I think yes. Also it is an important practice that the man should be familiar with.

Water with pH near 8 may be useful for cleaning the body from its toxins.

Yes, i agree Djamel Ghernaout for your answer, " Water with pH near 8 may be useful for cleaning the body from its toxins".

Yes.

Fasting helps water in cleaning the body.

Do you think that drinking water can wash out the body's waste and/or toxins?

To certain extent yes it can. Body waste can be removed through urine, perspiring, vomiting etc.

Dear Nabeel Hameed Al-Saati , Djamel Ghernaout , Omar Ali Al-Khashman , Nour Shakir

Thanks for all of your comments.

The question is a little bit brain tease. I bet that many peopel even the medical professionals do not think deeply.

I really think to give the answer out. But, it looks too early to do so. Let me give a hint. Water outside the body is in the form of a clear liquid of H2O. However, inside our body, it is H+ and OH-. The same as all kind foods that are in the form of electrolytes. Then,....

There are many things (facts) to think about. Water inside the body is totally different with outside body's water. If one cannot get the right concept, can make mistakes.

Frieda

Please also refer to my another question: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Have_you_ever_questioned_about_drink_8_cups_water_per_day_is_right_for_everyone#view=5c920b6af0fb623ead692243

Yes, obviously it helps remove toxins from our body. Following links could be useful for you:

1. Article The Importance of Water in RNA Folding

2. Article Water and its importance for female body

3. Deleted research item The research item mentioned here has been deleted

4. Article Dehydration: The importance of water to body processes

5.Chapter Introduction, Water Body, I Am: The Art of Becoming with Water

6. Article The Importance of Water for Life

7. Chapter The Importance of Water for Life

Yes, drinking water help remove toxins from our body.

Yes, drinking water very essential to human body.

Dear Prof. Shukra Raj Paudel ,

I need to read the article that you attached first. Thanks.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Arvind Singh , Sadanand Pandey

Thanks for all of your comments. When I was a student, I had never thought that I will ask this kind question for people.

As I mentioned about, foods and water are all existing as electrolytes in our body. They will mix with neurotransmitters, hormones and many other stuffs to circle inside our body. With our body heat, what will you think the circling waters could be?

Get a little bit brain twisted?

Have some fun! I will come back later.

Frieda

Yes.. Drinking water flushes toxins from your body. Fact. Though water doesn't necessarily neutralize toxins, the kidneys do use water to get rid of certain waste products. If you don't drink enough water, your kidneys don't have the amount of fluid they need to do their job properly.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/

Because the urinary system is a filter to get rid of harmful toxins in the body. Water is the main mode of transport that transfers toxins from the blood to the outside of the body through the urine and therefore the greater the amount of water that a person drinks the more efficient the urinary system to purify the blood of toxins.

Yes it does... but sometimes having too much water is harmful...go through this link:-

http://drbenkim.com/drink-too-much-water-dangerous.html

Yes, its have major important role to remove toxic.

@ Frieda Mah

Please take a look at this useful RG link.

Deleted research item The research item mentioned here has been deleted

Thanks!

Dear, Frieda Mah ,,

Yes, drinking water can helps the body to remove waste and toxins and helps kidny to get rid of some toxins. Also drinking water helps to reduce uric acid and then reduce gout.

Drinking 2-3 liters daily is recommended for healthy life.

It could be

Dear Arvind Singh

Thanks for your comment. In medicine, the hardest part is a case study only can say "It is right in this situation." It cannot be applied to all kind situations.

Many people even do not eat foods, only drink water, make them gaining weight. We all know that for an overweight person, gaining more weight is not healthy..

I bet, if you give the survey for a group of IT people or full day computer workers who do not talk, do not move, do not sweat. Most of them do not need to drink water except that's their habit "to drink water".

Residents need to talk a lot. When talk, especially in the winter, you can see moisture comes out of the mouth. It means that they keep constantly losing water from the body. Why people needs to drink the water? The main reason is to compensate the lost water that is body needs in body circulation.

Chinese has a saying: "If 100% trust the book, it's better has no book!" It means that there is always case(s) not fit the book said.

