Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Mosby

(17,399 posts)
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:00 PM Dec 2022

Why you don't need to drink 8 cups of water a day

We’ve all heard the age-old advice to drink eight cups of water a day. But if you fall short, don’t worry: That advice is probably wrong anyway.

That’s according to new research, published in the journal Science, which found that for most healthy adults, drinking eight cups of water a day is completely unnecessary. The advice is misguided in part because it doesn’t take into account all the water that we get from our food and from other beverages like coffee and tea. The research found that our water needs vary from one person to next and depend on factors like your age, sex, size, physical activity levels and the climate that you live in.

The authors of the study say that for healthy adults, there is no real benefit to drinking eight cups of water a day. Nor is it dangerous: Your body will just excrete the extra water you consume in your urine.

....
The advice to drink eight cups of water a day stems from a 1945 recommendation from the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, which encouraged adults to consume about 64 ounces of water daily. The recommendation referred to a person’s total daily intake of water, including from all their foods and beverages, but it was widely misinterpreted to mean that people should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day.

Some experts have argued that the widely held belief was not rooted in science. One study of 883 elderly adults for example found that there was no evidence of dehydration among the 227 people in the study who routinely drank less than six glasses of water daily.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/06/eight-cups-daily-water-intake/


17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why you don't need to drink 8 cups of water a day (Original Post) Mosby Dec 2022 OP
what do they say about 108 ounces of beer? GenXer47 Dec 2022 #1
I drink ONE bottle of water every day at140 Dec 2022 #3
I actually had a convo with a woman I was dating ... many years ago Hugh_Lebowski Dec 2022 #2
Egads! Your second comment certainly ratcheted the conversation into the stratosphere! n/t Peregrine Took Dec 2022 #6
the funniest thing is she had a great point GenXer47 Dec 2022 #7
Oh, she had no freaking idea of something like that Hugh_Lebowski Dec 2022 #13
My Traditional Chinese Medicine MD has always said it depends on the color of your urine. Peregrine Took Dec 2022 #4
I was always told colourless is the best. Bev54 Dec 2022 #12
I only drink filtered water dweller Dec 2022 #5
I routinely drink 60 cilla4progress Dec 2022 #8
Your statement, "I aim for color," reminds me... 3catwoman3 Dec 2022 #10
OK Timewas Dec 2022 #9
I'm kinda like that. Mosby Dec 2022 #11
Same here luv2fly Dec 2022 #15
Silly stuff Timewas Dec 2022 #16
I drink when I'm thirsty Shermann Dec 2022 #14
I live in the desert and when the heat hits triple digits I can drink 3 liters a day Warpy Dec 2022 #17

at140

(6,124 posts)
3. I drink ONE bottle of water every day
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:13 PM
Dec 2022

Now an octogenaranian, I have not been sick of even a cold in 15 years
I dont need 8 glasses of water. I get plenty fluids from fruits, veggies, and 2 cups of coffee every day.

 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
2. I actually had a convo with a woman I was dating ... many years ago
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:11 PM
Dec 2022

Her: You need to drink more water!
Me: I drink a LOT of homemade, unsweetened iced tea every day
Her: That's not the same, you need to drink PLAIN water!
Me: You don't know what the fuck you're talking about ... who told you that, Dr. Gwyneth Paltrow?

We weren't together for very long.

Point being, I've always thought this idea was bullshit, promulgated by Evian and such.

 

GenXer47

(1,204 posts)
7. the funniest thing is she had a great point
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:24 PM
Dec 2022

Tea is a diuretic, so in the long haul you'll end up dehydrated.
I imagine there were other reasons to end the relationship.

 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
13. Oh, she had no freaking idea of something like that
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:58 PM
Dec 2022

All she knew was 'only the plain water you drink counts in any way' because it was some shit she read online.

And it's not a great point anyway.

Bottom-line is ... drink liquid when you're thirsty, your body knows how to signal you that it's time for fluids.

It's a very, very basic bodily function.

Forcing yourself to drink plain water, just because ... is bullshit.

And there are MANY kinds of 'tea' so what you're suggesting is not even necessarily true.

Peregrine Took

(7,502 posts)
4. My Traditional Chinese Medicine MD has always said it depends on the color of your urine.
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:13 PM
Dec 2022

Well hydrated urine is the color of wheat - like a pale yellow.

Bev54

(11,916 posts)
12. I was always told colourless is the best.
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:47 PM
Dec 2022

As soon as I see colour I drink water. I have taught my young grandchildren the same.

cilla4progress

(25,865 posts)
8. I routinely drink 60
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:25 PM
Dec 2022

ozs a day and it helps me keep feeling healthy and clean.

I get terrible muscle cramps (esp. if I exercise) if I don't. Magnesium helps a lot with those.

I agree about the urine (sorry for TMI): I aim for color- and odorless!

Guess it's individual!

3catwoman3

(25,397 posts)
10. Your statement, "I aim for color," reminds me...
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:45 PM
Dec 2022

...of a story my late father told about signs in the men's bathrooms at the Allstate office building where he worked -

We aim to please.
You aim too, please.

Timewas

(2,286 posts)
9. OK
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 03:32 PM
Dec 2022

I quite often do not drink even one glass of plain water as such a lot of days, lot of coffee and a small glass with meds. No problems with dehydration at all..

I have seen people who were going to be gone from their homes for maybe a couple of hours take 3 or four bottles with them.. absolute insanity.

luv2fly

(2,478 posts)
15. Same here
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 06:27 PM
Dec 2022

I sometimes get a chuckle out of the people in the office who can't seem to attend a meeting without their giant bottle of water next to them. Perhaps they think they are going to burst into flames?

Timewas

(2,286 posts)
16. Silly stuff
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 06:38 PM
Dec 2022

Several that I know are like that. One women I know pulled out of her driveway to go to a shopping mall 3 miles away,drove half a mile and realized she forgot her water so went back home to get it...

Shermann

(8,576 posts)
14. I drink when I'm thirsty
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 04:26 PM
Dec 2022

I'm entirely confident that I have evolved to experience thirst proportional to the optimal amount of water my body needs. If drinking more would improve my well-being, evolution would have easily addressed this.

Darwin FTW!

Warpy

(113,130 posts)
17. I live in the desert and when the heat hits triple digits I can drink 3 liters a day
Tue Dec 6, 2022, 07:17 PM
Dec 2022

without having to march to the bathroom all night. I sweat it out, keeping comfortable and not noticing the sweat because it evaporates as soon as it forms. This climate is just that arid, iced drink glasses remaining dry on the outside.

in winter, it's only a little over a liter unless I want to march all night.

People in northern and western Europe before the introduction of tea and coffee averaged 8 mugs of ale a day. The ale was weak, enough to get them lightly buzzed but not hammered, and its elimination by temperance crusaders caused rural malnutrition, but that's likely another place that "8 glasses of water a day" fiction came from.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Health»Why you don't need to dri...