Drink eight glasses of water

Drinking eight glasses of water a day is advice that is given to every person at one point or the other. But is the idea of ​​”one size fits all” a reality or just a myth?

A recent study published in an academic and scientific journal Sciences Show that people can drink more water than they need and that daily needs can vary from person to person.

BBC He cited the study, in which scientists from the University of Aberdeen discovered that the suggested two liters could actually be much higher than what the human body requires on average.

According to the study, the estimated amount of water that people need per day is 1.5 to 1.8 liters because a lot of water comes from food and other intake.

“The original estimate of two liters a day comes from a slight miscalculation. The water we need to drink is the difference between the total water we need to take in and the amount we get from our food,” BBC Professor John Speakman of the University of Aberdeen was quoted as saying.

The scientist said that asking people how much they eat is a common practice to estimate the amount of water taken in from food. However, he said that taking this method can lead to misjudgment because people “underreport” how much they eat.

Why the results of this study could be true

There have been countless studies to find the right answer to the question but the surveys apply to small samples of people. However, this new study was conducted through a worldwide collaboration, where the scientists used the stable isotope technique.

The survey included 5,604 individuals between the ages of eight days and 96 years, from 23 different countries. Some of the hydrogen molecules were replaced with a stable isotope of an element called deuterium in a glass of water that the survey participants consumed.

Deuterium is an element found naturally in the body, so the rate at which it is eliminated shows how quickly the water in the body turns over.

It has been found that people with higher water turnover generally need to drink more water, while energy expenditure is the biggest factor in water turnover.

“Drink more water is just an old saying.”

Meanwhile, CNN’s chief medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen said drinking more water is just an “adage” and “does no harm” to the human body.

When asked how much water people should drink, Cohen said that people just need to note the color of their urine rather than counting the glasses of water they consume, to see if they are drinking enough water.

According to the study, a person is considered healthy and hydrated if his urine is pale straw in color. “Amber or honey” colored urine indicates mild dehydration while “syrup or brown” colored urine shows that a person has “worrying dehydration” which may be a sign of liver disease.

She said the symptoms are common in a country with hot weather.

She translated an Israeli song saying, “If you piss yellow, it’s no good,” saying everyone needs to learn that.