In the management, especially in the military, market, or manage the country, the most people said is not always "right". The rare one who go through an overall considerations that make sense is always the final winner.

That's why there are so strict academic researches rules and has gone through a lot of citations, it looks "perfect' and "could not be wrong". However, the fact is that there are more doctors. But, the sick patients especial the severely sick patients, organ failure patients are increasing and age is going down. Why? There must be things worth thinking about.

Besides, many realities such as more toxic now than before, one thing cannot be avoided discussing about is "There must be something wrong." It's either theory or research or practice or whatever. Why many diseases that western medicine cannot well treat even no clue. But, Chinese medicine can treat in a low cost and easy way?

Best Regards,

Frieda

Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids.

For female, the recommendation is 2.7 liters daily. For man, you need at least 3.7 liters per day.

Dear Yehya A. Salih , Fadi Habash , Arvind Singh , Suparna Roy , Solanki Bal , Majid Abdulhameed Ibrahim , Nirmala S.V.S.G and all of the prevous scholars,

Thanks for your comment. It means you "care" this question. You are all right in some situations. But not all situations. Let me keep releasing piece info and piece info to invite more people get into join the discussion. It's due to, it's such an important and serious question to let more people, no all people to face it and rethink about it to cut down many mistakes that made a lot of innocent patients. It pushes me cannot keep silent and low profile any more.

I will give all of not fit situations and what it caused problem one by one later on.

Let's go back to review what happens after water entered our body? It became electrolytes and mixed with other electrolytes circulating inside our body. Plus, our body heat is warmer than the outside body environment. The flow of the electrolyte is stickier than the water outside our body.

The flowing electrolytes are the kiss yin part in the Chinese medicine. If it is flowing in a healthy person, there is no problem for the water to wash body as well as move away body wastes and toxins. But, there are situations not so smoothly pass through the body. Why? When a whole or pathway is big, you can pour water or thin, sticky stuffs pass through the hole. However, what happens when the pathway getting smaller and smaller?

I need to rush out. Let me come back to discuss later. Meanwhile, please think about my last question. It's very common in the clinics

Talk to you soon!

Frieda

Yes water washes from inside of every cell and eliminate toxins from inside the cells

Yes very much so and timing uhhs also important.

Being the driving force of all aspects of life , water has been considered life's matter, matrix, mother and medium. It is now proved that water therapy , when done methodically and consistently, may help in fighting various health problems. In point of fact, in Japan, people drink water before eating breakfast mainly for health reasons.

I highly appreciate your excellent and valuable comment dear Dr. Frieda Mah, Thank you so much.

Have a nice day.

Drinking water helps balance all vital functions within our bodies (body temperature,all body reactions ,hormones ......)

Dear Satish Narula , Wajid Zaman

Thanks for your comments. Please read my previous comment. I brief it below:

When water gets inside our body, it becomes electrolytes and flowing with the other electrolytes of nutrients, hormones, neurotransmitters, body metabolism waste, immunity cells, etc. Plus body heat. It's not the clear water outside the body. It's a little bit sticky.

Do you use clear water or the water with many stuffs inside to wash? Which one washes better? Of cause, a mild sticky water still can wash. But, to some level of the stickiness, the water cannot wash anything. It's the first challenge.

When the body has more toxins or body wastes, those particles and the other mentioned electrolytes above, make the water inside the body has a higher concentration. In science, the clear water and/or liquid flowing from the lower concentrate liquid of the cells to the outside high concentrated liquid. Does the flowing water inside enter the cells to clean the cell? It's the second challenge.

The third challenge is the water expelling organs overloaded. When we are young and healthy, overload is a piece of cake in general. Once sick, a little bit a rest, we recovered. However, after a certain age depends on each individual's constitution and health situation, the body starts to give a warning sign. Later, it starts to take action to knock us down to lay in bed or go to hospital. Or, even more straightforward to let us go to God's arm to yield our job, social rank to the others when we keep overload ourselves.

It means, our body talks and becomes our health monitor and police to regulate our activities. Any mistreat to our body, our body will give us the "right feedback"!

