like activity of reduced water
was inhibited by wortmannin that is specific inhibitor of PI-3 kinase,
a key molecule in insulin signaling pathways. Reduced water protected
insulin-responsive cells from sugar toxicity and improved the damaged
sugar tolerance of type 2 diabetes model mice, suggesting that reduced
water may improve insulin-independent diabetes mellitus.
Cancer cells are generally exposed to high oxidative stress. Reduced
water cause impaired tumor phenotypes of human cancer cells, such as reduced
growth rate, morphological changes, reduced colony formation ability in
soft agar, passage number-dependent telomere shortening, reduced binding
abilities of telomere binding proteins and suppressed metastasis. Reduced
water suppressed the growth of cancer cells transplanted into mice, demonstrating
their anti-cancer effects in vivo. Reduced water will be applicable to
not only medicine but also food industries, agriculture, and manufacturing
industries.
Pharmaceuticals In Our Water Supplies
Developed to promote human health and well being, certain pharmaceuticals
are now attracting attention as a potentially new class of water pollutants.
Such drugs as antibiotics, anti-depressants, birth control pills, seizure
medication, cancer treatments, pain killers, tranquilizers and cholesterol-lowering
compounds have been detected in varied water sources.
Where do they come from? Pharmaceutical industries, hospitals and other
medical facilities are obvious sources, but households also contribute
a significant share. People often dispose of unused medicines by flushing
them down toilets, and human excreta can contain varied incompletely metabolized
medicines. These drugs can pass intact through conventional sewage treatment
facilities, into waterways, lakes and even aquifers. Further, discarded
pharmaceuticals often end up at dumps and land fills, posing a threat
to underlying groundwater.
Farm animals also are a source of pharmaceuticals entering the environment,
through their ingestion of hormones, antibiotics and veterinary medicines.
(About 40 percent of U.S.-produced antibiotics are fed to livestock as
growth enhancers.) Manure containing traces of such pharmaceuticals is
spread on land and can then wash off into surface water and even percolate
into groundwater.
Along with pharmaceuticals, personal care products also are showing
up in water. Generally these chemicals are the active ingredients or preservatives
in cosmetics, toiletries or fragrances. For example, nitro musks, used
as a fragrance in many cosmetics, detergents, toiletries and other personal
care products, have attracted concern because of their persistence and
possible adverse environmental impacts. Some countries have taken action
to ban nitro musks. Also, sun screen agents have been detected in lakes
and fish.
Researchers Christian G. Daughton and Thomas A. Ternes reported in the
December issue of Environmental Health Perspectives that the amount of
pharmaceuticals and personal care products entering the environment annually
is about equal to the amount of pesticides used each year.
Concern about the water quality impacts of these chemicals first gained
prominence in Europe, where for over a decade scientists have been checking
lakes, streams, and groundwater for pharmaceutical contamination. American
officials and scientists are taking note, with two recent U.S. professional
organizations the National Ground Water Associations and the American
Chemical Society addressing the issue at their annual meetings this summer.
The issue emerged in Europe about ten years ago, when German environmental
scientists found clofibric acid, a cholesterol-lowering drug, in groundwater
beneath a German water treatment plant. They later found clofibric acid
throughout local waters, and a further search found phenazone and fenofibrate,
drugs used to regulate concentrations of lipids in the blood, and analgesics
such as ibuprofen and diclofenac in groundwater under a sewage plant.
Meanwhile other European researchers discovered chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics
and hormones in drinking water sources.
In the United States, the issue might have attracted earlier notice
if officials had followed up on observations made 20 years ago. At that
time, EPA scientists found that sludge from a U.S. sewage-treatment plant
contained excreted aspirin, caffeine and nicotine. At the time, no significance
was attached to the findings.
In Phoenix about this time another event occurred that also might have
alerted officials that pharmaceuticals could pose a water quality threat.
Herman Bouwer of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service in Phoenix recalls
that clofibric acid was found in groundwater below infiltration basins
that were artificially recharging groundwater with sewage effluent. Bouwer
says more attention should have been paid to the finding; if clofibric
acid could pass through a sewage treatment plant and percolate into the
groundwater so also could many other drugs.
