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Drinking water: no weight loss, just diluted urine

7 Jun 2012

Health advice to drink eight glasses of water a day is over the top and does not help with weight loss, says a leading nutritionist, adding that fruit, vegetables and juices should have a major role in providing the fluids we need.

The Daily Mail reports that Spero Tsindos, an academic and public health expert, also argued that the push to encourage people to drink more water was driven by vested interests.

Tsindos said sales of bottled water had risen in tandem with guidance from bodies such as the UK's National Health Service (NHS) telling individuals to drink large volumes "without any substantial evidence to support it". Health and dietary authorities generally recommend two litres a day of fluid for optimal health, but "this has been misinterpreted to mean two litres of water specifically and it has driven a steady growth in the use of bottled water".

Tsindos says in an editorial in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health: "Thirty years ago you didn't see a plastic water bottle anywhere, now they appear as fashion accessories." According to The Daily Mail, he pointed out that if people drink two litres of water in a hurry to make up their daily allowance it will not hydrate the cells that need it - but simply dilute the urine.

Read the full article on www.iol.co.za.