CNN report about water and health

[Guest guest]

Since we're all interested in health, I thought everyone here might

find this CNN report interesting. I was so shocked when I saw this

report on TV the other day...this woman (and some unnamed

" scientists " ) so frivolously passing off the idea of drinking water to

stay healthy, telling people that they can get their daily water

intake from Diet Coke, calling people who drink large amounts of water

" nerds " , even in jest...it really made me angry!

(I apologize if the formatting on this is bad...I tried to make it a

nice neat column, but I don't think it worked.)

http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/24/cohen.water.otsc/ind

ex.html

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You've heard it for years -- drink at

least eight glasses of water a day.

But now some scientists say that

may be an urban myth. CNN

Medical Correspondent

Cohen joined CNN's a Zahn to

discuss the issue.

PAULA ZAHN: I have to tell you, -- good morning -- I am so

ticked about this. I'm one of those people that's become accustomed

to

walking around with the big plastic bottle of water, and they laugh

at

me every morning because I try to ...

ELIZABETH COHEN: You're one of those nerds, is that it?

ZAHN: ... I try to get through six glasses right here during the

" American

Morning " show. So I've been living in a state of flotation for many

years

here, and now you say I didn't need to do this. What's going on?

COHEN: Well, actually, before I tell you that, a, I have to ask

you,

do you sweat a lot during the show?

ZAHN: Never...

COHEN: Never, then you don't need all that much water.

ZAHN: ... because they keep the air conditioning here at like 60

degrees

to make sure everybody's alert and thinking well.

COHEN: Right, exactly. Yes, it works, too, doesn't it?

ZAHN: Yes, it does.

COHEN: Well, if you're not sweating a lot during your show, then you

probably don't need quite as much water as you think you do.

This eight eight-ounce glasses a day it turns out, after talking to

the

USDA, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of

Health,

people at various universities, they say, you know what, this appears

to

be

kind of a myth. We can't find a single study that says that that's

what

people ought to do.

So I'm sitting next to a myth. Let's show the myth that I'm sitting

next

to. This is eight ounces -- eight eight-ounce glasses of water. This

is,

theoretically, according to the myth, what you're supposed to be

drinking.

You can also look at it this way, that you're supposed to be drinking

these

two containers of water. All those people who are, you know, being, I

guess,

nerds like you, a, and walking around with those big bottles of

water.

I'm just kidding: You're not a nerd at all, but people are now saying,

gosh, is this true?

And what we've heard is that this doesn't appear to be true and also

that

there's nothing magical about water. Of course, you need to keep

yourself

hydrated. We're human beings. We need to have some form of hydration

--

doesn't have to be water.

Let's look at the water content of some other food and beverages here.

For

example, milk -- 84 percent water. You could get your water there.

Watermelon, 85 percent water -- you could get your water there. Other

fruits also have lots of water. Diet Coke, 99 percent water -- you

could

get your water there.

Now I can hear you thinking, well, gee, you know Diet Coke, that has

caffeine in it, that can't be good. We've all heard that caffeine is

dehydrating. However, we've talked to a couple of experts who point to

studies that say, you know what, when we look at it, people get just

as

hydrated from caffeinated beverages as they do from decaffeinated

beverages. So of course you don't want to drink just caffeinated

beverages

all day, but if you have a cup of coffee in the morning and a cup of

tea

in the afternoon, you can count that as some of your water -- some of

your water intake.

So the bottom line here is that the eight eight-ounce glasses a day

appears

to be conventional wisdom. We don't really know what the real answer

is,

but you can sort of use common sense. And just know that you need to

keep

yourself hydrated. You start to get a headache, you start to get

thirsty,

start to

get a dry mouth, means you're not drinking enough -- a.

ZAHN: Don't you just love the fact that we'll never know how much

we're

really supposed to drink?

COHEN: Well, we may know in March, because, actually, the National

Academy of Sciences has put together a panel of experts to do nothing

but

look at how much water do we need. And hopefully, in March, they

should

have the answer. And so in the meantime, you just have to sort of use

common sense.

ZAHN: And in the meantime, I will just have to get rid of my

addiction,

won't I?

COHEN: No, water is great.

ZAHN: My constant traveling companion.

COHEN: Water is great. There is no reason not to drink water. I mean

drink, drink, drink. Go to town on water. It's not going, obviously,

to

do anything for you; it can only do good. It's just that that eight

glasses that we've all had stuck in our head -- I know I sometimes

spend

a day going, Let's see, I had a glass there, a glass here, does that

add

up to eight? You know you don't need to be that neurotic.