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The risk of dehydrating the body is a myth, British scientists have said
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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British scientists have stated that the risk of dehydration is a myth, the Daily Mail reports. According to traditional medical opinion, drinking plain water should prevent kidney disease and obesity, journalist Sophie Borland reminds. The British Department of Health, as well as leading doctors and nutritionists, say that you should drink 1.2 liters of water per day.
But Margaret McCartney, a Glasgow GP, wrote in the British Medical Journal that the advice to drink six to eight glasses of water a day was "not just rubbish, it was rubbish and completely debunked". McCartney said the health benefits of water were often exaggerated by vested interests, such as bottled water companies.
According to research, if a person drinks water "just in case", at times when he does not feel truly thirsty, his concentration decreases, not increases. "There is also evidence that chemicals used to disinfect bottled water can be dangerous to health," the article says. And if you "drink too much water", you will have to get up at night to go to the toilet, which disrupts your sleep. "According to some studies, drinking water can even cause kidney disease instead of preventing it," the author writes.
McCartney also warned that drinking too much water could lead to a rare but potentially fatal condition called hyponatremia, which causes the body's salt levels to drop and can cause swelling of the brain.
For his part, American metabolism specialist Stanley Goldfarb found no evidence to support the hypothesis that water helps you lose weight because it suppresses your appetite.
Be that as it may, the publication notes, in 2010 the British drank 2.06 billion liters of bottled water, but even more tea and beer (three and five times more, respectively).