I've always been pretty vocal about my disagreement with the prepetuation of the "drink lots and lots of water to lose weight" myth. I've always thought that drinking lots of water is great if one wants to, but the myth is harmful because it leads people who are trying to lose weight to believe that they are being "bad" if they don't choke down whatever arbritary number they been led to believe is "right". The process of losing weight is hard enough with added, unecessary stress being factored in.

I never thought of the possibility of water intoxication, though. I just thought that one had to do something just flat out nuts (or be the victim of an assult) for that to happen. Kaplods post, in hindsight, makes sense to me now. I just hope that the myth doesn't lead to anyone flat out dying.

I had always heard that drinking *enough* water (not 'lots and lots') is important when following a diet plan because the burning of fats by the body produces byproducts that need to be eliminated--primarily these are ketones.

Most people don't drink enough water, whether or not they count caffeinated beverages. I get kidney stones because of years of not drinking enough water (plus probably a hereditary tendency, since my brother and niece also get them).

I drink 64 to 80 ounces of water in a day when I'm doing well, because I don't like drinking water. That's a little past 2 quarts, and it is what my kidney dr. recommended. He told me to count other beverages as extra.

Jay

Hmmm I know I drink a lot of water (3-4 liters a day) but I do it over the entire course of the day not in one sitting.

The radio station was terriable for what they did. I can't believe their producers (and the stations lawyers) let them do this. It is so irresponsible. ABC News reported yesterday (i think) that the sherif is investigating if they can press charges for manslaughter because 1. the station was made aware at the begining of the contest the dangers of drinking too much water, at that point the could have cancelled the contest and the contestants would have been ok and ignored the risk. 2. The woman you died commented while she was on the air that she was having head pain and they should have forced her to resign from the contest at that point and had her seek medical attention.

Additional I'm sure the family will have a large civil claim against the station adn the DJ because of the same reasons.

My mother's kidney doctor called it "water poisoning" which does sound more dangerous than water intoxication, though intoxication, technically means "poisoning."

Mom is still on fluid restriction of about 2 quarts, and possibly will be for the rest of her life. We're still not sure whether the kidney damage done was permanent, as her kidney function has improved but has not yet completely returned to normal.

It was on the news last night, that the local authorities in the radio station case are considering filing criminal charges.