Plain water and total moisture intakes and subsequent risk of all‐cause mortality in a national cohort

Few studies have examined the association of water intake with health. We examined the association of plain water and total moisture reported in the NHANES 1988–94 and the continuous NHANES 1999–2004 with all‐cause mortality in respondents aged >;25 years at the time of the initial survey (12015 men and 12635 women). The plain tap or bottled water intake was estimated from a question asked after the 24‐h recall and total moisture was the sum of plain water, beverage and food moisture estimated from a 24‐hour recall. The baseline plain water and 24‐hour total moisture intakes were 946+0.62 g and 3030+20 g, respectively. Mortality status from the date of examination in each NHANES survey until Dec. 31, 2006 was determined by the NCHS from probabilistic matching with the National Death Index. Over median 6.7 years of followup, 2332 men and 1935 women in the analytic cohort died from a known cause. In Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, with age the underlying time metric, plain water and total moisture intakes were not associated with all‐cause mortality in either sex (p>;0.05). These analyses accounted for survey design, were weighted, and were adjusted for race/ethnicity, education, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol use, history of chronic diseases, and recreational physical activity. The results were unchanged when plain water and total moisture were examined as grams/1000 kcals or as grams/kg of body weight.