With a veritable heat wave blanketing most of the country, you’ve probably heard how important it is to drink 8 glasses of water per day. Well now, doctors are disputing that theory, saying it may be overstated.
Dr. Margaret McCartney, a general practitioner in Scotland, recently wrote in the British Medical Journal that drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day is “thoroughly debunked nonsense,” adding that there is no high-quality scientific evidence to support such a recommendation. In fact, Dr. McCartney believes that drinking too much water can actually be dangerous by causing low blood sodium levels, a condition known as hyponatraemia.
“People still think that we’re all going to die or our kidneys will shrivel up if we don’t drink 8 cups of water a day,” McCartney said. “From what I can see, there’s never been any evidence in the medical literature about it.”
Experts still say that drinking extra water can reduce urinary tract infections, improve skin tone, help with weight loss (by filling up with water first), reduce headaches and fatigue, eliminate constipation and improve concentration. But since the kidneys are powerful enough to make concentrated urine, there may not be a need to overdo water consumption.
According to the Mayo Clinic, as long as we drink enough water to produce about 6.3 cups of clear or slightly yellow urine per day, our water intake is probably sufficient.
