Till now we have been told that we should drink a lot of water every day. But now scientists have claimed in a new study that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is probably too much. This new study has been published in the journal Science, titled 'Variation in human water turnover associated with environmental and lifestyle factors. It highlights how managing water needs for human consumption may become more difficult as Earth's climate and human population change.
This study was done on more than 5600 people from 26 countries. The scientists gave these people 100 ml of water enriched with five percent' double-labeled water. It is a type of water in which some hydrogen molecules have been replaced by an isotope element called stable deuterium. It is completely safe and occurs naturally in the human body. The rate at which excess deuterium is lost is determined by how fast the body is replacing its water.
Men aged 20–30 years and women aged 20 to 55 years had higher water turnover, which decreased after the age of 40 years in men and 65 years in women. Newborns had the highest water turnover rates, replacing about 28 percent each day. Men drink about half a liter more water per day than women under similar conditions.
The researchers say, "This current study indicates that there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach to drinking water and there is no solid evidence to support the recommended 8 glasses of water per day." People who live in climate-controlled indoor settings have lower water turnover than those in poor countries because people from poor countries are working as manual laborers. Commenting on the study, the scientists said, these new guidelines are more These are important because the world is grappling with increasing population and climate change, which will affect the availability of water for human consumption.
