Did you know that drinking enough water can actually make your heart healthier and lower your risk of heart failure? It’s true. Staying hydrated your whole life might just keep heart failure at bay. Researchers recently found some really interesting things about heart health and how much you drink.

The Research

A study from ESC Congress 2021 showed that your heart will be healthier if you drink enough water every day. Dr. Natalia Dmitrieva, who led the study at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, US, put it simply: “Our study suggests that maintaining good hydration can prevent or at least slow down the changes within the heart that lead to heart failure. The findings indicate that we need to pay attention to the amount of fluid we consume every day and take action if we find that we drink too little.”

Recommended Intake

Experts say men should drink at least two to three liters of water daily, and women should aim for 1.6 to 2 liters. But global surveys tell us many people don’t even hit the lower end of those numbers.

What Happens If You Drink Less Water?

When you don’t drink enough water, your body’s serum sodium concentration goes up, and your body tries to hold onto water. This process can actually contribute to developing heart failure.

Dr. Dmitrieva explained, “It is natural to think that hydration and serum sodium should change day to day depending on how much we drink on each day. However, serum sodium concentration remains within a narrow range over long periods, which is likely related to habitual fluid consumption.”

The Aims of the Study

This study wanted to see if serum sodium concentration in middle age could predict heart failure 25 years down the road. Researchers also looked at how hydration connects to the thickening of the heart’s main pumping chamber walls. This thickening often shows up before a heart failure diagnosis.

The Method

For the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, they looked at data from 15,792 adults. These folks were 44 to 66 years old when they started, and researchers checked in with them five times until they were 70 to 90.

Participants were split into four groups based on their average serum sodium concentration during the first two visits (within the first three years): 135–139.5, 140–141.5, 142–143.5, and 144–146 mmol/l.

Then, for each sodium group, the researchers checked how many people developed heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy by visit five, which was 25 years later.

The Result

The researchers found that higher serum sodium concentration in midlife was linked to heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy 25 years later. This link stayed strong even after they accounted for other things that contribute to heart failure, like blood pressure, age, kidney function, blood cholesterol, body mass index, sex, blood glucose, and smoking.

Every one mmol/l increase in midlife serum sodium concentration meant a 1.20 and 1.11 increased chance of developing left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure 25 years later. Risks for both left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure in people aged 70 to 90 started to climb when their midlife serum sodium went over 142 mmol/l.

Dr. Dmitrieva noted, “The results suggest that good hydration throughout life may decrease the risk of developing left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. In addition, our finding that serum sodium exceeding 142mmol/l increases the risk of adverse effects in the heart may help to identify people who could benefit from an evaluation of their hydration level. This sodium level is within the normal range and would not be labeled as abnormal in lab test results but could be used by physicians during regular physical exams to identify people whose usual fluid intake should be assessed.”

Drink Pure Water for Heart Health- Trust AMPAC USA

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Reference:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210824104113.htm

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