Baseline drinking water consumption and changes in body weight and waist circumference at 2-years of follow-up in a senior Mediterranean population.

Abstract

Background&aims:The association between drinking water consumption and adiposity has been poorlyexplored. Therefore, we aimed to analyse the associations between the frequency of drinking waterconsumption and body weight and waist circumference changes in an elderly Mediterranean cohort.Methods:A total of 1832 elderly participants (aged 55e75 years) with metabolic syndrome from thePREDIMED-Plus study with baseline data on drinking water and other beverages assessed by a validated32-item Spanishfluid-intake questionnaire and with data on body weight (BW) and waist circumference(WC) at 1-year and 2-year were included in these prospective analyses. Multivariable linear regressionmodels werefitted to assess theb-coefficients and 95% confidence interval (CI) for BW and WC changes in terms of categories of baseline drinking water consumption (tap water and bottled water). Thetheoretical effect on BW and WC of replacing several beverages with drinking water was assessed usingmathematical models.Results:The baseline frequency of drinking water consumption was inversely associated with 1-year and 2-year changes in BW.b-coefficients (95%CI) across categories of water consumption (<2.5, 2.5 to<5, 5 to<7.5, 7.5 servings/d) expressed in % of weight changes at 2 years of follow-up were 0.0, 0.80( 1.48, 0.12), 1.36 ( 2.18, 0.54), and 1.97 ( 3.09, 0.86), respectively. Individuals in the two highestcategoriesof drinkingwaterconsumption (5to<7, and 7.5 servings/d)also showeda higherdecreasein WC(expressed as % of change) after 2 years of follow-up: 1.11 ( 1.96, 0.25) and 1.45 ( 2.66, 0.24)comparedto the reference intake(<2.5 servings/day), afteradjustment for potential confounding factors. Thetheoretical replacement of soups, beers, spirits, hot beverages, dairy beverages, and other beverages groupwith drinking water was associated with greater reductions in BW at one- and two-years of follow-up.Conclusions:Drinking water consumption was inversely associated with 2-year adiposity changes in anelderly Mediterranean cohort at high cardiovascular risk. Our results also suggest that the consumptionof drinking water instead of energy-containing beverages is associated with lower weight gain.