If it's individual, it's not important. However, when there are more people under being controlled by his body, it induced a bit burden to the society and/or country due to any body overload generates medical bills. It's an aging related problem.

Let's see how severe this could be from the "Global Population Age Structures and Sustainable Development" at http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/events/pdf/expert/25/2016-EGM_Nicole%20Mun%20Sam%20Lai.pdf

We can see as the baby Boomer getting aging, the 64+ year old people are increasing quickly. It means that organ overload should be avoided as much as possible. Can we do it? Yes, we definitely can, if we have the correct knowledge.

It's a long talk. Let's get a break. I will be back soon! Please come back to read. Thanks.

Frieda

Surely yes, where always in most of the internal health problem the internist doctor advise us to constantly drink water.

Yes, water is useful to maintain good health.

Yes. This is because water reduces the concentration of bio-fluid and maintains cell - fluid balance.

Surely Yes

Yes of course

Dear Yehya A. Salih , Khalid Turki Rashid , Asmaa Mahdi Al-Hashimii, Virendra Kumar Saxena , Nyakno jimmy George , Ahmed A. Hamoud , Omar Ali Al-Khashman ,

Thanks for all of your comments. Yes, water can benefit our health. Do you know that improper intake too much water, also can hurt our health. Everything has its yin and yang side. It means, anything has its beneficial side and its contraindication side or damage side. Do you want to know what are the damage that caused by extra water inside our body?

Do you know there are so many diseases are due to extra water mistaking inside the body? Funny is that those patients also keep "drinking water" by learned before.

In the health field, as a health educator, we cannot only talk about the beneficial side without talking about the drinking water caution side. That caused too many patients without notice.

Very unlucky, TCM knows how to well treat waters inside the body. It makes me too tired to treat. So, I am pushed out to clear the wrong concepts. Otherwise, I will not jump out to ask an elementary question to let people rethink about the concept.

The water inside the body and outside the body totally has different form and effects. That is worth for everyone to pay attention to it. The general public might not know. However, as a truth, pursuing scholarly in the RG, we need a clear and correct concept about health and the other things. Otherwise, why the world needs us?

Please read my previous comments that I explained the differences of water inside and outside body. So, I can keep moving on to talk about mistaking water amount caused health problems. Thanks.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Yes because In our body, the excretory system helps to keep salts and urea from building up to dangerous levels and becoming toxic. The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that remove these toxins from your blood and produce urine to carry them from the body.

Yes, to a great extent, drinking enough water daily assists in flushing some body wastes/toxins.

Dear Najah Ali Mohammed ,

Thanks for sharing the formal medical knowledge that we read when we were a medical school student. Do you put a question why a practice long time medical professional asks this simple question? Does she so poor of knowledge? Do you know even a TCM practitioner needs to learn western medicine in school and even does harder researches in the western medicine in order to well treat the patients that have no improvement under the western medicine treatments to turn the patients around?

There should be some thing worth to rethink about. Nowadays , too many diseases do not get well treated. I do not believe the practitioners do not have the ability to treat their patients well. Instead, they are too stick inside the medical boundaries of rules, knowledge, etc.

Have you ever heard that "jump out of the box" to solve the problem? This is the purpose that I ask the simple question here to let the medical source to correct concepts, many acupuncturists and I are wasting our life to clean the western medicine created mess. I am tired of this kind life.

Meanwhile, I am so worried about many countries' insurance system will be broken. It's the time to think and it's the time to make needed changes.

Without cleaning the source, the downstream will be forever dirt that created uncountable patients in the medical field.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Joseph Isabona ,

Thanks for your comment. Do you know that for decades, I am hardly to drink water and do not intake soups often. Why I am healthier than my peers that I can work 13-17 hours/day usually. I also treated my patients to have better energy, healthier. Meanwhile, they told me that they can pi (urine) more, drink less and eat less. Do you want to learn why?

Frieda

The 4th challenge is should we have the same drinking water amount standard for kids who are growing and increasing body cells to get moisturized plus they activates a lot, sweats more than an adult, adults who gradually cut down activities and elderly who gradually sit whole day long to a sick elderly who laying on a bed 24 hours even need a health giver to help to turn the body?

