The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate
TABLE 4-17 Daily Estimated Total Water Intake of Infants and Young Children in the United States
aTotal water intake reflects the sum of plain drinking (tap) water and the water content of all foods, formula, and beverages consumed.
NOTE: Data are limited to individuals who provided a valid response to the question, “How much plain drinking water do you usually drink in a 24-hour period? Include only plain tap or spring water” and provided a complete and reliable 24-hour dietary recall on Day 1. The intake distributions for infants 2–6 and 7–12 months and children 1–3 years of age are unadjusted. Means and percentiles for these groups were computed using SAS PROC UNIVARIATE. For all other groups, data were adjusted using the Iowa State University method to provide estimates of usual intake. Means and medians were obtained using C-Side. Infants and children fed human milk were excluded from the analysis.
DATA SOURCE: Appendix Table D-1: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988–1994.
SOURCE: ENVIRON International Corporation and Iowa State University Department of Statistics (2003).
summarizes the medians and ranges of water intake of infants and young children of both genders. Note that with maturation, the range of total water (difference between the 5th and 95th percentiles) increases. The expanding range probably results from differences in body size, physical activity, and environmental exposure.
Table 4-18 summarizes the median values of total water intake (food and beverages) for male and female older children, adolescents, and adults in the United States (Appendix D). Daily total water intake values are lower in females than in males at all ages. For both genders, daily total fluid intakes are relatively constant from late teens to late middle age, with slightly lower values before and after. The variability of values is probably not due to altered hydration status, as serum osmolalities are similar (and indicative of euhydration) across age groups and deciles of total water intake (see earlier section, “Plasma Indicators,” and Appendix G). Women
