Gina Bria: Rethinking Hydration Through the Hydration Foundation

When we think about staying hydrated, most of us picture drinking eight glasses of water a day. But what if our understanding of hydration is fundamentally incomplete? Gina Bria, a medical anthropologist and founder of the Hydration Foundation, has spent years challenging conventional wisdom about how we hydrate our bodies. Her research suggests that how we deliver water to our cells matters as much as how much water we drink—and that plants might hold the key to optimal hydration.

Who is Gina Bria?

Gina Bria is a medical anthropologist who came to hydration research through an unexpected path: caring for her aging mother. When her mother began experiencing dehydration-related health issues and struggled to drink enough water, Bria found herself searching for solutions. Traditional advice—"drink more water"—wasn't working. Her mother, like many elderly people, simply couldn't or wouldn't consume the quantities recommended.

This personal challenge led Bria to investigate hydration from an anthropological perspective. She asked a deceptively simple question: How did humans stay hydrated throughout history, particularly in water-scarce environments? Her research took her to desert communities, ancient civilizations, and traditional cultures that thrived in arid climates without constant access to abundant drinking water.

What she discovered challenged modern assumptions about hydration and sparked a new direction in her career. Bria realized that these populations didn't just drink water—they ate it, consuming water-rich plants and foods that delivered hydration more effectively to cells than plain water alone.

This insight became the foundation for Bria's work and ultimately led to the establishment of the Hydration Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing our understanding of cellular hydration and its impact on health.

The Hydration Foundation

Founded by Gina Bria, the Hydration Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on researching, educating, and promoting better hydration practices. Unlike organizations that simply encourage people to drink more water, the Foundation takes a more nuanced, science-based approach to understanding how water functions at the cellular level.

Mission and Vision

The Hydration Foundation's mission centers on several key objectives:

Advancing Hydration Science: Supporting and conducting research into cellular hydration, including how water is delivered to cells, retained in tissues, and utilized by the body for optimal function.

Education and Outreach: Teaching healthcare providers, caregivers, athletes, and the general public about hydration strategies beyond simply drinking more water.

Addressing Vulnerable Populations: Focusing particularly on elderly populations, who face increased dehydration risks due to diminished thirst signals, medication effects, and mobility challenges.

Challenging Assumptions: Questioning the "eight glasses a day" conventional wisdom and exploring whether quality and delivery method matter as much as quantity.

Practical Solutions: Developing accessible, evidence-based hydration strategies that people can implement in daily life.

The Foundation collaborates with researchers, healthcare professionals, and institutions to explore hydration's role in aging, athletic performance, cognitive function, and chronic disease management.

The Plant Water Revolution

At the core of Gina Bria's work is a concept she calls "eating your water" or consuming gel water—water that's been structured by plants through the process of photosynthesis and delivered in a form that cells can utilize more efficiently.

What is Gel Water?

Gel water, also called structured water or exclusion zone (EZ) water, refers to water that exists in a semi-liquid, gel-like state. In plants, water doesn't exist as bulk liquid but rather as hydrated gel within cellular structures. When we consume water-rich plants—cucumbers, melons, lettuce, citrus fruits, berries—we're consuming water that's already been organized into this gel state.

Bria's hypothesis, supported by emerging research, is that this plant-based water:

• Hydrates more effectively because it's already structured similarly to the water in our cells
• Is retained longer in the body rather than passing straight through
• Comes packaged with minerals, electrolytes, and nutrients that support cellular function
• Delivers hydration more slowly and steadily than gulping plain water

This concept builds on the research of scientists like Dr. Gerald Pollack, whose work on exclusion zone water demonstrates that water near hydrophilic surfaces (like those in cells and plants) exists in a more ordered state than bulk water.

The Anthropological Evidence

Bria's anthropological research revealed that traditional desert-dwelling communities survived not by drinking enormous quantities of water, but by consuming water-rich plants strategically. From cacti in the Americas to water-storing tubers in Africa to moisture-rich vegetables in Middle Eastern cuisines, cultures adapted by eating their hydration.

These populations understood intuitively what modern science is now confirming: that plant water, combined with the plants' natural minerals, fibers, and nutrients, provides superior hydration compared to water alone. This traditional wisdom, Bria argues, has been lost in modern societies with abundant tap water, leading to the paradox of people drinking constantly yet remaining chronically under-hydrated at the cellular level.

Hydration for Aging Populations

One of the Hydration Foundation's primary focuses is addressing dehydration in elderly populations—a critical and often overlooked health issue.

The Elderly Hydration Crisis

Dehydration contributes to numerous health problems in older adults:

• Increased fall risk and hospitalization
• Urinary tract infections
• Kidney problems
• Cognitive decline and confusion
• Constipation and digestive issues
• Pressure ulcers and slower wound healing

Yet elderly individuals face multiple barriers to adequate hydration:

• Diminished thirst sensation
• Medications that increase fluid loss
• Mobility challenges making bathroom trips difficult
• Memory issues affecting regular water intake
• Swallowing difficulties

Traditional solutions—telling seniors to drink more water—often fail because they don't address these underlying barriers.