If the amount of water intake, is it science or should add more researches to study an objective water intake, amount for different age and health situation different group?

Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. The main toxin in the body is blood urea nitrogen, a water-soluble waste that is able to pass through the kidneys to be excreted in the urine, explains Guest. "Your kidneys do an amazing job of cleansing and ridding your body of toxins as long as your intake of fluids is adequate," he says.

When you're getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.

I think you must distinguish between water and body fluids: Those are water based but their properties (pH, ionic strength...) are tightly controlled by homeostatic mechanisms. So, inside the body, water is used to create body fluids (serum, urine, sweat...), each of them with different solute concentrations and properties.

Both, lack or excess of absorbed water, put some stress on the human body, although critical levels rarely are reached.

And about "cleaning" of the body, remember that toxins, to be transported and excreted, must be soluble in body fluids. This is why some organic chemicals, being water insoluble, accumulate in the body. In this case, the limiting step is their metabolization to more soluble compounds, a slow process performed by enzymes. The amount of drank water does not have influence on this type of reaction.

"Through the posterior pituitary gland, your brain communicates with your kidneys and tells it how much water to excrete as urine or hold onto for reserves," says Guest, who is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford University.

Please follow this useful link:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/6-reasons-to-drink-water#1

Interesting discussion.

Dear Eman Ali Hadi Al- Khafaji

Thanks for your comment. However, our body waste is not limited to the blood urea nitrogen. The metabolism wastes include: CO2, ammonia, uric acid, urea, creatinine, amino acids, pigments, inorganic salts, water, sometimes include the in digested food, etc.

The body waste and expel organs are:

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Omar Ali Al-Khashman ,

Thanks. I hope that through my discussion can correct some medical concepts and reduce people sick in order to save medical expenses.

Moreover, if the discussion can make more medical professionals to revise the textbook and jump out of box to link the real world medical problems and find a way to solve them, I can retire "happily without worry or bothers from my family members, relatives and friends about their sicknesses."

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Abderrahim Benkhaled

Thanks for your comment. There is no problem of how important to drink water. But, all of the researches in the western medicine study the normal water visible rout.

But it does not study:

1, The invisible water rout of the interactions between organs.

2. When organ functions are out of normal, the medicine does not know how to recover organ functions. But, still keep good function situation to add its load. That caused the nowadays organ failure as a severe problem.

Yet, you posted the article explored to drink 8 cups water per day has no scientific support. But, it does promote to drink water.

In Chinese medicine, we will point out when to get treated for water related organs and how to over drinking water instead of only one way to promote "drinking water".

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Iñigo Legórburu

Thanks for you comment. It's not pure chemistry inside our body as outside of our body. Inside our body, you cannot find "pure H2O." Please ask your biology friends or find a biology textbook to read.

What I want to point out is the water inside our body and outside our body are different stuffs. Inside the body, it does do detoxification and clean the body in some situations only. But, this goal has conditioning working situations.

Therefore, there is not places to teach how to drink the right amount of water. Actually, there is supposed do not exist this right amount water to drink for everyone. Instead, there can only exist a guideline for how much water to drink. How much water to drink depending on many factors.

Actually, our body is supposed to be smart enough to tell us when to drink water and how much to drink. However, the wrong concept of water can wash the body, so to drink more water and drink 8 cups per day, make people without paying attention to listen to the body's needs. Instead, to get a habit to drink more water and push the others to drink more water.

In addition, drink cold, especially icy cold water in a wrong way by pouring water into the mouth, that makes too much water inside the body. It caused overload water to our body and/or seedling diseases in our body.

Best Regards,

Frieda

In TCM, if any, extra water moves slower than usual, i.e. Qi flowing has a stagnation. Then, it can form invisible phlegm. Then, it is more severe and form visible phlegm. It can be anywhere in our body. Usually, many weird diseases that the western medicine cannot find out the clue of the diseases. It can be caused by the phlegm.

Also, the phlegm is very common inside people's body. Depends on the severity and amount, it can from no symptom, to having symptom, to illness, to disease, and/or become severe diseases.

