BS: How Much Water do You Drink?

Subject: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: meself
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 10:49 AM

I'm just looking at an article from Harvard Medical School (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink#:~:text=How%20much%20daily%20total%20water,juice%), according to which you should drink "four to six cups of plain water" daily; i.e., apart from tea, coffee, and other water sources. I almost never drink even ONE cup of plain water in a day, unless the water I use to swallow all my pills adds up to a cup, which it probably does. Surprised I'm still alive ... !

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: meself
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 10:57 AM

Note, btw, this very helpful disclaimer: " ... Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles." ... while no date is provided anywhere on the page. So, this article could be from 1640 or so, I suppose .....

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 11:35 AM

I have Stage 3 Kidney Disease, so I always feel guilty about not drinking as much water as they tell me to drink. This Mayo Clinic article says 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) for women per day, and 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) for men. I think I'd be happy if I could drink half that.
But I know I should be doing better, so I keep trying to think of ways to increase my intake. I've heard that all hydration is hydration, so I count the liquid I drink with bicarbonate and pills in the morning, my morning cup of coffee, and my usual beer or whisky that's three cups. And drinking another three cups of ice water is reasonable. That's six cups, but it's a far cry from the 15.5 cups I'm supposed to be drinking.
But I'm working on it. My doctor says, "Yeah, you have stage three kidney disease, but you're doing pretty well." I love my kidney doc.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: meself
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 11:45 AM

I believe that 15.5 cups includes water from all sources - e.g., fruits & vegetables - as opposed to cups of "plain water" .....

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 11:46 AM

I sure as hell hope so...

The number I usually hear is 64 ounces of clear water, which is 8 cups or about 4 liters.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 12:23 PM

The liquid in a cup of tea or coffee still counts as liquid, but don't make all of your liquid coffee or tea. The science is all over the place, partly because people put their hypotheses out there as established fact and it is repeated as fact. (That is largely what happened with the federal nutrition recommendations in the time of George McGovern's commission.) Science right now is all over the place and there is a lot of pseudo-science stepping up (thanks to Trump and RFK jr.)

Use Google Scholar to look for research papers on the subject and set your dates to prior to 2025 to avoid the recent crap being pumped out. Look out for Open Access Pseudoscience Journals and the predatory journals that don't require peer review.

If articles you want to read turn up in Google scholar but the publishers charge you to read it, then get the names of the first few authors and do a search on them. Chances are they've published earlier versions of the paper with their universities (open access via university library repositories) or in other publications that may be free. Joe, if you can't find it free, check with your library, or send me the citation and I'll see if I can get it from my university, where I still have access beyond the paywalls.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Helen
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 01:54 PM

I have been told that drinking just tea and/or coffee and not water or juice etc can be a problem because they are diuretic i.e. the water content just goes straight through fairly quickly and doesn't have time to generate as much positive effect in the body. (I was told that by the nurses at the Lifeblood blood and plasma donation centre, where I donate plasma every fortnight so they recommend not drinking tea or coffee in the hours before I donate.)

Joe, 2.7 to 3.7 litres a day sounds like a lot to me but maybe it is specific to your own health needs. I probably drink about 1.5 litres of fluid per day including two large cups each of tea and coffee, two glasses of water to take my regular tablets, another glass or two of water or juice and a glass of red wine. (That's fluid isn't it? LOL)

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 02:32 PM

The tea I drink these days is decaf, so not a diuretic effect, and I drink a lot of iced tea from herbal sources (Rooibos "red tea" from South Africa is one that can be plain or have other things added like bergamot for an Earl Grey flavor, or cinnamon, etc.)

I have a daily sparkling water like Topochico and the variety from Costco and others that have no sweetener, just a hint of a fruit flavor.

Pills are taken with water and I usually have a 12-16 ounce glass with meals. There's a saying out there that if you're looking around for a snack you might just actually be thirsty.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Helen
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 02:58 PM

In summer I make up a fruit and tea mix.

I put a couple of big spoons of loose leaf tea in the tea maker/strainer like one of these Tea Infusers for Loose Leaf , place that in the top of a thermos flask with chopped fruit like strawberries, or lemon or orange slices etc in the bottom of the flask, pour boiling water over it, cover and let sit until the tea is brewed, put the tea in a big 2 litre jar and fill with more boiling water. Refrigerate it and use about a third of a glass of that with some ice cubes and add plain sparkling or mineral water, with no added sugar.

It's refreshing, and I still get the tea flavour without drinking a full serving of tea, with the added joy of fruit flavours of my choice.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 06:01 PM

I found out recently why even the youngest school children need large backpacks from a teacher friend.

1. lunch box (sandwich, fruit, maybe a small juice)
2. similar box full of carrot sticks & other yummy veggies for morning break (which was called playlunch in my day, & is now called little lunch in some/all? schools)
3. water bottle (up to 2 litres)

Poor little mites, no wonder their bags take up so much room on buses, as do the larger bags of high school students.

