You Too Can Become a Water-Wise Person

It’s standard health advice, dispensed by everyone from your doctor to your mother: Drink water.

Question: How much is enough?

Answer: The standard advice is eight glasses a day, although people may need less or more.

Q: So, what’s so magical about water?

A: Water eases digestion, helps regulate body temperature, can serve as a natural appetite suppressant and accounts for about 60% of body weight.

Q: Why is extracting your water requirement from soda, beer or a latte not applauded by health experts?

A: Drinking pure water instead of other beverages means you won’t load up on excess calories, for starters. And some other beverages can have undesirable side effects. Caffeine, for instance, has a diuretic action, which can upset the kidney’s ability to manage internal water balance.

In a typical day, you can lose 3 liters of water from the skin via perspiration, from the lungs and from urine. If you exercise strenuously, water loss could be much more.

Not that what you drink has to totally replace your losses. The kidneys can compensate somewhat for too little or too much water intake. And your body can make about a cup of water a day from oxidation of carbohydrates from the foods you eat.

* Sources: Dr. Henry C. Lin, director, GI Motility Program and Section of Nutrition, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; the PDR Family Guide to Nutrition and Health (Medical Economics Co., 1995).