HEALTH | Family Affairs and other matters

DRINKING WATER AN “URBAN MYTH”

14. July 2011

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.

WEAR SUNCREAM ET AL

6. July 2011

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