[kaplods]

I was just reading recently (darn, I wish I could remember where I read it, and the specific studies cited) that thirst works sufficiently for the vast majority of people - with the noted exception of certain endurance and extreme athletes and people with certain mental illnesses (who for example might compulsively drink large amounts of water).

The common "women's magazine," and "dieting" water myths are a personal peeve of mine, because my mother nearly died of water intoxication, in part because of bad advice gotten at her WW meetings (caffeinated beverages DO count, because they provide far more water than they "take away" in diuretic effects).

All fluids do count. The reccomendation of 64 ounces per day was originally meant as an average "from all sources" which included foods as well as beverages. In essence, a game of "telephone" has been played through the years that has distorted this to 64 ounces of liquid and then to 64 ounces of uncaffeinated liquid, and then to 64 ounces of "pure" water (which by the way doesn't really exist, except as distilled water, which is not recommended for drinking), and then to an ounce of water for every 2 lbs of body weight (which would likely be a lethal dose of water for myself, especially as I'm on the same blood pressure medication that put my mother at greater risk for water intoxication.) And somewhere along the line, the ridiculous claim that for every cup of coffee you had to drink an aditional cup (and more recently I've seen as high as 2 cups) of water.

[WebRover]

Your dogs don't have to chose whether to drink water, soda, coffee or tea to count as their hydration. They only get to pick water so there's no problem.

I have read that the 8 8-ounce glasses is an urban legend with no studies in existence on the amount of water the human body needs. It is hard to believe that people need the same amount of water regardless of size or life-style. I think we should be using thirst as our guide and we should be trying to make as much of what we drink water as we can.

[Heather]

Here's a link to a summary of research by Dartmouth researchers about how there's no scientific evidence for the "8 x 8" rule (8-8 ounce glasses of water/day), and that not all the liquid needs to be water.

http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h...02_water.shtml

At the bottom is a link to the published article (for those of you who like primary sources!)

[Sweetcaroline]

Thirsty equals dehydration... just my 2 cents....

I agree with SweetCaroline - and have now read it many times - that our thirst is a good indication of when to drink. The only exception they have noted is athletes, who should drink something with electrolytes to replenish those as well as rehydrate.

I made a discovery today - after many years of trying, I was able to drink black coffee and enjoy it. So there are a few daily calories gone (I used to drink only two per day, but with cream - couldn't even take it with whole milk, much less skim). My other steady drink is water - don't drink pop, and wine only occasionally. A small but meaningful victory for me!

[jay41]

some of the "we must drink more water" myth started with the bottled water companies. They sponsored the initial studies that stated we need all this water ($$$). Medical science is finally catching up and debunking...