Water – 8 A Day May Not Be the Way

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – A recent article in the British Medical Journal entitled, “Waterlogged?” once again challenged the idea that we all need to drink 8 glasses of water a day to prevent dehydration. According to the author, Margaret McCartney, a physician, “There is currently no clear evidence of benefit from dinking increased amounts of water, yet the “we-don’t-drink-enough-water” myth has endless advocates.”

I’m not going to try to encourage or discourage you from drinking water. I’m going to simply look at some of the facts and let you decide if you need to carry around that water bottle all day.

Approximately 11% of all drinks consumed in the US are bottled water. The remaining 87% are: 28% soda, 13% alcoholic drinks, 11% milk, 9% coffee, 5% fruit drinks, and 4% tea. What’s left over, the “other” category, is made up of sports drinks, vegetable juice, powdered drinks and tap water.

Exactly how much water should you drink each day? You’ve probably heard of the 8 X 8 rule – drink 8 servings of 8 ounces each day. It sounds good, but there is no foundation for this recommendation and no scientific evidence to support it. It should go down as another urban myth.

There is no question you do need water every day. How much? Physiologically it is based on your calorie need. You need 1 milliliter of water for each calorie you consume. If you need 1,800 calories a day, you also need 1,800 milliliters of water. Translated into cups: 1 cup = 240 milliliters. If you divide 240 into 1,800 calories you get 7.5 cups per day.

But, these 7 ½ cups a day are your fluid requirement. They don’t have to all be water. Solid food contains a lot of water; you get 3 to 4 cups of fluid a day from the foods you eat. Spinach is 93% water, watermelon 92% water, blueberries 85% water, an apple has 84% water, and a banana has 74% water. When you eat these foods, the water they contain is absorbed by your body.

Other liquids like juice and soup count too. If you drink caffeinated beverages – tea, coffee, soda, energy drinks – you can count half of your intake toward your daily fluid requirement, but not all. Caffeine acts as a mild diuretic, causing you to lose some of the water you drink but not all of it. Less is actually lost than once believed, so most experts now feel that a portion of caffeine-containing drinks can be counted toward your daily fluid need.

In many cases you can meet your fluid requirement without extra water. The exceptions would be during extremely hot weather or heavy exercise when you need more fluids.

There is no question that drinking some water daily is a good habit. Water is calorie free and contains calcium, magnesium and fluoride.

Is bottled water safer or healthier than tap water? From a nutrition standpoint, there is no advantage – water is water, as long as it comes from a clean source. But you might like the convenience, flavor or natural carbonation in bottled water.

Bottled water is regulated for purity. Most bottlers belong to the International Bottled Water Association. There are no regulations, however, for enhancing bottled water and no oversight for some of the claims being made. Do you need vitamin or herbal enhanced water? Should you be paying a premium price for these miniscule additions? Does your water need to travel thousands of miles before you drink it? Do you know the sweeteners many producers put in bottled water are to mask the bitter taste of the added nutrients? If the mild taste of flavored water gets you to drink more, or if you use it in place of higher calorie fruit drinks or soda, great. Paying for water with add-ons is your choice, but it may not be the best investment you’ll ever make.

Bottom line: Plain water is your best thirst quencher but you don’t need to drink it by the liter to be properly hydrated.

© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales of more than 8.5 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Diabetes Counter, 4th Ed., 2011
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to

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