My high school biology teacher, Mr. Bourey, one of the great ones, is not going to like this next sentence. Sometimes science doesn’t give you the whole story.
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Recently, the federal government’s Institute of Medicine issued a report that cast doubt on whether we all need to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day for optimal health. The institute’s panel said Americans already get plenty of fluids–even if it’s from soda or coffee–that count toward the minimum daily requirement.
The panel found women get 9 daily cups of fluid on average and men take in 13 cups. It reasoned that we get an additional 2 to 3 daily cups of fluid from our food, such as a half-cup from a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich or full cup from a dinner salad. Using a scientific analysis, the Institute of Medicine said there is enough water in these daily fluid intakes (beverages and food) to keep the body supplied.
So drink only when you are thirsty. That’s the federal government’s recommendation.
Roughly 60 percent of Americans are obese, and we measure annual consumption of soft drinks in gallons per year or cans per day for the people who drink them. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, estimates that soft drinks represent more than a quarter of the typical American’s daily fluids intake.
Yet a government-commissioned panel is telling people not to worry about drinking water, that all fluids count.
“Water is a non-caloric health beverage,” said Susan Kleiner, a Seattle sports nutritionist who has worked with pro teams and has recently published the second edition of her book “Power Eating” from Champaign-based Human Kinetics. “I understand the basic science that `a fluid is a fluid,’ but I think we are missing the broader point that drinking water is nothing but positive for the body.”
Drinking water can add fluids without the “empty” calories of sugary soft drinks or arbitrary chemicals and preservatives in diet beverages. Water can curb appetite if we drink it first when we are hungry (because we might actually be thirsty). Water doesn’t negatively affect mood or make us jittery. It helps digestion. It’s less expensive and readily available.
Plus, Kleiner takes issue with the recommendation to drink only when we are thirsty.
“All of the research I have ever reviewed shows our body hydration must drop at least 2 percent before we get thirsty,” said Kleiner, who has served on government panels and consulted major corporations that sell both bottled water and soft drinks. “At the 2 percent drop, we most definitely experience both a diminished mental and physical performance.”
Other researchers theorize the body’s pineal gland, which controls thirst, becomes less efficient as we age.
Coming off the federal announcement, the American College of Sports Medicine warned “thirst alone is not the best indicator of dehydration or the body’s fluid needs.” Its position on the issue is that prolonged physical activity and/or heat exposure can confuse the body’s thirst response.
Consequently, ACSM recommends drinking fluids before, during and after exercise to help regulate body temperature, replace fluids lost through sweat and achieve the best possible performance.
Kleiner said the federal panel looked past preliminary studies linking more water consumption with reduced risk for colon and bladder cancers.
“It’s observational data,” she said. “Yet that is no reason to ignore it.”
The federal panel also urged Americans to consume 40 percent less sodium and considerably more potassium.
The current recommended daily amount for sodium, or salt, is no more than 2,400 milligrams per day, the equivalent of a heaping teaspoon of salt. The new recommendation is 1,500 milligrams daily.
Yet studies show the average American eats more than 4,000 milligrams a day, three-quarters of it from restaurant meals and common processed foods like spaghetti sauce and frozen dinners.
“We realize where we are is quite a distance from where we should be … and there are commercial interests that don’t want this to happen,” said Dr. Lawrence Appel, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, who led the institute panel.
The panel also suggested most Americans eat a lot more potassium to help lower blood pressure and prevent bone loss. The new recommendation, which will be incorporated into federal dietary guidelines, is 4,700 mg a day or roughly double current consumption. Potassium is plentiful in bananas, spinach, cantaloupe and numerous other fruits and vegetables.
Some scientists contend soft drinks cause the body to lose potassium. Water most definitely does not. It remains, government panel or not, the healthiest drink.
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E-mail Bob Condor at [email protected]. Send health and fitness news to [email protected].