Europeans, however, took the lead in researching the issue. In the mid-1990s,
Thomas A. Ternes, a chemist in Wiesbaden, Germany, investigated what happens
to prescribed medicines after they are excreted. Ternes knew that many
such drugs are prescribed, and that little was known of the environmental
effects of these compounds after they are excreted. He researched the
presence of drugs in sewage, treated water and rivers, and his findings
surprised him.
Expecting to identify a few medicinal compounds he instead found 30
of the 60 common pharmaceuticals that he surveyed. Drugs he identified
included lipid-lowering drugs, antibiotics, analgesics, antiseptics, beta-blocker
heart drugs, residues of drugs for controlling epilepsy as well as drugs
serving as contrast agents for diagnostic X rays.
Results of recent research in North America also indicate reason for
concern. At the June National Groundwater Association conference, Glen
R. Boyd, a Tulane University civil engineer, reported detecting drugs
in the Mississippi River, Lake Ponchetrain and in Tulanes tap water. Boyd
and his team found in tested waters low levels of clofibric acid, the
pain killer naproxen and the hormone estrone. Samples of Tulanes tap water
showed estrone averaging 45 parts per trillion with a high of 80 parts
per trillion.
At the recent American Chemical Society conference, Chris Metcalfe of
Trent University in Ontario reported finding a vast array of drugs leaving
Canadian sewage treatment plants, at times at higher levels than what
is reported in Germany. Such drugs included anticancer agents, psychiatric
drugs and anti-inflammatory compounds. North American treatment plants
may show higher levels of pharmaceuticals because they often lack the
technological sophistication of German facilities.
The U.S.G.S. is currently conducting the first nationwide assessment
of emerging contaminants found in selected streams, including the occurrence
of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, sex and steroidal hormones and
other drugs such as antidepressants and antacids. One hundred stream sites
were identified, representing a wide variety of geographical and hydrogeological
settings. Four of these sites are in Arizona: Santa Cruz River at Cortaro
Road; Santa Cruz River near Rio Rico; Salt River below 91st Ave. sewage
treatment plant; and Gila River above diversions at Gillespie Dam.
Stream sites were chosen that were expected to be highly susceptible
to contamination by targeted compounds. Testing the sites will provide
an initial indication of the potential for these compounds to enter the
environment, as well provide an opportunity for developing suitable laboratory
methods for measuring compounds in environmental samples at very low (sub-ppb)
levels.
Detected contaminants include caffeine, which was the highest-volume
pollutant, codeine, cholesterol-lowering agents, anti-depressants, and
Premarin, an estrogen replacement drug taken by about 9 million women.
Also chemotherapy agents were found downstream from hospitals treating
cancer patients. Final results from the study are expected to be released
in the fall.
What risk does chronic exposure to trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals
pose to humans or wildlife? Some scientists believe pharmaceuticals do
not pose problems to humans since they occur at low concentrations in
water. Other scientists say long-term and synergistic effects of pharmaceuticals
and similar chemicals on humans are not known and advise caution. They
are concerned that many of these drugs have the potential of interfering
with hormone production. Chemicals with this effect are called endocrine
disrupters and are attracting the attention of water quality experts.
To some scientists the release of antibiotics into waterways is particularly
worrisome. They fear the release may result in disease-causing bacteria
to become immune to treatment and that drug-resistant diseases will develop.
Scientists generally agree that aquatic life is most at risk, its life
cycle, from birth to death, occurring within potentially drug-contaminated
waters. For example, anti-depressants have been blamed for altering sperm
levels and spawning patterns in marine life. Most studies of pharmaceutical
and pharmaceutically active chemicals in water have mostly focused on
aquatic animals.
For example, recent British research suggest that estrogen, the female
sex hormone, is primarily responsible for deforming reproductive systems
of fish, noting that blood plasma from male trout living below sewage
treatment plants had the female egg protein vitellogenin. This finding
would seem to be consistent with what U.S. researchers suspect has occurred
downstream from treatment plants in Las Vegas and Minneapolis. Carp in
these areas show the same effects as the British fish.
Some scientists believe arid regions of the West are especially vulnerable
to the effects of drug-contaminated effluent. These areas are more likely
to have streams that rely almost entirely on effluent for flow, especially
during dry months. Further, effluent is extensively used in irrigation
and even for recharging drinking water aquifers. Also, areas of the West
have attracted large number of retired people who are likely to use more
pharmaceuticals than other population segments; thus more pharmaceuticals
in wastewater.
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