NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — Six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to keep the doctor away? Not quite!
The amount of water a person needs in a day depends on the individual.
The actual RDA, or recommended daily allowance, is 2.7 liters, roughly 91 ounces for women, and 3.7 liters, roughly 125 ounces a day for men.
A recent study showed the turnover rate, measuring how much water the body is using and replenishing daily, measured closely for men and women.
It showed the average woman’s turnover rate was 2.7 liters a day, and men were closer to 3.1 liters a day.
Dietitian Rachel Iverson says factors such as a person’s sweat rate, activity level, and body weight all impact how much water a person should consume.
A larger person requires more fluid in order to circulate the fluid throughout the body.
Outside factors such as temperature and humidity also significantly impact how much water a person needs, and the winter months are no exception.
“So you can actually lose almost as much fluid as you do when it’s really high humidity. So in July, when you are really sweaty and doing yardwork, same thing when it’s super dry in the winter because we lose so much more fluid from every pore in our skin, and then when you talk you’re losing a lot more, especially up here. It’s low humidity and subzero temperatures and so you need to significantly up water intake by almost a liter on those days if you’re outside a lot,” said Dietician Rachel Iverson.
Other food and drinks such as fruit, vegetables, or soup count towards your daily fluid intake
Foods that melt at room temperatures, such as ice cream or jello, can also count toward your total RDA
