NHS advice to drink six to eight glasses of water a day is based on an “urban myth”, according to a review of evidence in the British Medical Journal that came out yesterday.
THANK GOD FOR THAT. I HATE drinking water. It’s SOOO boring and you feel such pressure (especially as a fitness instructor) to hold a bottle of water at all times rather than the preferred glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc. I have been majorly worried about this water intake for years – puzzled even. Ever since I used to watch my father and his friend down several gin and tonics after a sweaty game of squash in order to rehydrate themselves I have wondered what it was all about. I spent much time wondering why my father, who I never, ever saw drink water until the last few days of his life had the most wrinkle free skin of anybody I’ve ever met. It didn’t make sense.
Apparently there is also little support for the claim that most people do not drink enough water, according to Margaret McCartney, a Glasgow GP whose review of published evidence led her to conclude that the advice “isn’t borne out by any evidence whatsoever”. The article goes on to say that they can’t find out where the advice about drinking 8 glasses of water originally came from – well I suggest they look and see if there’s a correlation between the marketing of bottled water and all the “figures” and advice.
Honestly, isn’t this the most life affecting bit of research since um, the hacking disaster? We don’t have to drink about 2 litres of water a day any more. PHEW.
Presumably how much water your body needs is a very personal thing, based on how much exercise we do, how effective our body is at releasing water, what we eat, how much alcohol we drink and so on. Perhaps everybody will relax a little now and children’s sports days won’t be so stressful and we can fire the water police.
'm'
July 14, 2011Going to take issue with you on this one….if you read the entire article by this Glasgow based quack (an area in the UK that has the highest early death rate because of poor nutrition and bad diet!!!) and then the comments by other Doctors, you will see that her conclusions are without foundation and her ‘research’ has not been peer reviewed – which is the norm with such research papers). There is plenty of evidence, both scientific and anecdotal to show that we do not, as a rule drink enough water. I agree with your last paragraph that individual requirements do differ according to exercise and food/alcohol intake together with additional factors. But, the fact remains, many admissions to A&E departments – especially amongst the older population are found to be dehydrated. The effects of many illnesses and conditions can be alleviated by proper nutrition and adequate hydration. The whole article and comments attached are very interesting reading. I cannot understand why, when there are far more important things to concern us, the papers have picked this woman’s comments up and run with them.
Family Affairs
July 15, 2011Oh. I hadn’t seen the whole thing. I thought if it was in the BMJ it was bonafide. *Shuffles off to pour a glass of water Lx
Eclipse
July 15, 2011Regardless, the eight glasses a day rule is a complete urban myth, there is no scientific basis for that number, it was just plucked out of thin air and because it has been quoted enough times by the media and others, it has become “fact”. Trouble is you should never believe anything you read in the press (even the BBC) on sciency stuff, as usually it has been taken out of context and given a newsworthy, but inaccurate headline. This kind of stuff makes me sad, because people get misled so easily.
Family Affairs
July 15, 2011So what is the scientific ruling for water content then? Lx
Eclipse
July 16, 2011Quite simply, as far as I know there isn’t one. I guess as you said yourself, it can be highly personal thing.