Years ago I saw a very small kindergarten boy being led into to a fancy school wearing a backpack meant for senior students, the bag almost covered his lower legs! The school had started enrolling juniors & soon offered a smaller bag for them.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Helen
Date: 07 Oct 25 - 07:06 PM

If you want a really good laugh Sandra, try watching this TV show:

Little Lunch

Little Lunch - available on ABC iView in Oz

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 08:53 AM

I'm a tad skeptical about drinking massive quantities of water. When and where did this fashion start?

I admit that I drink horrendous quantities of tea,* but that's as a countermeasure to the oldies' reported tendency to not drink enough to keep their kidneys ticking over. Having to Get Up And Go in the middle of the night doesn't (yet) hold any fears for me.

* Something between six and eight one-pint mugfuls a day. I've counted the used tea bags.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Fred
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 09:31 AM

I find water tastes gloopy, so I often add Robinson's juice.

-F

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 09:40 AM

i vaguely remember (I think) that the proposal/order to drink a litre of water a day was invented by someone who was not a medical person. maybe a beautition?

so I asked Dr Google & found this from the Mayo clinic, a reputable source Water: How much should you drink every day?

Medical News Today - What happens if you drink too much water?

UK+NHS Water, drinks and hydration Find out which drinks are healthier choices, and how to get enough fluids every day to stay hydrated

Australia - Drinking water and your health

might as well ask Reddit, too

enough!

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Reinhard
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 10:32 AM

Strange enough, Americans seem to have to drink more water than Europeans. The Wikipedia article "Daily consumption of drinking water" says:

In the United States, the Adequate Intake for total water, based on median intakes, is 4.0 litres per day for males older than 18, and 3.0 litres per day for females over 18. The European Food Safety Authority recommends 2.0 litres of total water per day for women and 2.5 litres per day for men.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 10:37 AM

> someone who was not a medical person

Sounds about right. I understand the body-mass index wasn't invented by a qualified medic or scientist either, but that's a separate rant which need not detain us here.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: meself
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 12:01 PM

Well, since I commenced this discussion with reference to an article from the Harvard Medical School, and Joe then cited a Mayo Clinic article, bringing in beauticians and 'fashions' probably just muddies the waters. Speaking as a folksinger, mind, the science seems clear; I'm just wondering how other people deal or don't deal with it.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: meself
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 12:13 PM

That's me speaking as a folksinger, mind, not science. I'll have to see the doctor one of these days about these dangling participles ... !

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 12:13 PM

The point is, the medical schools don't really have any more information than beauticians. Hypotheses on these subjects haven't been proved or disproved.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Helen
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 01:07 PM

Another point of the medical recommendations, in my opinion, is that drinking enough water is important rather than only drinking sugary soft drinks or juice, or tea, coffee, beer, wine, cider etc.

I watched an Oz TV show which shows Police officers pulling over drivers to test them for alcohol or drugs. One memorable scene showed an old man who looked - excuse the expression - totally whacked out on drugs, like a lifelong user. He looked extremely unhealthy and talked fast and loose, very over the top. He tested negative for drugs and alcohol but told the officers that he drinks about 20 litre bottles of Coca Cola every day. I assume that is all he drinks and good old healthy plain water would be an anathema to him. I don't have anything to base this assumption on, but if he thinks Coke is the only essential drink then I also assume that he thinks Macca's (aka McDonald's) is the only essential food. Scary!

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: robomatic
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 01:42 PM

My life sort of revolves around Starbucks (SB for short, and DONTJUDGEME). The crew there knows I take a quadshot espresso first thing in the morning and a trente water (about 16 ounces) Starbucks water is good cool filtered and no extra charge. I don't leave until I've finished it. I allow myself unsweetened but flavored tonic water after lunch. I try to drink at least the same amount of water in the afternoon. I taper back before bedtime but I expect to get up during the night or I'm not drinking enough.

Having been operated on ford kidney stones twice it is a worthwhile discipline.

Joe, I wish you the best. Kidneys are really neat.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: Helen
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 02:02 PM

Or in my Hubby's case, one kidney is really neat, so he has to look after that one as best he can.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 04:25 PM

Helen, when I was recently in treatment,
there was a fellow patient who drank copious amounts of Diet Coke
and had a thing for sugar, as in breakfast cereals and sweets.
He also smoked to excess.
Your story reminds me of that patient.
A bit of thread creep here, sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Oct 25 - 04:52 PM

Diet coke is supposed to kill rats, its the aspartame, apparently they get addicted and cannot breed

Subject: RE: BS: How Much Water do You Drink?
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Oct 25 - 06:52 AM

Coca-Cola is also good for loosening a nut that's rusted onto the bolt.

I'm a caffeine addict in remission, but my favourite tale of caffeine overdosing concerns Darling Daughter. One day at school, she'd drunk rather too many stiff cappachinos, then one of her classmates gently prompted her with: "Do you realise you haven't blinked for the last five minutes?" "I KNOW!" says she, fortissimo, and goes off into a five-minute hyper.