Water Facts & Fictions Water makes up 50 to 70 per cent of the weight of the human body. Even teeth have a water content of five per cent. Water is the essential medium of all body fluids including digestive juices, lymph, blood, urine and perspiration. The question is how much is essential, and how much is too much? "Water is for weight reduction." "Water is necessary to flush out mysterious unnamed toxins." What nonsense! Who started these myths? I hear it all the time. Water is actually needed to carry essential nutrients for the healthy working of the body. It is also responsible for such functions as temperature regulation within the body and the lubrication of joints, not weight loss. So don't look for miracle weight loss effects from water. How Much? The magic number is eight. Why? What if we drink more? Or less? No scientific papers I've perused contain references to this "famous" number. The closest I have seen was in Nutrition Recommendations, The Report of the Scientific Review Committee 1990 published by Health and Welfare Canada. It states that water used by the body comes from fluids ingested (5 cups), moisture in foods (4 cups) and that produced during metabolic oxidation (1 cup), totaling approximately 10 cups per day in moderate climates. We consume 10 cups of water per day, but only 5 cups come from ingested fluids, the rest come from foods and our metabolism. These five cups of fluids might include flavoured drinks, milk and fruit juice, not only water. Of course, the amount you should ingest can vary according to physical activity and temperature. The water requirement may increase by several cups per day to compensate for sweating and evaporation, through the lungs. My best advice is to drink enough to prevent the onset of thirst; stay "quenched" before thirst sets in. Thirst is the first sign of dehydration. Water for Energy Do you eat when you're exhausted knowing that food supplies energy? Food also supplies water, so you may actually be dehydrated and are rehydrating yourself with the liquid from foods. The best way to find out if you're dehydrated is to drink water, and see if you regain your energy. Take note of the time of day it happens so that you can repeat it each time you're tired. You could be curing a lifelong cause of fatigue. Just Water Foods such as soup, fruits, vegetables and even meat contain water. Although coffee and alcoholic drinks count as fluid, they do encourage water loss through urine. (You'll notice when you have a lot of these drinks, you're a regular visitor to the washroom.) Choose to drink water when you're thirsty - don't get all your fluids from flavoured beverages and foods. Bottled, Mineral, Filtered or Tap? What kind of water is the next question? You'll be pleased to know that any water is fine. Bottled water is not more healthful, more "natural," or purer than tap water from most municipal systems. Some people are concerned about the chlorine taste in water. Chlorine is used to disinfect drinking water so that we do not suffer from the deadly illnesses, typhoid and cholera. Reports that chorine is a cancer risk remains unclear. If you don't like the taste of your water, use a filter.