Water represents a critical nutrient whose absence will be lethal within days. Water’s importance for prevention of nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases has emerged more recently because of the shift toward large proportions of fluids coming from caloric beverages. Nevertheless, there are major gaps in knowledge related to measurement of total fluid intake, hydration status at the population level, and few longer-term systematic interventions and no published random-controlled longer-term trials. This review tries to summarize the current and common knowledge of water including overall patterns of intake and some factors linked with intake, the complex mechanisms behind water homeostasis, the effects of variation in water intake on health and energy intake, weight, and human performance and functioning.
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