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title: More Than Half The Children in the U.S. Are Dehydrated, Study Shows
description: A new study shows that more than half of children and adolescents in the United States are not drinking enough water.
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author: Tessa Berenson
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article:published_time: 2015-06-11T20:00:09.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:08:10.647Z
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og:title: More Than Half The Children in the U.S. Are Dehydrated
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# Half of U.S. Kids Don't Drink Enough Water, Study Says

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## Tessa Berenson


Jun 11, 2015 8:00 PM UTC

![Tessa Berenson](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec0484fe1b20c577/698a0ced86f68ed9d96ee9e6/tessa-berenson-author-2020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

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## Tessa Berenson


Jun 11, 2015 8:00 PM UTC

A new study shows that more than half of children and adolescents in the United States are not drinking enough water.

—Boys were 76% more likely to be dehydrated than girls, and non-Hispanic blacks were 34% more likely to be dehydrated than non-Hispanic whites.

“The good news is that this is a public health problem with a simple solution,” senior author Steven Gortmaker, professor of the practice of health sociology, [said in a release](http://www.eurekalert.org/emb%5Freleases/2015-06/hsop-sfi060915.php). “If we can focus on helping children drink more water–a low-cost, no-calorie beverage–we can improve their hydration status, which may allow many children to feel better throughout the day and do better in school.”

The researchers looked at data from 2009-2012 from more than 4,000 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19, examining urine concentration to determine hydration. The data was from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an annual study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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