Poll Results
Our last poll invited visitors to our website to answer the question: ‘Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water a day?’
During its 12 week stay on the website, the poll attracted a large number of replies, with 601 recorded responses. 399 people surprisingly answered ‘no’, meaning that 66.4% of those who took part in the poll do not drink the recommended daily intake of water. Staggeringly, only 33.6% of people drink the correct amount of water as recommended by the Food Standards Agency.
On their ‘Eat Well’ website, the Food Standards Agency states that we should be aiming to drink approximately 1.2 litres a day (roughly 6 – 8 glasses) in order to maintain our fluid levels and prevent dehydration. These figures are based upon the temperate climate of the UK and the make-up of our bodies. Approximately two thirds of our body weight consists of water which serves many vital functions. It is necessary for water to be present in the blood in order to carry nutrients around the body and in cells so that chemical reactions may occur. Furthermore, water acts as a lubricant for joints and eyes, assists us in swallowing, helps to get rid of the body’s waste through action in the kidneys and helps to regulate our body temperature. As we lose water throughout the day, through such bodily functions as urination and sweat, it is important to replace this volume and maintain our fluid levels so that there is enough water in our bodies to perform these vital tasks. “The average 70kg man has a total daily water excretion of 2.5 litres – 1.3 litres is received from ingested food and metabolic activity with the remaining 1.2 litres coming from drinking.” Upon increased physical activity or higher temperatures the body loses more water so in these conditions it is important to drink more than the recommended 8 glasses a day to ensure healthy fluid levels.
Although the British Nutrition Foundation agree with the Food Standards Agency about the role of water within the body and the importance of drinking enough throughout the day to replenish lost fluids, they differ upon how much should be recommended. The Foundation aims for slightly more to be drunk in the course of a day and states that its daily recommendation is 1.5 to 2 litres a day, depending on age, time of year, climatic conditions, diet and amount of physical exertion.
There have been claims that drinking large amounts of water can have major health benefits such as improving skin, helping you to eat less, preventing headaches and helping to remove toxic chemicals from the body. However, Dr Dan Negoianu and Dr Stanley Goldfarb, writing for ‘The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology’, state that although it is important to drink enough to prevent dehydration, there is little evidence that consumption of large volumes of water offer any other benefits such as those mentioned above. On the other hand, there is little evidence also to support the claim that these health benefits do not occur.
Therefore, it is clear that, although drinking plenty of water throughout the day has not been proven to produce health benefits such as improving skin tone, it is vital that our fluid levels are maintained in order for our bodies to function correctly.