Named the “ideal” amount of water drunk per day

Named the “ideal” amount of water drunk per day



No need to drink eight glasses of water every day: scientists have discovered the optimal amount of fluid to take. Half of the daily water intake comes from food, researchers say. At the same time, drinking the recommended eight glasses is probably not harmful, experts say.

According to scientists, the recommended eight glasses of water a day may be too high for our actual needs. As writes Daily MailGiven that about half of our daily water intake comes from food, the researchers calculated that we actually need 1.3 to 1.8 liters per day, not two liters.

Previous research in this area has relied on surveys conducted on small samples of people, but now more than 90 scientists from around the world have collaborated to measure water turnover using a different method. They surveyed 5,604 people aged between eight days and 96 years old from 23 different countries. The participants drank a measured amount of water enriched with deuterium, which is naturally present in the human body and is completely harmless.

Scientists measured the rate at which deuterium disappeared from the body, which showed how quickly water in the body turns over.

An analysis published in the journal Science found that people living in hot and humid environments and at high altitudes, as well as athletes, pregnant and lactating women, require more water because their body water turnover is higher.

Professor John Speakman, one of the authors from the University of Aberdeen, said that the circulation of water does not equal the demand for drinking water. “Even if a man in his 20s averages 4.2 liters of water per day, he doesn’t need to drink 4.2 liters of water every day,” he said. “About 15 percent of this value reflects surface water exchange and metabolized water. The actual water consumption is about 3.6 liters per day. Because most foods also contain water, a significant amount of water is provided by food alone. This study shows that the common belief that we should all drink eight glasses of water is probably overblown for most people in most situations."

Drinking the recommended eight glasses is probably not harmful, Professor Speakman explained, but in most cases it is not necessary.

“Calculations show that a typical middle-aged man may need 1.6 to 1.8 liters per day, and a typical woman of the same age may need 1.3 to 1.4 liters,” he said. – For people in their 80s, this can drop to around 1.1 liters per day. But this largely depends on what kind of food they eat. For example, if they drink a lot of soup, they need to drink less.”

Beverages like tea, coffee, sodas and fruit juices also count towards the daily allowance, but they also contain other foods that can be unhealthy, the scientist said.

Co-author Dale Scholler of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said: “Science has never supported the old idea of ​​eight glasses as a suitable guide, if only because it confused the total water turnover with water from drinks and a lot of your water. comes from the food you eat. But this work is the best we've done so far to measure how much water people actually consume on a daily basis - water turnover in and out of the body - and the main factors that influence water turnover."

Recall that the other day the doctors said that the legend of kung fu Bruce Lee could die because he drank too much water. The martial arts star and Hollywood icon passed away at the age of 32 in 1973. Doctors considered that the cause of his death was cerebral edema, which was the result of the artist taking painkillers. His death gave rise to rumors that Bruce Lee may have been killed by Chinese gangsters, poisoned by his mistress, or fell victim to a curse. Researchers who reviewed the evidence concluded that Bruce likely died of hyponatremia. “In other words, we suggest that the failure of the kidneys to excrete excess water killed Bruce Lee,” the experts wrote in the Clinical Kidney Journal.



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