Bria's Practical Approach

Gina Bria developed practical strategies specifically for elderly hydration:

Incorporating Water-Rich Foods: Encouraging regular consumption of cucumbers, melons, oranges, grapes, soup, smoothies, and other high-water-content foods that provide hydration without requiring drinking large volumes.

Micro-Hydration: Teaching caregivers to offer small, frequent amounts of hydration throughout the day rather than expecting large quantities at once.

Chia Seeds: One of Bria's signature recommendations is adding chia seeds to water or foods. These seeds absorb water and create a gel that provides sustained hydration—a technique borrowed from traditional practices of indigenous peoples in arid regions.

Making Hydration Appealing: Using flavor, temperature, and presentation to make hydration more attractive to those who've lost interest in drinking plain water.

Family and Caregiver Education: Training those who care for elderly individuals to recognize dehydration signs and implement effective strategies.

These approaches have been implemented in senior living facilities, home care situations, and medical settings, with reports of improved outcomes, reduced hospitalizations, and better quality of life for elderly individuals.

Hydration and Athletic Performance

Beyond elderly care, Bria's work extends to athletic performance. She collaborates with coaches, trainers, and athletes to optimize hydration strategies for peak performance and recovery.

Traditional sports hydration focuses heavily on water and electrolyte drinks consumed before, during, and after exercise. Bria suggests supplementing this approach with:

Pre-loading with Plant Water: Consuming water-rich fruits and vegetables before competition to create a hydration reserve Recovery Smoothies: Using blended fruits and vegetables for post-exercise rehydration Sustained Hydration: Recognizing that cellular hydration status is built over days and weeks, not just hours before competition

Athletes in various sports have experimented with Bria's recommendations, reporting improved endurance, better recovery, and reduced cramping.

Collaboration with Science

Gina Bria actively collaborates with researchers exploring water's properties and cellular hydration. She's worked with scientists studying:

• The structured water in cells and how it differs from bulk water
• How plants create gel water through biological processes
• The role of fascia (connective tissue) in storing and distributing hydration throughout the body
• Bioimpedance and other methods for measuring cellular hydration status
• The connection between chronic dehydration and age-related diseases

This interdisciplinary approach—combining anthropology, biology, physics, and medicine—creates a more comprehensive understanding of hydration than any single discipline could provide alone.

Practical Recommendations from Bria's Work

The Hydration Foundation offers several accessible strategies anyone can implement:

1. Start your day with water-rich fruit: Melons, berries, or citrus provide morning hydration plus fiber and nutrients
2. Add chia or flax seeds to water: Let them soak to create a gel that provides sustained hydration
3. Prioritize vegetables with high water content: Cucumbers, celery, lettuce, zucchini, and tomatoes
4. Make smoothies: Blending fruits and vegetables breaks down cell walls, making plant water readily available
5. Think beyond drinking: Remember that soups, herbal teas, and water-rich foods all contribute to hydration
6. Consider quality, not just quantity: The source and mineral content of water matters
7. Pay attention to signs: Fatigue, brain fog, and dry skin may indicate cellular dehydration even if you're drinking regularly

The Broader Impact

Gina Bria's work with the Hydration Foundation represents a shift in how we think about one of life's most basic needs. Rather than accepting simplified guidelines, she encourages a more sophisticated understanding of hydration that honors traditional wisdom, embraces emerging science, and addresses real-world challenges people face in staying properly hydrated.

Her research has implications for:

• Public health: Particularly for vulnerable populations at dehydration risk
• Agriculture: Understanding which crops provide optimal hydration benefits
• Medical care: Improving hydration protocols in hospitals and care facilities
• Nutrition education: Integrating hydration into dietary recommendations
• Climate adaptation: Preparing populations for increased heat and water scarcity

Conclusion

Gina Bria's journey from concerned daughter to founder of the Hydration Foundation illustrates how personal challenges can spark broader scientific inquiry. By asking simple questions about how humans actually hydrate—not how we think we should hydrate—she's uncovered insights that challenge conventional wisdom and offer practical solutions.

Whether you're caring for an aging parent, optimizing athletic performance, or simply trying to feel your best, Bria's work suggests that rethinking hydration might be simpler and more delicious than you imagined. The solution might not be in drinking more water, but in eating it—one cucumber, one berry, one water-rich meal at a time.

In a world facing increasing water scarcity and aging populations, Gina Bria's research with the Hydration Foundation offers hope that we can meet our hydration needs more effectively, more sustainably, and more enjoyably than we ever thought possible.

 

TEDx Talks: How to Grow Water - It's Not Only Blue, It's Green / Gina Bria / TEDxNewYorkStation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAiCeRZLCoE