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Michelle Obama recently made another foray into the nutrition profession, with her advice to drink 8 glasses of water a day, for health. She also claims water is an “energy” drink, which is false, since water has zero calories, and calories are energy. Her initiative, with the semi-unfortunate title of “Drink Up”, is predictably funded by beverage companies with a vested interest in water consumption.
The “8 glasses of water a day” recommendation has been floating around for a long time. What’s the truth behind the advice? Kathy and Donna discuss the origins and the health and nutritional rationale for drinking 8 glasses of water a day
You can find the official Institute of Medicine water recommendations here.
Kathy wrote about water here.
Here’s a discussion of the 8 glasses recommendation from Scientific American.
The basics:
- For most people, drink to thirst.
- All beverages, except alcoholic, count towards fluid intake.
- Water in foods counts too. And high water content foods are filling, helping you control appetite.
Here are some random numbers on the % of water in certain foods:
- bananas 75% water
- cantaloupe 90%
- cucumber 97%
- orange 85%
- lettuce 95%
- kidney beans 67%
- cooked meats 67%
- bacon 23%
- apple 85%
- blueberries 84%
- baked potato 75% (like banana)
- boiled potato 77%
- potato chips 2%
- cooked oatmeal 85%
- Cheerios 5%
- granola bar 4%
- yogurt 85%
So good news: coffee and tea can be counted towards fluid intake. But what about espresso?