The weak spleen in Chinese medicine that is in charge the intake foods transform and transport to all organisms. Once is does not function 100%, it holds dampness in muscles and store phlegm in the lungs. When muscles hold dampness, the body fluids become sticky. That holds more metabolism waste in the muscles and easily develop the muscle pain.

How can we know that the spleen is holding dampness inside the body? Look at tongue coating that is thicker than normal. A normal tongue coating is thin and can see through to the pink tongue body.

If lungs have the phlegm, the severity can make the breathing be shallower, breathing in volume reduced, skin showing health issues or diseases, easy to catch a cold flu, more severe, can easily to get pneumonia. Or, liquid accumulated inside the lungs and the patient cannot lay down on the bed. There is not need for TCM to insert any tube to expel the extra liquid inside the lungs.

If both and lungs are weak, can see eye bags.puffy face, or hands, upper limbs swollen, phlegm in the lungs.

If the pericardium holds extra water, can see an enlarged heart.

If extra water on the above of the diaphragm, can cause dizziness.

If phlegm is in the blood vessels, can cause high blood pressure.

If extra water inside the body, can cause sticky stools to stick on the toilet bowel.

Extra water inside the skin can cause eczema, acne, etc.

A weak kidney, can have a weak waist and hold extra water below the waist to have swollen lower limbs.

There are more diseases caused by phlegm inside the body. The above stated health issues and/or diseases can be removed by TCM: herbs or acupuncture.

We can see many health issues mentioned above are very common. So, if we can make the organ functions go back to normal and have the correct concept about how to drink the right amount water, many diseases can be avoided.

I agree Nour Shakir.

Dear Waad Khalid Khalaf and Nour Shakir ,

It's the time to review the whole medical system in the world and correct all mistakes.

My purpose to ask this question is not to discuss how water is important to our body as the water to our body weight is 50~60%. It's the number one ingredient in our body to maintain our body metabolism and life.

Due to the US, no, the world except some Chinese do not mistreat water by over taking water, mistake drinking water and caused a lot of diseases to waste money to treat.

Due to the misconcept of water wash everything and drink more water is better, induced many people drink over body needed water. But did not notice when body functions are weak, the water inside the body actually holds more body waste and toxins inside the body. Also, the extra water can not expel out from the body, nor be properly drained by western medicine that uses tubes to drain the water in the lungs and bladder induced patient's pain and no quality life. Plus waste money.

Moreover, another misconcept of people can expel out extra water by urine is only fit for a healthy person. It does not exist for many secondary healthy people and majority patients. Even, the extra water created many unsolved diseases in the western medicine.

If I am not a medical professional and deal with innocent patients who follow the wrong medical knowledge to cause not needed painful illnesses and waste money, time and medical professional life to serve their health. It is not right. Your immediate reaction answer is right.

But, I am an acupuncturist who does treat western medicine has no clue diseases and seeing be mistreated patients from simple and easy treat illness entered a severely sick situation even face life ending threaten. I ask the question is not at a kindergarten level.

As a research, do you like me to understand the questioner's background first and then think about what is the proper answer? Should any researcher for fun to ask a simple question to get "be educated"? As I mentioned before, many people might think the acupuncturist might shortage for western medicine knowledge. It's a huge mistake that we learn western medicine in acupuncture school and some of study western medicine even harder than the western medicine practitioners.

Due to I know both western medicine and TCM, I cannot keep silent any more to see tubes be inserted and lives be wasted by knowing partial pieces of the whole complete medical knowledge. Especially when many countries' health insurance and/or the funding to take care the elderly near running out!

Best Regards,

Frieda

Dear Dr. Frieda Mah , thank you very much for nice comment.

Regards

Omar

Dear Omar,

Thanks for your appreciation and join the discussion.

For all of the patients that I treated, their cases remind me to share out my knowledge and treatment experiences. Hope that my writing can help more people have a healthier and happier life.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Interesting discussion.

Thanks. Omar Ali Al-Khashman .

Good Discussion.............

Dear Krishna Kumar Yadav ,

Thanks for your reading. Hope that I can use Chinese medicine view to let people think in more ways. So that many diseases can be cut down to save medical cost.

