Udaka To Precision Hydration: An Ayurvedic Policy Framework for Personalized Water Management in Twenty-First Century Healthcare

Abstract

Background- Ayurveda, through the concept of Udaka, presents an individualized framework for water
regulation that has not yet been systematically examined within the context of precision medicine or
healthcare policy. The Ayurvedic concept of Udaka provides a multidimensional framework for
individualized hydration that complements modern physiology and may inform future precision
healthcare and evidence-informed hydration policy. Despite remarkable advances in hydration science,
current recommendations remain predominantly population-based and often fail to account for
substantial inter-individual variability arising from age, physiology, climate, disease, occupation, and
lifestyle.
Objectives - To critically review the concept of Udaka and evaluate its relevance to contemporary
hydration science, precision medicine, and healthcare policy. Evaluate current hydration
recommendations and their limitations. Explore the role of individualized hydration in precision
healthcare.
Methods: A comprehensive narrative review was conducted with the use of biomedical databases,
international policy documents, and classical Ayurvedic texts. Scientific literature on precision medicine,
health-climate interactions, and preventive healthcare was critically reviewed together with primary
Ayurvedic literature.
Results: In particular, the review revealed considerable conceptual convergence between the current
scientific concepts regarding hydration and the concept of Udaka in Ayurveda. The current scientific
literature confirms the understanding of hydration as a dynamic process that involves various
mechanisms of neuroendocrine regulation, renal control, metabolism, environment and behaviour. At the
same time, Ayurveda views Udaka as a systemic parameter that affects physiological homeostasis and is
associated with the processes of nourishment, hydration, circulation, temperature control and excretion.
Both frameworks accept the idea of differentiating hydration needs depending on an individual and
external conditions. Nonetheless, existing public health policies mostly concentrate on issues of universal
water access, water quality and sanitation, without paying much attention to the problem of assessment
of individual hydration needs. On the basis of the findings, the Udaka-Based Precision Hydration
Conceptual Framework was elaborated.
Conclusion: The concept of Udaka reveals an innovative interdisciplinary angle to rethink the issue of
hydration in the light of personalized approach rather than generic recommendations concerning fluid
intake. The potential of integration of Ayurveda with modern hydration science can help to develop the
precision hydration strategies that would contribute to the development of preventive medicine,
increase climate resilience, and be used in future policy making on the issue.