Drinking too much water is bad for health. Limit fluid to under 6 cups unless doing

strenuous exercise (see article). Canadian doctors are warning drinking too much water may cause loss of kidney function. :wow:

It seems that Canadian researchers stumbled across this when studying the health of residents of Walkerton, Ontario,(a town whose water supply was contaminated with E. coli in 2000). They identified 100 otherwise healthy adults who had a condition called proteinuria, or abnormal amounts of protein in their urine. None of them had any medical conditions or were on medications that would explain why they had a condition that can cause kidney failure.

"Of the 100 people, 56 agreed to follow-up testing and to reduce their fluid intake to fewer than eight large glasses per day for one week. The result? The cases of proteinuria were "largely reversed."

snip

"When we were in Walkerton we were surprised that almost five per cent of the population were drinking very large volumes of fluid," said Dr. William Clark, a scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ont., and professor of medicine at the University of Western Ontario.

They were drinking, on average, at least four litres per day. "That would be about 18 large glasses of fluid per day," he said.

snip

"They didn't like it when we asked them to reduce their fluid intake, although they did do it," Clark said. "Most corrected their kidney abnormality. Some did not correct completely, meaning they may have a permanent bit of damage."

The study is published the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=378f85de-27de-4046-815e-293b772666e5



I found this after reading an informative article about kidney function written by a chiropractor warning about the same thing. However I don't put much faith in chiropractors so I googled the topic and found the info about the Walkerton study.

For those interested the article by the chiropractor is at

http://drbenkim.com/drink-too-much-water-dangerous.html

I'd be in the bathroom all day.

I'll have to do some more research into this. I lost one kidney to cancer and regularly drink 8-10 cups of water per day. I want to keep lefty happy and healthy.

interesting observation that kidney's aren't pipes that need flushing out which is what I have always assumed.

I don't see anything contoversial in what he is saying. He is mostly talking about consuming large amounts in a short period of time. Your kidneys need time to filter out the bad stuff. Drinking a large amount over a long time won't have the same affect as drinking a gallon as fast as you can.
4-8 liters is excessive unless your out in the desert. I've done century bike rides while drinking less than that.

I get my BUN and creatinine checked about every 3 months and have been stable at the upper end of the normal range.

always assumed too.

where a woman drank some insane amount of water in a short time, and literally died from it. As in that same day. That's when I decided I needed to cut back a little myself. (bad habit I picked up back in the telemarketing days when I drank both water and coffee all day long.

Let's hear it for the feelings of plants.

It's what plants crave...

It is just physiology and that has nothing to do with what degree a person has.

I don't put much faith in anything or anyone.

:) :hi:

Sid

which I gave up after reading in DU that Rumsfeld lobbied for the Asperteme industry and that it wasn't safe. Over the last two years I guzzled down lots of pure fruit juice since I've been avoiding soda only to find out, after I was diagnosed with high uric acid and high trigylercides, that fructose contributes to both. I being driven to drink :beer:

...divided by two = ounces of fluid per day was the formula I learned, to hopefully reduce incidence of gout and kidney stones. That's ~75 oz, 2.3 liters, or 9-10 cups a day for a 'typical' 150lb person. Formulas for emergency supplies run about half a gallon per person per day for drinking.

So this doesn't sound that extreme.

When I gave up caffeine beverages and drank water using that formula, I was never thirsty (as I am when I drink tea), and my lips were never chapped. I'm working on getting off caffeine again.

I have two or three cups of coffee, a can of pop or glass of lemonade with dinner, and maybe a cup of tea before bed, and I pee more often than I would prefer. These people must do nothing but piss.

I easily drink a quart and 1 1/2 per day (i.e., 1.5 litre) to two quarts (2 litres) per day counting all forms of fluids. But these folks really are drinking an unusually large amount of fluids.

and the faster they pop out the happier I am.

his or her overall health condition; what an amazing notion!

levels, affecting cardiac function, etc. A person should normally drink to their level of thirst.

:scared:

I carry a 1 litre bottle around w/ me everywhere and fill it up constantly (especially at work during the day). I have been like this since I was a child. I'm not diabetic and all my labs come back normal (I get tested for my thyroid every 6 months). If I don't drink that much I feel parched and my throat gets so dry I can barely speak. At least I cut out all the diet coke, coffee and other junk I used to drink. Every once in a while I'll have something different - but I drink water like a junkie.

On the other hand, most people think I am 15 years younger than I look and I don't have any major health problems. At least I didn't think I did, but now I guess I'm going to drop dead at any moment. :shrug:

the common problem of chronic dehydration. Adults (generalizing here) can not count on their sense of thirst to tell them how much water they need. And sometimes you need more water than others, not just when you exercise, but if you are taking a sauna (hydrate before and after) or eating food with lots of flour or bread in it, or sick.

a lot of people have trained themselves to ignore thirst.

their body is thirsty, but they interpret this as hunger and eat something since food has water in it.

If you think I am wrong that chronic dehydration causes health issues for a large percentage of our population, you just might be mistaken.

Especially when taking in possibly toxic pills? :shrug: Either way this is good news for me (I guess), since I struggle to meet the advised intake requirements.

your urine is a pale yellow than you are drinking enough water for your body.