Popular notion holds that eight glasses of water is the optimal amount to drink each day, but many people find this hard to achieve. Now, a new study may shed light on why, after identifying a swallowing mechanism that stops us from consuming too much liquid when we are not thirsty.
Given that around 60 percent of human body weight is made up of water, it is no surprise that water is essential for human health, aiding every bodily function.
But how much water do we need to drink on a daily basis?
While you may have heard that eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day - known as the "8x8 rule" - is the aim, there is no scientific evidence that pinpoints precisely how much fluid is the optimal amount.
Based on studies to date, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommend that women should aim to drink around 2.2 liters of total beverages daily (around 9 cups), while men should aim to consume around 3 liters of total beverages daily (around 13 cups).
However, contrary to these recommendations and the so-called 8x8 rule, the new study suggests we should only drink when we are thirsty, after discovering a mechanism that makes drinking excess water challenging.
Study co-author Michael Farrell, of the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University in Australia, and colleagues publish their finding in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: MedNewsToday
No comments:
Post a Comment