Research just presented at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology indicates that maintaining good hydration throughout life can protect us from developing heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions in advanced age. “Our findings indicate that we should pay attention to the amount of liquid we consume every day and take action if we discover that we drink very little,” explains study author and researcher at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda (United States) Natalia Dmitrieva .
Recommendations for daily water intake
Experts recommend drinking 1.6 to 2.1 liters of water daily for women and 2 to 3 liters for men. However, and as a study published in 2015 in the European Journal of Nutrition revealed, many people around the world do not even reach the lower limits of these ranges.
The authors have used blood sodium levels as a measure of hydration status: when little liquid is drunk, this concentration increases. To try to retain as much water as possible, in these situations the body activates processes that are known to contribute to the development of heart failure. “At first glance, you could expect hydration and sodium levels in the blood to vary each day depending on what we drink,” explains Dmitrieva. However, it seems that this value remains stable within a narrow range for long periods of time, which is probably related to the habitual consumption of liquids ”.
The study evaluated whether the concentration of sodium in the blood as a measure of hydration habits is capable of predicting the development of heart failure 25 years later. The researchers also examined the connection between hydration and thickening of the walls of the heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle), called left ventricular hypertrophy, which is a precursor to the diagnosis of heart failure.
The analysis was performed in 1 5792 adults who were between 44 and 66 years old at the time of enrollment and were evaluated at five visits until they were 70 to 90 years old. The participants were divided into four groups based on their average serum sodium concentration. For each sodium group, the researchers looked at the proportion of people who developed heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy at visit five (25 years later).
The results revealed that the higher concentration of sodium in the blood in middle age was associated with an increased risk of heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy 25 years later. Furthermore, this association remained after adjusting for other factors related to the development of heart failure: age, blood pressure, kidney function, blood cholesterol, blood glucose, body mass index, sex, and smoking. Each 1 micromole per liter of blood (mmol / L) increase in serum sodium concentration in midlife was associated with a 1.20 and 1.11 increase in the odds of developing left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure, respectively. , 25 years later.
In addition, the risks of left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure between the ages of 70 and 90 began to increase when serum sodium exceeded 142 mmol / L in middle age.
“The results suggest that good hydration throughout life can decrease the risk of developing left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. Furthermore, our finding that serum sodium greater than 142 mmol / L increases the risk of adverse effects on the heart may help to identify people who could benefit from an assessment of their hydration level, ”the author explains. “This sodium level is within the normal range and would not be labeled abnormal in lab test results, but doctors could use it during regular physical exams to identify people whose regular fluid intake should be checked.”
Text: European Society of Cardiology
