By Brian Carnell

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

An interesting conversation recently took place between CNN MEdical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and CNN anchor Paula Zann about a pressing issue -- just how much water should people drink?

Of course we have all been told that we need to drink at least 64 ounces of water each day, but according to Cohen that is simply an urban legend that inexplicably found its way into widespread circulation.

According to Cohen,

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 out to do.

. . .

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 gut just as hydrated from caffeinated beverages as they do from decaffeinated beverages.

Cohen reports that The National Academy of Sciences is currently looking into just how much water human beings require, and should report their results sometime in 2003. Until then, drink up.

Source:

How much water do we really need? CNN, transcript, May 24, 2002.

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