Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: that the 8-by-8 rule is a gross overestimate of any required minimum.
"The notion that there is widespread dehydration has no basis in medical fact," says Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of the medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Doctors from a wide range of specialties agree: By all evidence, we are a well-hydrated nation. Furthermore, they say, the current infatuation with water as an all-purpose health potion — tonic for the skin, key to weight loss — is a blend of fashion and fiction and very little science.
From an LA Times reader:
The advice fully meets three important criteria for being an American health urban legend: excess, public virtue, and the search for a cheap "magic bullet."
It's unfair to use supporting material out of context.
The first article mentions "widespread dehydration" ..that's an exaggeration at best of what's being discussed here.
People do get dehydrated. We, as a nation, have the means of staying hydrated and therefore we don't have a major epidemic. But, dehydration is definitely an issue--and always will be.
I was responding specifically to the parent's assertion that "most people are at least somewhat dehydrated a large majority of the time."
I consider that statement equivalent to asserting "widespread dehydration" of the nation's populace. So I stand by the material I quoted.
> People do get dehydrated.
Of course they do, just like they get hungry when they don't eat. But we're discussing drinking water in excess of thirst. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by your last paragraph. The discussion here is about health primarily in the first world, not about the hydration problems in many developing countries.
No. From sources described at http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp:
Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: that the 8-by-8 rule is a gross overestimate of any required minimum.
"The notion that there is widespread dehydration has no basis in medical fact," says Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of the medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Doctors from a wide range of specialties agree: By all evidence, we are a well-hydrated nation. Furthermore, they say, the current infatuation with water as an all-purpose health potion — tonic for the skin, key to weight loss — is a blend of fashion and fiction and very little science.
From an LA Times reader:
The advice fully meets three important criteria for being an American health urban legend: excess, public virtue, and the search for a cheap "magic bullet."
Additional research and articles:
http://www.asn-online.org/press/pdf/2008-Media/Water%20Study...
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/283/5/R993
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0236679720080402