--- title: "How much water per day: the EFSA reference values" description: "EFSA set reference values for total water intake: 2.0 litres a day for women and 2.5 litres a day for men, including water from beverages and from food." category: stiai-ca slug: cata-apa-pe-zi-valori-de-referinta-efsa date: 2026-10-27 --- The European Food Safety Authority has set reference values for **total** water intake: **2.0 litres a day for adult women** and **2.5 litres a day for adult men**. The figures include the water you drink, the water in all other beverages and the water contained in food. They do not mean two and a half litres of drinking water on top of everything else you consume. ## Where the figures come from The source is a scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, entitled *Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for water*, adopted on 4 December 2009 and published on 25 March 2010 in *EFSA Journal* 2010;8(3):1459. The opinion establishes what is called an **Adequate Intake**. This is a type of reference value used when the data do not allow an exact average requirement to be calculated. It is derived from observed intakes in the population, correlated with desirable urine osmolarity values and with water volumes per unit of energy consumed. In other words: it is neither a mandatory amount nor a threshold below which a problem appears. It is a statistical reference point for a population. ## The values, by age group The opinion gives values for all age groups. The adult figures are the ones most often quoted, but the full context helps: - **infants, first half of the first year:** 100–190 ml per kilogram of body weight per day - **infants 6–12 months:** 800–1,000 ml a day - **second year of life:** 1,100–1,200 ml a day, obtained by interpolation, as intake data were not available - **children 2–3 years:** 1,300 ml a day, boys and girls - **children 4–8 years:** 1,600 ml a day, boys and girls - **9–13 years:** 2,100 ml a day for boys, 1,900 ml a day for girls - **adolescents aged 14 and over:** treated as adults for water intake - **adult women:** 2.0 l a day (95th percentile: 3.1 l) - **adult men:** 2.5 l a day (95th percentile: 4.0 l) - **older people:** the same values as for adults - **pregnant women:** as for non-pregnant women, plus an increase proportional to the increase in energy intake, around 300 ml a day - **breastfeeding women:** about 700 ml a day above the value for women of the same age who are not breastfeeding ## The condition everyone skips The opinion states explicitly that the reference values apply **only in conditions of moderate ambient temperature and moderate physical activity levels** (PAL 1.6). That changes the reading entirely for someone who trains. The EFSA values were not constructed for intense exercise, nor for hot weather. There is, in this opinion, no figure for "how much to drink during a workout" — because that was not the question EFSA answered. Any article that takes the 2.5 litres and presents them as an athlete's requirement in summer is using the figure outside its domain of validity. ## Why the authorised claim says 2 litres, not 2.5 There is a second figure, and it causes confusion: the health claim authorised for water in the European Union has as its condition of use **a daily intake of at least 2 litres of water, from all sources**. The two figures come from different documents with different purposes: - **2.0 / 2.5 litres** are nutritional reference values, differentiated by sex and age, from the opinion on dietary reference values (2010). - **2 litres** is the condition of use for a commercial claim, a single threshold applicable to everyone, set by Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 on the basis of the 2011 EFSA opinion. A regulatory threshold has to be a single, verifiable number for everyone. A nutritional reference value can be differentiated. Hence the difference. The details of the authorised claim are in the article on [the only health claim authorised in the EU for water](/en/stiai-ca/mentiunea-de-sanatate-autorizata-pentru-apa/). ## What "from all sources" means in practice The phrase appears in both documents and means the same thing: it counts **drinking water, all other beverages and the moisture in food**. In practice, a significant part of daily intake comes from food — soups, fruit, vegetables, yoghurt — and from beverages that are not water: tea, coffee, milk. Nobody reaches the reference value by counting bottles of water alone, and nobody needs to. ## What the opinion does not say The opinion sets reference values for water. It does not compare types of water with one another, does not attribute properties to any particular water, and does not argue that water treated in one way or another is preferable. For molecular hydrogen there is no authorised health claim in the European Union, so it cannot be stated commercially that hydrogen-enriched water produces any effect. Water contributes to the maintenance of normal physical and cognitive functions, at a daily intake of at least 2 litres from all sources. That is the only claim we use. ## Key points - The EFSA values are 2.0 l a day for women and 2.5 l a day for men, **total** intake. - They apply only at moderate temperature and moderate physical activity. - They are not an individual obligation but a reference derived from observed population intakes. - The 2-litre figure in the commercial claim has a different source and purpose from the reference values. - "From all sources" includes water from food and from any beverage. ## Sources - EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA), *Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for water*, EFSA Journal 2010;8(3):1459, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1459. Question EFSA-Q-2008-464, adopted 4 December 2009, published 25 March 2010 - EFSA, *EFSA Journal* 2011;9(4):2075, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2075 - Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 — EUR-Lex, CELEX 32012R0432 - Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 — EUR-Lex, CELEX 32006R1924 --- Source: https://unikatflow.com/en/stiai-ca/cata-apa-pe-zi-valori-de-referinta-efsa/