[Diabetes-talk] The Eight Glasses of Water Myth

[Joy Stigile]

Hi!

When I drink less than 8 cups of water a day I get thirsty, tired and 
hungry.  I do not drink juice or soda
much, water and coffee are my main liquids during the day.

I guess I am part of the original study group.

Joy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 12:57 PM
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] The Eight Glasses of Water Myth


> I'm sure we've all read and heard the old saw that one must drink eight
> glasses of water a day to stay healthy and this is doubly true for
> diabetics. In fact, in a good book published by the American Diabetes
> Association, Sex and Diabetes: For Him and For Her, this instruction was
> given weight. We've also been told that drinking large quantities of 
> coffee
> or tea dehydrates us.
>
>
>
> However, it ain't so. Normally, I just give links to Snopes stories but I
> hear this one often enough that I'm pasting the entry, penned April 10,
> below.
>
>
>
> Happy reading.
>
>
>
> Mike Freeman
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> snopes.com: Eight Glasses: Water vs. Coke
>
> snopes.com
>
> j
>
> Medical
>
>>
>
> Medical Myths
>
>
>
>
>
> Water Works
>
> Claim: The average person needs to drink eight glasses of water per day to
> avoid being "chronically dehydrated."
>
>
>
> FALSE
>
> Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2001]
>
>
>
> 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
>
>
>
> In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often
> mistaken for hunger.
>
>
>
> Even mild dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 30%.
>
>
>
> One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the
> dieters studied in a U-Washington study.
>
>
>
> Lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.
>
>
>
> Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could
> significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
>
>
>
> A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble
> with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a
> printed
>
> page.
>
>
>
> Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 
> 45%,
> plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less
> likely
>
> to develop bladder cancer.
>
>
>
> Are you drinking a healthy amount of water each day?
>
> Variations: Some versions of this item are titled "Water vs. Coke" and 
> tack
> claims about the supposedly deleterious effects of Coca-Cola (which we 
> have
>
> covered in a separate
>
> article)
>
> onto the end of this piece.
>
>
>
> Origins: "You need to drink eight glasses of water per day to be healthy" 
> is
> one of our more widely-known basic health tips.  But do we really need
>
> to drink that much water on a daily basis?
>
>
>
> In general, to remain healthy we need to take in enough water to replace 
> the
> amount we lose daily through excretion, perspiration, and other bodily
> functions,
>
> but that amount can vary widely from person to person, based upon a 
> variety
> of factors such as age, physical condition, activity level, and climate.
> The
>
> "8 glasses of water per day" is a rule of thumb, not an absolute minimum,
> and not all of our water intake need come in the form of drinking water.
>
>
>
> The origins of the 8-10 glasses per day figure remain elusive.  As a Los
> Angeles Times article on the subject reported:
>
> Consider that first commandment of good health: Drink at least eight 
> 8-ounce
> glasses of water a day. This unquestioned rule is itself a question mark.
>
> Most nutritionists have no idea where it comes from. "I can't even tell 
> you
> that," says Barbara Rolls, a nutrition researcher at Pennsylvania State
> University,
>
> "and I've written a book on water."
>
>
>
> Some say the number was derived from fluid intake measurements taken 
> decades
> ago among hospital patients on IVs; others say it's less a measure of what
>
> people need than a convenient reference point, especially for those who 
> are
> prone to dehydration, such as many elderly people.
>
> Back in 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council
> stated that adults should take in about 2.5 liters of water per day (which
> is
>
> roughly the equivalent of eight glasses of water), but it also noted most 
> of
> that intake level was already satisfied through the consumption of food
> without
>
> the need for the additional drinking of water.  And as other nutritionists
> of the time noted, any shortfall in water intake could be made up through
> the
>
> consumption of beverages such as coffee, tea, milk, or soft drinks; one 
> need
> not specifically drink water only in the form of water.
>
>
>
> As Drs. Aaron E. Carroll and Rachel C. Vreeman reported in an article on
> this topic:
>
> There's nothing wrong with liking water, but there is no scientific proof
> stating that you need to drink anywhere near eight glasses a day.  One
> doctor
>
> who has made this his research focus, Dr. Heinz Valtin, searched through
> many electronic databases and also consulted with nutritionists and
> colleagues
>
> who specialize in water balance in the body.  In all of his research, and 
> in
> all of the research we conducted to double-check his work, no scientific
> evidence
>
> could be found to suggest that you need to drink eight glasses of water a
> day. In fact, scientific studies suggest that you already get enough 
> liquid
> from
>
> what you're drinking and eating on a daily basis. We are not all walking
> around in a state of dehydration.
>
> Other medical experts have also disdained the notion that one need drink 
> at
> least eight glasses of water per day to remain adequately hydrated:
>
> Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: that the 8-by-8 rule is 
> a
> gross overestimate of any required minimum. To replace daily losses of
> water,
>
> an average-sized adult with healthy kidneys sitting in a temperate climate
> needs no more than one liter of fluid, according to Jurgen Schnermann, a
> kidney
>
> physiologist at the National Institutes of Health.
>
>
>
> One liter is the equivalent of about four 8-ounce glasses. According to 
> most
> estimates, that's roughly the amount of water most Americans get in solid
>
> food.  In short, though doctors don't recommend it, many of us could cover
> our bare-minimum daily water needs without drinking anything during the 
> day.
>
>
>
> Certainly there are beneficial health effects attendant with being
> adequately hydrated, and some studies have seemingly demonstrated
> correlations between
>
> such variables as increased water intake and a decreased risk of colon
> cancer. But are 75% of Americans really "chronically dehydrated," as 
> claimed
> in
>
> the anonymous e-mail quoted in our example?  Many of the notions (and
> dubious "facts") presented in that e-mail seem to have been taken from the
> book
>
> Your Body's Many Cries for Water,
>
> by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj. Dr. Batmanghelidj, an Iranian-born physician 
> who
> now lives in the U.S., maintains that people "need to learn they're not
> sick,
>
> only thirsty," and that simply drinking more water "cures many diseases 
> like
> arthritis, angina, migraines, hypertension and asthma." However, he 
> arrived
>
> at his conclusions through reading, not research, and he claims that his
> ideas represent a "paradigm shift" that required him to self-publish his
> book
>
> lest his findings "be suppressed.''
>
>
>
> Other doctors certainly take issue with his figures:
>
> [S]ome nutritionists insist that half the country is walking around
> dehydrated. We drink too much coffee, tea and sodas containing caffeine,
> which prompts
>
> the body to lose water, they say; and when we are dehydrated, we don't 
> know
> enough to drink.
>
>
>
> Can it be so? Should healthy adults really be stalking the water cooler to
> protect themselves from creeping dehydration?
>
>
>
> Not at all, doctors say. "The notion that there is widespread dehydration
> has no basis in medical fact," says Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of the medical
> school
>
> at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
>
>
>
> Doctors from a wide range of specialties agree: By all evidence, we are a
> well-hydrated nation. Furthermore, they say, the current infatuation with
> water
>
> as an all-purpose health potion - tonic for the skin, key to weight loss -
> is a blend of fashion and fiction and very little science.
>
> Additionally, the idea that one must specifically drink water because the
> diuretic effects of caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea, and soda
> actually
>
> produce a net loss of fluid is erroneous:
>
> Regular coffee and tea drinkers become accustomed to caffeine and lose
> little, if any, fluid. In a study published in the October issue of the
> Journal
>
> of the American College of Nutrition, researchers at the Center for Human
> Nutrition in Omaha measured how different combinations of water, coffee 
> and
> caffeinated
>
> sodas affected the hydration status of 18 healthy adults who drink
> caffeinated beverages routinely.
>
>
>
> "We found no significant differences at all," says nutritionist Ann
> Grandjean, the study's lead author. "The purpose of the study was to find
> out if caffeine
>
> is dehydrating in healthy people who are drinking normal amounts of it. It
> is not."
>
>
>
> The same goes for tea, juice, milk and caffeinated sodas: One glass 
> provides
> about the same amount of hydrating fluid as a glass of water. The only
> common
>
> drinks that produce a net loss of fluids are those containing alcohol - 
> and
> usually it takes more than one of those to cause noticeable dehydration,
> doctors
>
> say.
>
> The best general advice is to rely upon your normal senses.  If you feel
> thirsty, drink; if you don't feel thirsty, don't drink unless you want to.
> The
>
> human body already does a good job of regulating water balance on its own,
> and you therefore need not force yourself to drink when you are not 
> thirsty
>
> for fear of being dehydrated.  The exhortation that we all need to satisfy
> an arbitrarily rigid rule about how much water we must drink every day was
> aptly
>
> skewered in a letter by a Los Angeles Times reader:
>
> Although not trained in medicine or nutrition, I intuitively knew that the
> advice to drink eight glasses of water per day was nonsense. The advice
> fully
>
> meets three important criteria for being an American health urban legend:
> excess, public virtue, and the search for a cheap "magic bullet."
>
> Last updated: 10 April 2013
>
>
>
> Urban Legends Reference Pages C 1995-2013 by Barbara and David P. 
> Mikkelson.
>
>
> This material may not be reproduced without permission.
>
> snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.
>
>
>
> Sources:
>
> definition list of 9 items
>
> Batmanghelidj, Fereydoon. Your Body's Many Cries for Water.
>
> Global Health Solutions, 1995.    ISBN 0-962-99423-5.
>
>
>
> Carey, Benedict.   "Hard to Swallow."
>
> Los Angeles Times. 20 November 2001   (Health; p. 1).
>
>
>
> Carroll, Aaron E and Rachel C. Vreeman. Don't Swallow Your Gum!
>
> New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009.   ISBN 0-312-53387-X   (pp. 
> 130-133).
>
>
>
> Foreman, Judy.   "The Water Fad Has People Soaking It Up."
>
> The Boston Globe. 11 May 1998   (p. C1).
>
>
>
> Hoolihan, Charlie.    "Body Needs Plenty of Water to Work."
>
> The [New Orleans] Times-Picayune. 31 May 1998.
>
>
>
> CNN.com. "Americans Need to Shake Salt Habit."
>
> 11 February 2004.
>
>
>
> Los Angeles Times. "All That Water Advice Just Doesn't Wash."
>
> 15 January 2001   (Health; p. 7).
>
>
>
> Los Angeles Times. "Readers Take Issue with Article About Water
> Consumption."
>
> 25 January 2000   (Health; p. 5).
>
>
>
> The Toronto Star. "Distilling Water Facts from Water Fiction."
>
> 21 March 1999.
>
> list end
>
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