Best Regards

Frieda

Nice discussion. follow

Dear Omar Ali Al-Khashman ,

Thanks.

Best Regards

Frieda

Please read https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_will_happen_if_drink_icy_cold_water_for_a_long_time

It caused more common seen diseases and many severe diseases. By learning it, can save more cost than drink more than body needed water.

“Drink 20 to 40 ounces of sports drink per day to restore your electrolytes and keep you hydrated. Drink roughly 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water to flush your body of toxins.

The recommended daily intake of fluids is roughly 3.7 liters and 2.7 liters a day for men and women, respectively, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Shankar Karuppannan Why differnce in water inkake for men and women? Suggested by Institute of Medicine.

Yes, drink water very necessary to remove all toxic substances in body.

How much water do you need?

Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

So how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that an adequate daily fluid intake is:

• About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids for men
• About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women

These recommendations cover fluids from water, other beverages and food. About 20 percent of daily fluid intake usually comes from food and the rest from drinks.

What about the advice to drink 8 glasses a day?

You've probably heard the advice, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day." That's easy to remember, and it's a reasonable goal.

Most healthy people can stay hydrated by drinking water and other fluids whenever they feel thirsty. For some people, fewer than eight glasses a day might be enough. But other people might need more.

Factors that influence water needs

You might need to modify your total fluid intake based on several factors:

• Exercise. If you do any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to cover the fluid loss. It's important to drink water before, during and after a workout. If exercise is intense and lasts more than an hour, a sports drink can replace minerals in your blood (electrolytes) lost through sweat.
• Environment. Hot or humid weather can make you sweat and requires additional fluid intake. Dehydration also can occur at high altitudes.
• Overall health. Your body loses fluids when you have a fever, vomiting or diarrhea. Drink more water or follow a doctor's recommendation to drink oral rehydration solutions. Other conditions that might require increased fluid intake include bladder infections and urinary tract stones.
• Pregnancy or breast-feeding. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding need additional fluids to stay hydrated. The Office on Women's Health recommends that pregnant women drink about 10 cups (2.4 liters) of fluids daily and women who breast-feed consume about 13 cups (3.1 liters) of fluids a day.
• Source :- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

Additional Findings on Water

This report refers to total water, which includes the water contained in beverages and the moisture in foods, to avoid confusion with drinking water only.

Total water intake at the reference level of 3.7 liters for adult men and 2.7 liters for adult women per day covers the expected needs of healthy, sedentary people in temperate climates. Temporary underconsumption of water can occur due to heat exposure, high levels of physical activity, or decreased food and fluid intake. However, on a daily basis, fluid intake driven by thirst and the habitual consumption of beverages at meals is sufficient for the average person to maintain adequate hydration.

Prolonged physical activity and heat exposure will increase water losses and therefore may raise daily fluid needs. Very active individuals who are continually exposed to hot weather often have daily total water needs of six liters or more, according to several studies.

While concerns have been raised that caffeine has a diuretic effect, available evidence indicates that this effect may be transient, and there is no convincing evidence that caffeine leads to cumulative total body water deficits. Therefore, the panel concluded that when it comes to meeting daily hydration needs, caffeinated beverages can contribute as much as noncaffeinated options.

Some athletes who engage in strenuous activity and some individuals with certain psychiatric disorders occasionally drink water in excessive amounts that can be life-threatening. However, such occurrences are highly unusual. Therefore, the panel did not set a UL for water.

Additional Findings on Salt and Potassium

The recommended intake levels for salt provide enough sodium to balance losses from sweat by people who are exposed to temperatures higher than what they are used to or who are moderately physically active. Endurance athletes and other very active individuals may need more sodium because they lose more in sweat from intense and prolonged physical activity.

High salt intake has been directly linked to elevated blood pressure, also known as hypertension. About 25 percent of American adults and more than half of those age 60 and older have hypertension. American men's median intake of salt is between 7.8 and 11.8 grams per day, and women consume between 5.8 and 7.8 grams every day. Canadian men and women consume 7.1 to 9.7 grams and 5.1 to 6.4 grams per day respectively. Because these figures do not include the salt that people add at the table, they are probably underestimates.

