Is drinking eight glasses of water a day good for you? Does it help you lose weight, prevent kidney disease, moisturize your skin? Or is this just a health myth that is repeated over and over?
Well, a Glasgow-based GP, writing in the British Medical Journal, is turning thumbs down on the constant you-have-got–to-drink-your-water admonitions. Dr. Margaret McCartney says this is all “not only nonsense, but thoroughly debunked nonsense.”
Dr. McCartney also points out that research shows drinking when not thirsty can impair concentration, rather than boost it, and separate evidence suggests that chemicals used for disinfection found in bottled water could be bad for your health. So there!
Now we’ve always wondered why nobody has to tell you to eat when you are hungry, everyone is always telling you to drink your eight glasses whether you are thirsty or not. But Dr. McCartney’s opinion is a rare one. Interestingly enough, in Britain About 2.06billion liters of bottled water was drunk last year, compared with 1.42billion liters in 2000. Despite this increase the Brits still drink three times as much tea, and five times as much beer. And we don’t even have the figures, with all due respect to the Glasgow-based Dr. McCartney, on how much Scotch is being drunk.
