Search the internet and you’ll find articles aplenty claiming most Americans are chronically dehydrated.

Case in point: “How Many People Are Dehydrated?” It comes from Quench, a company based in King of Prussia that sells a “broad array of bottleless machines” that dispense filtered water to “tens of thousands of small and medium businesses and over 75% of the Fortune 500 organizations across the continent.”

The article mentions “multiple studies” report 75% of American adults suffer from chronic dehydration.

Now if you’re the skeptical sort who questions the validity of vague phrasing from a dot-com, rest easy my friend. A dot-org article from Kettering Health, a health service provider in the Dayton, Ohio area, titled “You’re Probably Not Drinking Enough Water,” also maintains the rate is 75%.

But it’s in the domain of the dot-orgs where things complicate.

One run by our government, The National Library of Medicine, contends “healthy adults with access to water rarely become dehydrated.” Whether that statement reassures you or not is based on, I imagine, your degree of trust in the Great American Way and good old Uncle Sam.

At present, it seems as if any mention of either leads to a digression, and that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Except this detour doesn’t lead to a right-wing or left-wing tirade.

It’s just two health and fitness questions.

Did you know a study published in the February 2024 issue of Nature links the ingestion of flavonols - a subclass of flavonoids and natural compounds present in plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, and tea leaves that are known to help your health - to living longer and significantly reducing your chance of dying from heart disease and cancer?

Or the one dietary stat besides the high rate of obesity that has exasperated health advocates for years? That 90% of Americans don’t get the recommended 5-to-9 servings a day of fruits and vegetables, most of which are absolutely loaded with all sorts of things that do a body good, including those aforementioned flavonoids.

These two questions set the stage for today’s offer of a “two-for.” A way for you to not only insure adequate hydration but also increase your ingestion of those potentially lifespan-increasing flavonoids.

Use the Hydra+ pods sold by Vitapod.

To do so requires a bit of explaining, though.

Vitapod is a drink company that has concocted different formulas placed in pods to add to filtered water that either enhance your immune system, revitalize your skin, combat the stress that results from working out, provide energy for those workouts, or keep you better hydrated than just water alone. That last type is called Hydra+ and according to the Vitapod people contains a “unique blend” of electrolytes as well as vitamins A, C, D, E, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, and potassium - plus flavonoids “to support overall health and wellness.”

You affix a pod into the lid of the Vitapod bottle (that is currently offered for free with any starter packet), add water, and shake. You then have 20 ounces of a lightly flavored water to sip throughout the day.

Of the five Hydra+ flavors I sampled, I found the Blueberry Pomegranate and the Lemon Lime to be the best tasting, but you could very well like Pineapple Coconut, Watermelon, or Cotton Candy better.

If you’d like more reasons to choose the Vitapod system, check out the website and you’ll find them in spades. Also keep in mind what Lauren Manaker notes in an overall review of the Vitapod system for USA Today network: that using it saves money when compared to Vitamin Water, a comparable option sold in plastic bottles.

Not to mention that her skin looked better after drinking the concoction called Beauty+ after 30 days - and that the company’s health claims are all “science-backed.” Which brings us back to the science in the previously mentioned study found in Nature about a key ingredient in Hydra+, those flavonols.

Researchers reviewed info provided by nearly 12,000 American adults (average age 47) as part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey Examination from 2007 to 2019 detailing what they ate during two 24-hour periods separated by at least one day. The follow-up occurred on average about eight years later.

After considering all sorts of variables, the researchers determined the participants with the highest intake of flavonols had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes - including cancer and heart disease. The risk of these dropped 55 and 33%, respectively, and the all-cause risk dropped 36% when those in the study with the highest intake of flavonols were compared to those with the lowest.

To end the paper, the researchers write their findings have “practical significance” since you can increase your ingestion of flavonols “by making daily dietary modifications.”

Could there be an easier way to do this than by adding a mix such as Vitapod Hydra+ to your daily consumption of water?