Question

What do you understand about the water balance in the body?

Answer 1

Water balance

1. Water balance refers to the constant maintenance of water volume in the body.
2. This is achieved by the consumption of water in the form of food and beverages to compensate for the amount of water lost from the body through sweat, urine, and defecation.
3. A normal adult person has 40 liters of water in their body which is equivalent to about 60% of the body weight.
4. This occurs by osmoregulation where the concentration of salts and water is maintained close to normal.
5. With an increase in the concentration of salts outside the cells, water is lost from the cells and they shrink due to dehydration.
6. An increase in the concentration of salts inside the cells results in the movement of water into the cells causing oedema.