Health, Water | featured news

What to drink on your summer run or bike ride — sports drink or water? The answer is not always as clear as, say, water. It depends on the duration and intensity of the physical activity and on how much you sweat, says Suzanne Girard Eberle, sports dietitian and author of “Endurance Sports Nutrition.”

Even a slight change in our water levels can lead to dehydration. And if we constantly fail to top-up on H2O whenever we lose it (and we lose it a lot), then we may become chronically dehydrated. Thankfully, your body will let you know when this happens.

If you wonder what kinds of beverages you should allow your kids to drink, a report published Monday morning in the journal Pediatrics makes things crystal clear: That’s just one of many useful nuggets of information from the report’s informative review of sports and energy drinks, the differences between the two and the way they should and, more important, shouldn’t be consumed.

A surprising number of U.S. cities have drinking water with unhealthy levels of chemicals and contaminants. If you live in Pensacola, Fla., you may want to invest in a water purifier.

The government also urged Americans to avoid sugary drinks and drink water instead and to read labels to pick soup, bread and frozen meals with less salt.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are recommending changing for the first time in nearly 50 years the amount of fluoride allowed in drinking water because of an increase in fluorosis -- a condition that causes spotting and streaking on children's teeth.

The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose serious health risks — and still be legal.

Over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.