﻿﻿﻿ Children who don't like water are in danger of consuming 100 extra calories daily - Evewoman




Hands up, how many of us will diligently drink the recommended six to eight glasses of water a day we need to stop getting dehydrated?

As adults it's not always easy to consume the right amount of water - and it can be even harder to convince your kids to get drinking too.

It's a battle worth fighting though.

According to a US study, if your kid isn't drinking enough - or any - water, there could be serious health repercussions further down the line.

"Kids should consume water every single day, and the first beverage option for kids should be water," said the study's lead author Asher Rosinger, director of the Water, Health, and Nutrition Lab at Pennsylvania State University, in a statement.

As Rosinger warns: "If they're not drinking water, they’re probably going to replace it with other beverages, like sugar-sweetened beverages, that are less healthy and have more calories."


Together with his colleagues, Rosinger analysed data collected from 8,400 kids in the US between two and 19.They looked at their consumption of water and sugar-sweetened drinks such as fruit juice with added sugar, energy drinks and sweetened hot drinks.

The number of calories the children gained from sugary drinks and what percentage of their overall calorie intake came from these drinks was looked at.

What they found was that on any given day, one in five of the children drank no plain water at all.

On average, those children consumed almost 100 extra calories from sugary drinks per day than children who did drink water.

According to the World Health Organisation, no more than 10 per cent of a person's energy intake should derive from added sugar.

For the kids who drank no water, this limit was exceeded.

ALSO READ: Six ways to instil good habits in your children

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