Introduction:

the dietary water and the intake of beverages play a relevant role in the dietary and hydration patterns of children and few studies provide an overview of them.

Objetives:

to assess the dietary intake of water, its adaptation to the recommendations and its distribution throughout the day, and the average consumption of beverages by a group of Spanish schoolchildren.

Material and methods:

a sample of 262 schoolchildren (139 boys and 123 girls) between seven and 12 years old was studied. A three-day dietary record (one day in weekend) was kept to assess beverage consumption. Dietary water intake obtained was compared to EFSA's adequate intake (AI) and other recommendations, its distribution throughout the day was studied, and personal and anthropometric date were collected too. The data were processed using DIAL and SPSS.

Results:

the beverages consumed in greatest quantity were water as a beverage, milk and commercial juices and nectars. The average dietary water intake was 1,401 ± 432 ml/day (42% from food and 58% from beverages). Only 20.2% of schoolchildren were above the AIs. Dietary water intake was significantly higher at all intakes in the day in those schoolchildren who were above AIs.

Conclusions:

based on our results, 79.8% of children do not cover the AIs. For this reason it is important improve their hydration patterns. In this aspect, water as a beverage plays a key role to cover the recommendations.

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