Myth or reality: Should I drink 2 liters of water a day?
Text: Julia Ruzmanova
Every day we come across thousands of popular tips, rules and statements, many of which actually turn out to be fallacies. We are launching a series of materials in which we will dissect popular opinions and find out whether they are related to reality. Today we understand how much water you need to drink per day.
In recent years, people have become more likely to drink ordinary water. A bottle of water is with each athlete and many students in lectures. In a brochure distributed at UCLA, students are advised to “carry a bottle of water with them and drink more often in the classroom.” At the same time, many admit that it is difficult for them to force themselves to drink a lot of water, and on the Internet you can even find life hacks on how to consume the daily rate.
It is difficult to say who first set the rate of 2 liters of water per day. Probably, this dogma was entrenched in 1945, after the publication of the National Council on Food and Nutrition in the USA: "The fluid intake rate for an adult is about 2.5 liters per day."
So drink or not drink?
Water is certainly useful - if only because it nourishes the body and does not contain calories. But studies that would confirm the rate of 2 liters per day, today does not exist. Arguments in favor of large water consumption, which are found in the media, boil down to the following: our body mainly consists of water (50-70% of the mass), like blood, muscles, brain and bones (85%, 80%, 75% and 25 %, respectively), and therefore the body needs water to work normally - at least 2 liters. And if it is difficult to argue with the first conclusion, the second one is not based on anything.
Even in the publication of the National Food and Nutrition Board of the USA, it was mentioned that the 2.5 liter standard indicated by him included not only drinking water, but all other beverages, as well as all food, which also contains a significant amount of water. Therefore, to get enough water, you do not need to drink several bottles a day - you just need to eat right. For those who want to make sure that enough water enters his body, there are mobile apps that help you calculate what a cup of milk gave you and how many cups of coffee you have selected.
It happened that people died after drinking too much water - that is, from water intoxication
Water is often recommended to drink to lose weight. But it remains unclear whether water noticeably reduces food intake, how long the effect lasts, and how much liquid is needed to affect saturation. A study by the American Society of Clinical Nutrition states that water in food (for example, in chicken soup) may be better able to cope with the role of "preload" before the next meal than the same amount of water drunk separately. The link between consuming large amounts of water and high life expectancy is also not established.
I wonder what happened when people died after drinking too much water - that is, from water intoxication. True, some of the dead were affected by ecstasy, which increases the feeling of thirst. how says infectiologist Christopher Van Tulekken, "people evolved by performing heavy physical labor in heat and drought conditions. We can get less water than usual without special problems, while even a small water intoxication will lead to far worse consequences. To put it simply tongue, drinking too much water is just as bad as not drinking it at all. "
So, evidence that 2 liters - the necessary rate does not exist.
the photo: 1, 2 via Shutterstock
The material was first published on the site Look At Me