Baseline drinking water consumption and changes in body weight and waist circumference at 2-years of follow-up in a senior Mediterranean population
Background & aims: The association between drinking water consumption and adiposity has been poorly explored. Therefore, we aimed to analyse the associations between the frequency of drinking water consumption and body weight and waist circumference changes in an elderly Mediterranean cohort. Methods: A total of 1832 elderly participants (aged 55-75 years) with metabolic syndrome from the PREDIMED-Plus study with baseline data on drinking water and other beverages assessed by a validated 32-item Spanish fluid-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 regression models were fitted to assess the β-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). The theoretical effect on BW and WC of replacing several beverages with drinking water was assessed using mathematical models. Results: The baseline frequency of drinking water consumption was inversely associated with 1-year and 2-year changes in BW. β-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 highest categories of drinking water consumption (5 to < 7, and ≥7.5 servings/d) also showed a higher decrease in WC (expressed as % of change) after 2 years of follow-up: -1.11 (-1.96, -0.25) and -1.45 (-2.66, -0.24) compared to the reference intake (<2.5 servings/day), after adjustment for potential confounding factors. The theoretical replacement of soups, beers, spirits, hot beverages, dairy beverages, and other beverages group with 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 an elderly Mediterranean cohort at high cardiovascular risk. Our results also suggest that the consumption of drinking water instead of energy-containing beverages is associated with lower weight gain. ; The PREDIMED-Plus trial was supported by the Spanish government's official funding agency for biomedical research , ISCIII, through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS) and co-funded by European Union ERDF/ESF, "A way to make Europe"/"Investing in your future" (five coordinated FIS projects led by JS-S and JVid, including the following: PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/00728, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/01374, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00366, PI17/00764, PI17/01827, PI17/01441, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, and PI19/00781), the Special Action Project entitled: Implementación y evaluación de una intervención intensiva sobre la actividad física Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus grant to JS-S, the European Research Council (Advanced Research Grant 2013–2018, 340918) to MÁM-G, the Recercaixa Grant to JS-S (2013ACUP00194), a grant from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2017/017), a SEMERGEN grant, and funds from the European Regional Development Fund (CB06/03). Study resulting from the SLT006/17/00246 grant, funded by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya by the call "Acció instrumental de programes de recerca orientats en l'àmbit de la recerca i la innovació en salut". We thank the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. This publication has been possible with the support of the Ministerio de Ciencia , Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) (FPU 17/01925). Jordi Salas-Salvadó, senior author of this study, is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme . IP-G receives a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU 17/01925). Dr. NB-T is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship ( Juan de la Cierva-Formación , FJC2018-036016-I). I.M Gimenez-Alba received an FPU grant from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (reference FPU 18/01703). C.B. received a Fernando Tarongí Bauzà PhD Grant.