Research debunks health value of guzzling water

[Zebulon]

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0236679720080402?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

By Will Dunham
Wed Apr 2, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The notion that guzzling glasses of water to flood yourself with good health is all wet, researchers said on Wednesday.

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb and Dr. Dan Negoianu of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia reviewed the scientific literature on the health effects of drinking lots of water.

People in hot, dry climates and athletes have an increased need for water, and people with certain diseases do better with increased fluid intake, they found. But for average healthy people, more water does not seem to mean better health, they said.

Their scientific review, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, is the latest to undercut the recommendations advanced by some experts to drink eight glasses of 8 ounces (225 ml) of water a day.

Dr. Heinz Valtin of Dartmouth Medical School in 2002 also put those recommendations to the test, finding them to be more urban myth than medical dogma and lacking in scientific basis.

...

[Ray Moscow]

Yeah, I've wondered about that. Europeans on average seem to drink a lot less water than Americans, yet their overall health is just as good if not better.

[His Noodly Appendage]

Heh, indeed.

As my dad put it - your kidneys process something like 180 litres of fluid a day (43 gallons to you americans); adding an extra litre or so of water to your intake wouldn't even raise a blip.

[umop apisdn w,I]

I thought that "8 glasses of water a day" was bunk anyway.

If I remember correctly, some science article somewhere mentioned that we each take in about 2 litres of water per day - but most of that is contained within our food.

By the time that article had been misquoted and passed through the tabloids, it was reported as "We should drink 2 litres of water a day!", and then "You should drink 2 litres of water a day to stay healthy" became an urban myth.

[tjakey]

But do they say the same about beer?

[ofro]

But do they say the same about beer?

No, beer is an essential foodstuff and you should not drop below the required 2 liters per day.


Which reminds me of a news interview a few years ago on Public Radio that reported on the observation that heart attacks are/may be less frequent in Europe than in the US. The announcer interviewed a French gentleman about drinking red wine, and this man mentioned that red wine, when drunk in moderation, is heart-healthy. Later in the interview he was asked what a moderate amount would be, and the answer was: one bottle a day.

[pSimon]

Absolutely.

A colleague of mine once noted that a bottle of wine was that size because it was a one-person serving...

[Quizalufagus]

No, beer is an essential foodstuff and you should not drop below the required 2 liters per day.


Which reminds me of a news interview a few years ago on Public Radio that reported on the observation that heart attacks are/may be less frequent in Europe than in the US. The announcer interviewed a French gentleman about drinking red wine, and this man mentioned that red wine, when drunk in moderation, is heart-healthy. Later in the interview he was asked what a moderate amount would be, and the answer was: one bottle a day.

Ha, that's pretty excessive. I think there are diminishing returns after about 2 glasses a day--beyond that the extra polyphenols and procyanidins taken in aren't worth the stress put on your liver.

Beer is terribly bad for you, but tasty nonetheless.

[His Noodly Appendage]

Can we get onto salt, next?

The whole low-sodium thing really pisses me off. From a finding that *one* form of hypertension was exacerbated by elevated sodium levels, the whole world has walked away with the message "salt bad!"

Gah.

[ofro]

Can we get onto salt, next?

The whole low-sodium thing really pisses me off. From a finding that *one* form of hypertension was exacerbated by elevated sodium levels, the whole world has walked away with the message "salt bad!"

Gah.

Amen!

[tjakey]

Beer is terribly bad for you? Oh NO; guess I'll have to switch to Rum & Coke.

[kiwimac]

Vodka is, of course, both a healthy alternative to wine and beer and does not cause hang-overs if drunk in moderation, ie, no more than 2 or so bottles in a session. :D

[B Cereus]

Beer is terribly bad for you, but tasty nonetheless.

Are you serious? What is your reference for this (the bad for you part, not the tasty part)? It was my understanding that the alcohol (either in wine or beer, or any other alcoholic beverage) has health benefits, within moderation, of course.

[Ray Moscow]

Beer is full of "quick" (rapidly digested) carbs -- that's about all that's wrong with it, AFAIK. (And the alcohol.)

Then again, that's part of what's right with it, too.

Ray (real ale fan)

[hecaterin]

Mmmm, beer. Taken in large amounts, it leads to immediate arsehole behaviours in the susceptible fragment of the population, and later to the beer belly. But other than that it's pretty harmless.

And as to the salt, I am with HNA. My family and I have genetically low blood pressure, what care I for this nonsense. Good bread and a home grown tomato demand salt.

[Berthold]

The announcer interviewed a French gentleman about drinking red wine, and this man mentioned that red wine, when drunk in moderation, is heart-healthy. Later in the interview he was asked what a moderate amount would be, and the answer was: one bottle a day.

Ha, that's pretty excessive. I think there are diminishing returns after about 2 glasses a day--beyond that the extra polyphenols and procyanidins taken in aren't worth the stress put on your liver.
One bottle (=0.7 liters) of wine, if it is the only alcohol ingested, is still within the "safe" limit of ~60 grams of alcohol per day.

"Safe" is a relative thing here :p .