Hydration habits of a group of university students.

• TITLE: Hydration habits of a group of university students.
• AUTHOR: Rodríguez Yera E, García Izquierdo I, Martín Salinas C.
• REFERENCE: Nutr Hosp. 2015 Dec 1;32(s02):10340.
• YEAR: 2015

OBJECTIVE:
Determine hydration habits of university students.

METHODS:
Transversal and descriptive study in a sample of 102 nursing students of Autónoma University of Madrid. Water and other liquids intake habits were gathered through an on-line, anonymous and self-filling survey. A descriptive analysis on these data was developed.

RESULTS:
The 15.7% (16) of the sample were men and the 84.3% (86) women, with an average age of 23 years old and in a range of 20 years. 79.4% (81) were trained in Nutrition. All of them used to drink water on a daily basis, and a 59.8% (61) used to do it systematically several times per day, regardless they were thirsty or not. In relation to the daily consumption of other type of drinks, 13.7% (14) used to drink soft-drinks or energetic beverages, being 36.3 % (37) with sugar and 35.3 % (36) light. Additionally, 76.5% (78) used to drink milk daily, 31.4% (32) coffee and 6.9% (7) infusions. Regarding the quantity consumed, 69.3% (70) used to drink between four and eight glasses of water, 89.2% (91) used to take also a soft-drink, 73.5% (75) a glass of milk, 87.3% (89) a coffee with milk and 89.2% (91) an infusion. On the other hand, only 3% (3) used to
drink wine or beer on a daily basis and none of the respondents used to drink alcohol at this frequency. In this case, 38.5% (37) used to drink a can of beer and 50.5% (48) a glass of wine. Among 2% (2) of the students that used to drink alcohol 2 or 3 times per week, 40.2% (41) used drink only one unit. Finally, 38.2% (39) considered they were always well hydrated.

CONCLUSIONS:
Most of the students that have participated in this study, comply with the recommendations on liquid intake for the Spanish population. The drinking of water predominates over other liquids that also contribute to keep the hydration, but which help increasing the energetic content of the diet.