Perceptions: Go Ahead, Put the Water Bottle Down

Perceptions: Go Ahead, Put the Water Bottle Down
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Drinking a lot of water is supposed to be healthy, but there is apparently little scientific support for the belief. A review of clinical studies has found no evidence that drinking eight glasses of water a day, the usual recommendation, is beneficial to a healthy person.
Numerous claims have been made about water — that it prevents headaches, removes dangerous “poisons,” improves the function of various organs and is associated with reduced risk for various diseases. But none of these is supported by scientific evidence. The authors were not even able to find a study leading to the “eight glasses a day” rule, whose origin remains unknown.
The researchers, in the June issue of The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, say some studies have found evidence that drinking extra water helps the kidneys clear sodium, and long-term sodium retention might increase the risk of hypertension, but no clinical significance for the phenomenon has been established. Water also helps clear urea, but urea is not a toxin.
There is “intriguing” evidence that water might help decrease appetite and control weight gain, write the authors, who say this might be worth more research.
“Under normal circumstances,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a co-author and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, “drinking extra water is unnecessary. I want to relieve people of the burden of schlepping water bottles around all day long.”