Water can be dangerous, say kidney experts

by Jacki Donaldson (Subscribe to Jacki Donaldson's posts)
Apr 4th 2008 8:00AM

Categories: Healthy Habits, Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment

Can drinking water be harmful to your health? Why, yes, it can be, say two kidney experts. Now I don't mean excess amounts of water here. I mean your average daily recommended water intake.

How can this be, you might ask. Clearly, water is good for the body. It clears out toxins, keeps organs in fighting shape, keeps weight off, and improves skin tone. Not quite true, according to a new scientific review published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"There is what I call an urban myth that drinking a lot of water is a healthy thing to do and it leads to people toting around plastic water bottles all day drinking water," says kidney specialist Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Goldfarb began studying the benefits of drinking water because of his interest in how the kidney handles fluids. With colleague Dr. Dan Negoianu, Goldfarb debunked four myths.

Drinking a lot of water suppresses appetite. Nope. There is no consistent evidence of this. "Because you absorb water so quickly and it moves through the GI tract so quickly, it probably doesn't fill you up the way people have proposed, nor does it lead to the release of hormones which suppress appetite as far as we know," Goldfarb says.

Filling up on water flushes toxins from the body. "When you drink a lot of water you end up having a larger volume of urine but don't necessarily increase the excretion of various constituents of the urine," says the researcher.

Drinking water reduces headaches. It does not.

Water drinking improves your skin. There is nothing to suggest that it improves the water content of the skin.

Goldfarb and Negoianu say that some people do have an increased need for water, like those living in hot, dry climates, some athletes, and people with certain diseases like kidney stones. But but no such data exist for average, healthy individuals. Or long-distance runners -- over-drinking during races is worse than under-drinking.

Goldfarb says he's not sure where the eight-glasses-of-water-a-day recommendation came from. There's just no rational basis for it, he says.

Source

Comments (11)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Yayaja 4-04-2008 @ 10:35AM

They debunk water myths, but what does that have to do with the first paragraph? Where does it say that drinking a normal amount of water a day can be harmful?

charlie 4-08-2008 @ 8:55AM

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with their findings and how it was reported.

I learned about dehydration after giving up alcohol for several months. About a month into that routine, I started waking up with terrible hangovers. After I while I realized what I thought was a hangover was actually dehydration --usually caused by too much exercise and not enough water.

For physically active people, the old army adage of drinking until your piss is clear is a good rule.

For people who are not physically active, water may not be a big issue. However, I do notice that when I don't drink enough, I tend to retain water and gain 3-4 pounds. Not a big deal but you look a bit bloated.

In terms of the reporting, what Goldfarb said on NPR this AM was that there is some evidence that water increases blood flow to the capillaries, and while that doesn't mean "better skin" it certainly would have some effect.

During my typical two hour gym routine, I tend to lose about two pounds of weight -- all water leaking out. My someone my weight that is close to medical dehydration.

The Israeli army recommends one liter of water an hour -- granted that is in the desert - but for those of us who are active it is not a bad target.

Jacki 4-04-2008 @ 10:49AM

The researcher says there's no rational basis for the eight-glasses-of-water per day recommendation. That's the normal amount of water -- and why the first paragraph says what it says.

Hope this makes sense!

Jacki

Jacki 4-04-2008 @ 10:51AM

Thanks for your thoughts, Charlie! You make some good points.

Jacki

Faye 4-08-2008 @ 7:51AM

I drink a lot of water daily, at least a gallon... because I'm constantly thirsty. So it's either drink water or something else that's loaded with sugar, carbs, calories, and other unhealthy stuff. I choose water over soda, energy drinks, or juice drinks that have more sugar than juice.

Before I drank so much water, I was quite prone to kidney stones. Now (knocking on wood), I'm stone free. =)

Vishaal 4-04-2008 @ 12:41PM

These doctors are LAME-Os. Just look at people who do not drink water or only drink when they are 'thirsty'. They look and feel run down. They are dehydrated. They don't look all moisturized. People who don't drink water DO get headaches, I have family proof. It helps me NOT to eat too much. It makes my sugar cravings vanish. My pee doesn't feel 'thick' and yellow. I have more energy. This is just lame!

Desiree 4-04-2008 @ 5:11PM

I've never really believed that we literally need to drink 8 glasses a day. Trying that left me going to the bathroom constantly and I did feel as if I was drinking too much water. Besides, we get hydrated from other food and drink in our diet. I drink when I feel thirsty, drink extra during a workout, and I'm fine. What I think we need is a redefinition of the "normal" amount of water, because 8 glasses a day just doesn't work for everyone.

What these doctors are suggesting is going against everything we've heard before, and they need to do more research before making themselves look like fools. Their reasoning is sound, but they definitely need to experiment further.

lilreeves 4-07-2008 @ 7:01AM

I think these doctors are full of you know what.

I don't care if their is ANY research saying we need water. I personally (and millions of others would agree) feel 100x better when I'm hydrated.

Do I think we should be drinking gallons of water per day? Absolutely not. But 8 glasses isn't all that much, especially when you include what you eat.

For most people 4-6 glasses of pure water a day would be fine in my opinion.

Jeremy
www.fitness-product-reviews.com

Mom 4-08-2008 @ 7:08AM

I really don't understand the comments I'm reading. These aren't people with an opinion making the statements in the article - they are experts and their professional reputation is on the line when they report their findings.

I'm not saying I'm going to stop drinking water - but I certainly respect what I've read and will take it into consideration from now on.

Nova11 4-09-2008 @ 2:18PM

This is just crazy! First its drink 8 glasses and now its dont drink 8 glasses?? Ok...we ALL know that water is GOOD for you. Its makes my skin clearer and i just generally feel better all around. I sleep good and have more energy. I dont drink much else besides water and i will never believe a report like this.

Tara 4-10-2008 @ 4:56PM

The point is, the body uses approximately 64 oz. (8 8-oz. glasses) of water in a day, and that's water from all sources, including foods, drinks, and cellular metabolism. One day a long time ago, someone took that to mean that we need to DRINK 64 oz. of water- in other words, they MADE IT UP. Yes, more research does need to be done to determine how much water we need to drink, and what the benefits are. However the 8-glass rule was issued with ZERO research.