The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Medical
 eight glasses of water




Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 15:59:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jonathan Papai <PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: for your cathouse archives

Eight glasses of water per day. An update: 

        _Columbus Dispatch_
        May 16, 1994
        p. 1B
        Bob Condor, Chicago Tribune

        [...]  Just who started the eight-a-day dictum is unclear.

                Among the nutritionists and dietary historians quizzed,
        Paul Thomas of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington had
        the best explanation.

                The academy's Food and Nutrition Board publishes the U.S.
        recommended daily allowances.   The first edition in 1943 didn't
        mention water.  The next edition, in 1945, did.
    
                "A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 liters
        (83 ounces) daily in most instances," the book states.  "An
        ordinary standard for diverse people is 1 milliliter for each
        calorie of food.  Most of this quantity is contained in
        prepared foods."

                Somehow, the final sentence was lost in the translation.
        Most doctors and nutritionists say people don't need to drink
        every one of those eight glasses of water if they eat the proper
        foods.

        [...]   The eight-glass-a-day movement picked up momentum in 1967
        when Dr. Erwin Stillman published _The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss
        Diet_, which sold more than 12 million copies.

..............

Jon " Drank Zima once. Won't again. " Papai --
`... and the Pintupi have at least ten words for a hole in the ground.` -- _nature_, 24 March 1994, p. 362.


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