HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD WE DRINK ?

The simplest answer seems to be 8 glasses a day. But we’re all different, we do different things and the various authorities say somewhat different things. The European Food Safety Authority specifies 2.5 litres a day for men and 2.0 litres a day for women, including water in food. For pregnant women, add 0.3 litres, and for lectacting women, add 0.7 litres. The Word Health Organisation recommends 2.9 litres for men and 2.2 litres for women. The US Institute of Medicine advises 3.7 litres for men and 2.7 litres for women. The UK Food Standards Agency somehow came up with only 1.2 litres of fluid a day, excluding food. The UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey in 2002, however, showed men were already drinking 1.988 litres a day and women 1.585 litres a day. Yet there appears to be a general consensus that many of us are still under hydrated. For more, go to “Hydration and health: a review” in the British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin of March 2010.