Water is an important constituent of our diet, its importance is obvious from the fact that about 75% of an infant’s body and 60% of an adult body is nothing but water. From this amount of water a loss of 15%-20% may be prove to be fatal.
In our body water is present in two forms:
Intra-cellular fluids
Which are present within the cells accounting for 45% of our body weight and extra cellular fluids which are presents outside the cells. Examples of extracellular fluids are plasma, intestinal fluids, lymph and the secretions of the pancreas, the liver, the gastro-intestinal mucosa.
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Functions
As mentioned earlier, water is a major structural constituent of our body. All the tissues of our body including teeth and bone contain water.
At any given time there are numerous physiochemical changes going on in the body. Water act as a medium for these reactions. The waste product of the body is excreted in the form of urine and perspiration and water is the medium for both of these. It is the carrier for the products of digestion helping in transporting them to various cells in the body. Water helps in maintaining the body temperature by distributing the heat in the body.
It is an important lubricant for the various organs. Mucus that lubricates the digestive tract and the respiratory tract, saliva which makes it possible for us to swallow the food, contain water as an important component.
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Sources
Our body suffers loss of water due to execration in urine, faeces and perspiration. Some of the water is also lost with air that we exhale. To make up these losses we have to take water in the diet. Fats, carbohydrates and proteins all contain water in some form or the other. Besides this, the various chemical reaction going on in our bodies also release water which can be used. About 1.5 liters of water per day is sufficient to cover the losses from the body to meet its requirements.