Out of all the substances the body has the most water. The organism can be divided into water, lean mass and fat mass. It is therefore understandable that in obese adults water makes a lower percentage of body weight. Women have relatively more body fat than men and therefore less weight percent of water. At newborns water accounts for 75% of body weight. Aging is accompanied by a reduction of water in the body.

Water - Source of Life

Water is constantly lost from the body in many ways and it is therefore necessary that this loss is compensated. Water is losing through the skin, lung, colon and kidney. Dermal, water loss through evaporation, in temperate climates and at moderate work we loss about 500ml of water per a day. At profuse sweating fluid loss is much greater.

Total body water in baby born at the time is more than 75% of his body weight, the infant is 70 to 75% in adults about 60%. With age, we reduce the amount of extracellular water but the amount of intracellular water increases. Infant from 3 to 10 kg weight is necessary to 100ml of water per 1 kg weight per day. Small and pre-school child's weight (11-20kg),needs 1000 ml + 50 ml of water for every kilogram over 10kg. Child of school age weight (21-50kg) needs 1500ml + - 20ml for every kilogram over 20kg. Adolescents and adults need an average of 2 liter of water a day.

Water sources are fluid, food, and part of which is released by oxidation of substances in the body. The largest part of the taken liquid is eliminated from the body of a child. Only a small proportion of 0.5 to 3% of taken water is retained and incorporated into new tissue. A child is in a positive water balance and adults are in water balance. Daily transactions of water at infants, is from 10 to 15% of its body weight, in adults only 2 to 4%.

Breast milk (human milk) is the best food for all healthy infants. It is adapted whit all nutritional requirements and physiological state of the digestive system and limited excretory kidney abilities of children in the first months of life. Breast milk satisfies the energy and nutritional needs during the first 4 to 6 months of life, at fastest period of growth and development of organs and their functions, including development and nervous system.

If the mother for whatever reason can’t breastfeed, or stops breastfeeding early then there is a need for feeding the child with other kind of milk, that is adapted milk or baby formulas for infants as breast milk substitutes. Adaptation of milk meets all nutritional needs of infants, developmental physiology of the digestive system, metabolism and the capacity of the kidney to excrete metabolites.

Baby formula in their composition, is similar to breast milk. It is used for feeding infants from birth and at the recommendation of doctors to 16 month.

Humana, from Germany in 1949, was first formula milk produced in the world. Then began the period of modern infant dietetics and research has continued and continues and 1962, for example gave birth to the first special baby formula for children born prematurely, in 1967, was introduced first natural medicinal foods for infants on the basis of sweet milk.