Researchers rebuff the clichés of Drinking More Water

Drink several glasses of water a day to keep healthy, is a clichéd advice that lacks scientific evidence say the scientists. Bottled water companies often repeat the claim to boost their sales but researchers proved it is hogwash. It was found that drinking more water does nothing to help skin tone, obesity, toxin removal and headaches.

"This is an area that has really been promoted in the lay press and on the internet because it is a safe recommendation," said Dr Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. "Some people feel this is something they need to do to promote their health. There isn't any real data that could support that idea."

Researchers who reviewed the matter said not enough research has been performed in the direction and they believe that even those who do not drink too much water, can get plenty of it in other ways – from tea, coffee and other drinks and from the food they eat.

The review of research by Dan Negoianu and Stanley Goldfarb, from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, found not a single study backed drinking eight 8oz glasses of water a day.

One small study, although suggested that drinking water could result in fewer headaches, the results were not statistically significant.

The review is published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

How did it all start? In 1945, it was recommended that adults should consume 2.5 liters of water daily, one milliliter for every calorie consumed. It was highlighted by the British Medical Journal in December. People quickly adapted to the idea, since it was an easy way to make up for all the guilt food.

However, they tend to ignore an important part of the advice -- "most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods."

Consuming water before bed after a night's drinking, to counter the hangover is however, beneficial but the idea of drinking more water to ‘flush out’ toxins is baseless. According to the review, extra water does not improve the ability of kidneys to clear toxins.

Counter-intuitively, it was found that too much water may result in water intoxication, hyponatraemia (low salt levels) and an impairment of kidney function.