Drinking too much water is bad for your health
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Drinking too much water is bad for your health
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Hurrah- finally the truth is out and we don't all need to drink 8 glasses of water a day like the manufacturers of bottle water keep telling us. An article by Margaret McCartney in the BMJ says there
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Forums » Off duty » News & media » Drinking too much water is bad for your health
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Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 13/7/2011 10:34 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 93
First: 18/3/2011 Last: 4/3/2013 |
Hurrah- finally the truth is out and we don't all need to drink 8 glasses of water a day like the manufacturers of bottle water keep telling us. An article by Margaret McCartney in the BMJ says there is no evidence that it is good for you and some evidence that it might, just might, increase the risk of hyponatremia. We do not need 8 glasses to avoid dehydration and do not need to drink when we do not feel thirsty. There is no evidence that drinking lots of water reduces kidney problems or improves kids' attention in school. http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4280 Just say no to more water, says McCartney, though it's better for kids than coke. |
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 13/7/2011 10:59 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1791
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 25/5/2013 |
Let us make a little calculation here. In general, most of us excrete about 1 liter of urine daily. Sometimes it may be as little as 600 ml . sometimes it can be 2 liter. Then, there is the loss in breath, in other excretions( sweating, faeces). So, if we want to keep equilibrium it means the intake of water has to be equal to loss. Now, make your own calculations. When you calculate total water intake you need to take into account all sources(food included). From my personal experience, I was visiting Hungary three weeks ago and didn't dring enough. And what I got was a terrible renal colic. And yes, I have a kidney stone.... And I don't want to mention haw many dehydration cases are admitted each day to emergency because they don't drink enough, and with the heat and sun here in Israel they end up dehydrated.
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 13/7/2011 1:52 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1351
First: 25/1/2009 Last: 24/5/2013 |
DRinking lots of water for school children will surely make their concentration worse as they sit there desperatley needing to go to the toilet and not being allowed by their teacher! |
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 13/7/2011 4:14 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 683
First: 17/11/2008 Last: 24/5/2013 |
Actually what the review says is that there is no evidence at all to say people should drink the eight glasses or 8 ounces of water a day. There is no evidence at all. There's a great review article by Heinz Valtin a physiologist who says lots of water is in food we eat and that there is no reference he could find (he published a review in a physiology journal) for how much water we should drink. But the 8x8 rule was clearly too much. He found he drank one to one and a half litres. The push for more water drinking is from bottled water companies - what ever happened to knowing when you are thirsty and quenching that thirst. If you live in a hot country then you need to drink more than if you live in less sunny London. But there are potentially some risks to drinking too much water (hyponatremia) and there may be other unintentional consequences. Great review...can use it to beat up on all those people carrying bottled water around. http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml |
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 15/7/2011 11:59 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 4
First: 2/7/2011 Last: 15/7/2011 |
well yes, i do have hyponatraemia due in part to over hydration but also due to medication and some bright spark added in BFZ for hypertension...Na+ 115...... so the GP says to drink less water ( tap, in my case ) and eat more salt....hard to overcome 30yrs of conditioning.....have some salty chips...... so now i have irritable bladder and gallstones!! I am such a crap patient! compassion only comes through suffering, I find.... hey ho... |
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Don't drink for health, drink for appearance then!
posted at 15/7/2011 12:11 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 15/7/2011 Last: 23/8/2012 |
Health effects aside, few of us want saggy, slack skin. Hydration = firmer, better looking skin (pretty sure this is well established). So considering the procedure people would do to themselves to preserve their looks, I'd think raising your risk of hypo[any ion]mia won't stop those who drink for their skin...
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 15/7/2011 12:53 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 13/5/2011 Last: 18/2/2012 |
Thanks to Mc Cartney for so practical article. In my practice, many of my patients ask me "Doctor, how much water should an adult like myself drink? people say that more you take water, better for health". I always suggest, please take water according to your thirst. So I see that I am doing the right thing. |
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Re: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
posted at 19/7/2011 9:45 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 19/7/2011 Last: 19/7/2011 |
May I know in what way can drinking water be bad? How much is too much? Lack of drinking water is a major problem. I've heard of children who has been drinking soft drinks alone with no water since birth and getting kidney problems hence the need of life long dialysis at a young age. In my opinion, the amount of water needed for each individual can be shown by the colour of urine. The urine colour should be colourless, showing satisfactory water intake. It may be too late when you feel thirsty. |
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