Studies indicate that reduced consumption of salt coupled with increased potassium intake can blunt the age-related rise in blood pressure. American men consume just 2.8 to 3.3 grams of potassium daily on average, and women get an average of only 2.2 to 2.4 grams each day. Canadians consume slightly more, at 3.2 to 3.4 grams per day for men and 2.4 to 2.6 grams per day for women. Fruits and vegetables are both low in sodium and high in potassium. Among foods with the highest amounts of potassium per calorie are spinach, cantaloupes, almonds, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, and potatoes.

There was no evidence of chronic excess intakes in apparently healthy individuals to compel establishing a UL for potassium. However, people who have kidney dysfunctions that impair their ability to excrete potassium or who are on certain types of drug therapies -- such as ACE inhibitors -- should be under the supervision of a medical professional, who may recommend consuming less than the recommended 4.7 grams per day.

This study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the National Institutes of Health; Health Canada; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Institute of Medicine; the Dietary Reference Intakes Private Foundation Fund, including the Dannon Institute and the International Life Sciences Institute-North America; and the Dietary Reference Intakes Corporate Donors' Fund, contributors to which have included the Nabisco Food Group, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, and M&M Mars.

This study is one of a series undertaken by scientists from the United States and Canada under the auspices of the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board to develop reference values for nutrients for use in both countries. The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit organization that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences. Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate is available on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Copies of the report will be available for purchase later this year from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters may obtain a pre-publication copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).

[ This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org ]

INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE Food and Nutrition Board

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10925

Water is essential for life and, although humans can survive for a number of weeks without food, they cannot normally go without fluids for more than a few days. The human body is made up of between 45% and 75% water by weight (average 60% in men and 51% in women, equivalent to approximately 42 litres(l) in a 70‐kg man and about 26 l in a 50‐kg woman) depending on body composition (Thomas & Bishop 2007).

Thomas, B & Bishop, J ( 2007) Fluid. In: Manual of Dietetic Practice, 4th edn, ( B Thomas ed.), Section 2.8, pp. 217– 21. Blackwell Sciences: Oxford.

Google Scholar

sure drinking water has a big rule to clean the body especially the kidney.

Dear Mohammed Dahim , Kalpana Nehere and Shankar Karuppannan ,

Please do not take the none scientific data to emphasize it. The real standard answer is everyone has his own requirement to drink water. It's due to every one's body organ function, body size, diet, environment, local weather, age is different. The fixed amount water to drink is very "wrong".

Please go back to read my previous comments. If the medical school can teach how to drink water right like the Chinese medicine, I bet, the patients count will be cut a lot.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Following

Water hydrates the body to prevent many diseases. These include for example acute diseases, intestinals tumors, dehydration, obesity.

Dear Judit Molnár ,

This is what I just learned ""Philosophers or "lovers of wisdom" .....: spurning both fame and profit, they seek to arrive at the truth by means of contemplation." to keep our conversation.

Yes. Water hydrates the body like the rain, moisture the earth to grow many things. However, rains can cause flooding and sea has tsunamis. That destroys lives. It's the same with the improper water intake amount and how to drink the water right.

In the health field, partial education and/or knowledge is very dangerous. Why? It relates a person's health even life quality and a life to be damaged or not.

So, please spend some time to read my previous comments. That will be the best for your future. Thanks for visiting and your comment.

Best Regards,

Frieda

Nice discussion...interesting

Drinking water flushes toxins and waste from the body and transports nutrients to where they are needed. Without water the contents of your colon can dry out and get stuck, eventually causing constipation. Water is a natural lubricant that softens stool and promotes evacuation of the bowels. Our kidney system is unique in its filtering capabilities and totally dependent upon water in order for it to work. The kidneys remove waste products from the blood, eliminate toxic substances in the urine, and receive water-soluble toxins from the liver for processing. They filter voluminous amounts of blood each day and in doing so maintain the body’s water balance and excrete toxins and excess fluid through the bladder. Daily fluid intake is essential for our bodies to function efficiently.