People live, work and exercise in different environments and climatic conditions, all of which can influence daily fluid losses and water requirements.
European dietary reference values for total water (foods plus fluids) are 2.0 litres for females (≥ 14 years) and 2.5 litres for males1. However, these Adequate Intakes (AI) apply only to moderate physical activity levels (PAL 1.6) and moderate environmental temperatures1. While the requirement for water is probably lower than the AI for some individuals, or in colder environments where sweat losses are low or absent, in most cases requirements will exceed the AI due to water losses from sweat and respiration. Here we will discuss the various circumstances where water needs may be higher than the AI.
The EHI thanks to Dr. Hans Braun, EHI Science Advisory Board member, German Sport University Cologne and German Research Centre of Elite Sport (Germany), for providing the content used as a basis for the text in this section. His full scientific article entitled Effects of climate and Environment on water needs can be found in our section Selected Articles.