28 July, 2008

Eight glasses

As a regular reader of Bad Science, I'm obviously reluctant to republish nutritional advice from a national newspaper, but this piece from the Independent, questioning the myth that humans need to drink eight glasses of water each day, seems okay.

To summarise: the recommended quantity is arbitrary, dating from 1945 (hardly the result of cutting-edge research, then), and is frequently misinterpreted. Fluid consumed within food does count towards one's nominal liquid 'ration', as do such drinks as tea and coffee. It is not necessary to drink a certain amount of water as water.

So all you people who are never more than a metre from a silly little bottle of water are merely victims of packagers' marketing. Don't.