One in ten people suffers from some type of kidney disease. This has been underlined by the head of the Nephrology Service of the Jimenez Diaz Foundation in Madrid, Alberto Ortiz, in a session on Natural mineral waters in renal processes held this week at the Royal National Academy of Medicine together with the Tomas Pascual Sanz Institute ( ITPS).
Faced with this situation, the seminar addressed the usefulness of a very simple measure: the consumption of natural mineral waters with very weak mineralization. This, Ortiz explains, is nothing more than water that contains less than 50 mg. of dry residue per liter. Weakly mineralized waters can increase this percentage up to 500 mg. per liter, while the content of dry residue in tap water is “highly variable,” says the nephrologist.
Does this mean that all people have to drink water with very weak mineralization
Ortiz underlines what the scientific evidence says: that it has been shown that the consumption of this liquid slows down the antidiuretic hormone (ADH), a mechanism of the body “to save water” that is detrimental to kidney health. Specifically, it has been proven that reducing this hormone is positive for autosomal polycystic kidney disease, the cause of starting dialysis in 10% of patients with kidney conditions in Spain.
Thus, the consumption of water with very weak mineralization would be recommended for all those affected by this disease, but, according to Ortiz, a large part of other kidney diseases are also accompanied by the formation of cysts in the kidneys, so preliminary data ” seem to suggest” that the reduction of ADH would also be an effective measure for these. The formation of stones in the kidney (lithiasis) or frequent urine infections would be other processes that could benefit from the consumption of very weak mineralization water.
From the ITPS, its director, Alfonso Perote, comments that it was proposed to address this issue in collaboration with “prestigious collaborators such as RANM” because hydration is “essential to maintain health, since it intervenes in many bodily processes such as thermoregulation, digestive processes, digestion, joint lubrication or correct intestinal transit, in addition to being the medium in which most of the body’s biochemical reactions take place”. None of the experts participating in the scientific session charged against tap water. According to Perote, “it is a basic public service that must comply with all the quality regulations established by the legislation for this type of supply.” However, the ITPS director points out that “
Along the same lines, Ortiz comments on the advantages of mineral water -bottled- and, specifically, that of very weak mineralization. “It is water with very few extras and very few minerals,” he sums up. “The labels on mineral water bottles tell us everything we need to know about that water and its mineralization, being able to choose the one that best suits us according to our tastes and needs,” adds Perote.
In any case, the specialists stressed that, in addition to the quality and type of water that is chosen, the quantity is still important. Thus, Ortiz highlights the importance of consuming between “two and three liters” of water a day, to equate that same amount in the urine, except in situations in which water is lost in another way, such as very physical jobs in which you sweat a lot. , in which the recommendation would be to further increase water consumption.
