True or false, you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day?

False as it turns out:   Virtually every health-conscious person can quote the recommendation: Drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Other beverages—coffee, tea, soda, beer, even orange juice—don't count. Watermelon? Not a chance. There's no denying that water is good for you, but does everyone really need to drink 64 ounces or more every day? According to Heinz Valtin, a retired professor of physiology from Dartmouth Medical School who specialized in kidney research and spent 45 years studying the biological system that keeps the water in our bodies in balance, the answer is no. Valtin says that for people who have specific health concerns, such as kidney stones or a tendency to develop urinary tract infections, drinking lots of water can be beneficial. But after an extensive search in 2002 for the origins of what is commonly referred to as the "8 x 8" guideline and a review of associated health claims, he reports finding no scientific evidence supporting the notion that healthy individuals need to consume large quantities of water. In 2008 Dan Negoianu and Stanley Goldfarb reviewed the evidence for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. They came to a similar conclusion: "There is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water."   Full article from Scientific American here   And of course, too much water can do you harm. I'm aware of at least one reported death by drinking too much water. And there is that woman in the UK who was foolish enough to listen to someone marketing themselves as a "nutritional therapist", who put her on a high water and low sodium diet.   Any person with proper scientific training could have told her that this is a dangerous combination. She's alive, but will have to live with the brain damage she suffered for the rest of her life.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous