Myths about drinking water

[sarahmichigan]

I was going to put together a really comprehensive post, with links to reputable sources, about all the myths about how much water you should drink, why, and so on. But snopes did a pretty good job already, I think.

Myth: Everyone must drink 6-8 servings of water every day
Fact: There's nothing wrong with doing this, but it's not really necessary for most people in decent health. You get the water you need from juices, milk, and water-containing foods like fruit and soup, so 6-8 servings of water a day aren't strictly necessary.

Myth: By the time you're feeling thirsty, you're already dehydrated.
Fact: Your body does a pretty good job of signalling you to drink. It's perfectly fine for most healthy people to drink when they're thirsty.

Myth: Caffeinated drinks dehydrate you.
Fact: Not really. The only reason you pee a lot when you drink a lot of Pepsi or coffee is that you're putting liquid into your system. If you drank an equivalent amount of water, you'd have to pee a lot, too. At most, there's some weak evidence that caffeinated beverages don't hydrate as well as water, but even if you assume (as some links I've found suggest) that 1 serving of caffeinated beverage is only the equivalent of about 2/3 as much pure water, you're still NOT dehydrating yourself by drinking caffeinated beverages.

The snopes.com article is here:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

Comments

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

Weird. My doctor told me yesterday that caffein dehydrates you.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Most doctors don't know shit about nutrition. They don't have to take even one class in dietetics or nutrition to get their MD, and they believe some of the same myths that the common public does.

The bit about "caffeinated drinks don't dehydrate you" came from a study done with athletes and published in a reputable medical journal.

[leighton.livejournal.com]

Amen.

Thanks for the links.


My dad used to give nutritional "facts" too. Yes, he was a doctor: a psychiatrist.

[zoe-1418.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I recently jumped on the water bandwagon and i must say, I love this bandwagon and don't want to have go give up my new and nifty worldview about how everything in the world will be better if I (and we all) just drink enough water. ;-}

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

There's nothing *wrong* with drinking lots of water, as long as you don't go overboard to the point of hyponatremia, but that's pretty rare among those who don't do marathon running.

[shadowriderhope.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. In addition to all this, it contains a deadly chemical. ;) (http://www.dhmo.org/)

[styggie.livejournal.com]

althoguh any beverage *can* count as your 6-8 glasses a day you SHOULD NOT drink all 8 as juice. It is recommended you only drink one glass of juice a day due to its high sugar content, be it from natural sugars (ie fructose) or the unnatural kind (high fructose corn syrup) that are present in ALL juices.
Yes juice will hydrate you, but youo should still limit your sugar intake.

Most nutritionist recommend you use water, tea, and milk to fill that quota.


Also, the way to tell if you are drinking enough liquid to fullfil your bodies needs (and some people need more than 8 glasses) is when you pee clear. Yellow pee is the nitrates & other waste from your body being removed from your kidney. Much like a sponge you have cleaned the kitchen with you want to run water through it until it goes clear. Your kidney needs to be cleaned out daily, because unlike the kitchen sponge, we cant throw our kidneys away when they get nasty.

[styggie.livejournal.com]

oops or electrolyte drinks also.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, you definitely don't want to do 6-8 servings of juice per day-- that's a lot of sugar without much redeeming value nutrition-wise other than some vitamin C.