Doctors from Peking Union Medical College say: How much or how little water should children drink for health

Niu Niu, a primary school student who is still on winter vacation, finished her homework and excitedly turned on the TV to watch the hottest Winter Olympics. After get off work, her mother was anxious and angry to find that Niu Niu had not drunk any water all day. At this time, the neighbor aunt happened to deliver freshly squeezed juice, but her grandmother was not happy: "The TV said that drinking too much juice will increase uric acid, and children should drink less sweet drinks."

As a parent, do you know what happens to your child's body if he drinks too much or too little water? Is it true that drinking too much juice will increase uric acid? Today, a doctor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital will take you to understand the big questions behind the trivial matter of drinking water.

What will happen to your body if you don’t drink water for a long time?

The importance of drinking water is self-evident, but why is the mother worried that Niuniu has almost no water for a day? This is because drinking less water often causes the following harm to the body:

1. Damage to the liver : When the body is dehydrated, toxins cannot be excreted, which can easily increase the burden on the liver.

2. Damage to the kidneys : The kidneys are also the body's detoxification organs. When the body is dehydrated, the pressure on the kidneys increases, leading to the accumulation of toxic substances.

3. Easy to cause digestive system diseases : When the body is dehydrated for a long time, saliva secretion decreases, leading to dry mouth and tongue; digestive juice secretion decreases, affecting the digestion and absorption of food, and toxins easily accumulate in the intestines.

4. Causes constipation : When lacking water, the body will prioritize maintaining normal fluid circulation, so the water in the intestines will be reabsorbed, causing dry stools and difficulty in defecation.

5. Easy to cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases : Lack of water will lead to a decrease in blood volume in the body, increase blood viscosity, affect blood circulation, and cause a variety of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

"Water is the source of life." We recommend that you remember to drink water in time no matter how busy or tired you are!

What happens to your body if you drink too much water too quickly?

Niu Niu's mother was worried that her child was not drinking enough water, so she asked Niu Niu to drink more water as soon as she got home, preferably enough at one time. We have all experienced times when we were very thirsty, drank a whole bottle of water in one breath to quench our thirst, and then had to go to the toilet within ten minutes. So is there any harm in drinking water like this?

The answer is: it is harmful ! The amount of water that the human body can hold has an upper limit. Drinking too much water means that the kidneys have to filter more water out of the body, which increases the burden on the kidneys. In the long run, it may cause kidney disease. Therefore, when drinking water, you should be careful not to drink too fast or too much at a time. It is best to drink less than 200ml each time . When the amount and speed of drinking water exceed the tolerance range of the kidneys, it may also cause hyponatremia, the cells in the body will over-swell, and symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, and palpitations will occur. In severe cases, convulsions may also occur.

Why does uric acid increase after drinking too much fruit juice?

More and more people are finding that their blood uric acid levels are "alarming" during physical examinations, and low-purine diets are beginning to attract attention. Everyone knows that you shouldn't eat too much seafood or animal offal, or drink too much beer, but they often overlook another "murderer" that causes elevated blood uric acid levels - fructose.

Some people always think that drinking fruit juice can replace eating fruit, but they don’t know the harm of fructose drinks. This sugar, which is sweeter than glucose and white sugar, has been found to be related to hyperuricemia . Relevant epidemiological studies have shown that after excluding weight and influencing factors, people who consume sugary drinks or foods with added sugar have significantly higher blood uric acid levels than other people. The more fructose a person consumes, the more likely they are to suffer from gout. The fructose in fruit juice can increase blood uric acid levels through direct and indirect mechanisms, while increasing the incidence of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, drinking large amounts of fruit juice and fructose drinks should be avoided.

If a child wants to drink juice, how much should he drink?

Drinking a lot of fruit juice will not only affect children's appetite, develop bad eating habits, and make children dislike drinking plain water, but also cause excessive energy intake. Drinking fruit juice as water will cause children to consume far more sugar than the body needs. These excess energies cannot help children's growth and development, but instead contribute to childhood obesity and diabetes.

According to the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, daily sugar intake should not exceed 50 grams, and it is best to control it below about 25 grams. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children aged 1 to 6 years old should not drink more than 120 to 180 milliliters of juice per day, and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years old should not drink more than 240 to 360 milliliters of juice per day. Therefore, it is not advisable to give children in their growth and development period too much juice, and they should not drink juice as water in their daily lives.

The healthiest drink for children is still water.

Drinking water is the most common thing in daily life, but it also contains truth and knowledge. Children, have you and Niu Niu learned "How much water do you drink" today?

Content from: Fu Yi, Boluo Yunyun, Qiang Jiaqi, Wu Danning, Peking Union Medical College doctors say