Drink 1/2 your body weight of water in ounces, daily. Example: 180 lb = 90 oz. of water daily.   Use 1/4 tsp. of sea salt for every quart of water you drink. 

 

Use salt liberally with food. As long as you drink the water, you can use the salt. 

 

Take potassium daily, ie. banana, orange juice, etc.  

 

These are diuretics and will dehydrate you. Every 6 oz. of caffeine or alcohol requires an additional 10 to 12 oz. of water to re-hydrate you. So don't drink them.

 

 

This site is brought to you FREE.  All that we ask is that when you are totally convinced that his discovery is true, then share it with everyone you can. 

 We all know that, thanks to a drug-based medical education, doctors are illiterate in nutrition. That is why our healthcare system is largely incompetent to high heaven in preventive medicine. It is my belief that medical schools are so hungry for grants from drug companies that they are willing to discard common sense to promote drug-based solutions for virtually all health problems. 

That is except when salt and water can be sold in the form of a saline IV for approximately a $350 dollar installed price. Keep in mind that the first medical protocol for a patient once hospitalized is a saline IV because those who establish these protocols should be well aware that the reason most people are admitted (other than trauma, patients) is due to lack of salt and/or water. 

This ignorance is to such an extent that doctors aren't even taught that the first thing that should be checked in any patient is his hydration and salt levels because nothing, other than lack of oxygen, can kill us quicker. What's worse is that your doctor hasn't a clue that lack of either is what most likely put you in the hospital in the first place. In fact, the doctor's education in nutrition is to such a low level his schooling hasn't taught him to understand that caffeinated beverages like coffee, tea, sodas and alcoholic beverages are deadly diuretics and many doctors are heavy users of such. Why is caffeine a staple on every hospital menu? 

I guess that's to make sure business doesn't get slow. If auto mechanics used the same logic as mainstream medicine to fix cars they wouldn't have a customer. They would never check the water level to see if there is enough and would only sell additives and parts transplants to cover up the problems caused by lack of water. Your oil light comes on. No problem, take the bulb out. Isn't that what your doctor has been taught to do when a person has severe pain; disconnect the alarm system by masking the pain? IsnÕt the problem still there? 

If you don't get your car's ball joints greased, you have metal on metal and the joints will wear out. If you don't get enough cartilage building water and salt your cartilage will degenerate and bone rubs on bone causing your joints to wear out and degenerates causing arthritis. 

So instead of using the common sense of recommending more water and salt, your doctor has been taught to give pain killers until a profitable joint replacement or back operation can be done. Every driver constantly monitors his car's water and oil levels. Well, water in the human body serves similar functions like the fluids in your car plus the most critical part of every metabolic process where salt is almost as critical. 

But doctors weren't taught to check water and salt levels. Instead they were brainwashed into trusting in the scientific absurdity of medical schools which has ignored nutrition because there is no money in it. The result is a very profitable "treat the effect and not the cause" business. 

According to Dr. B., most so-called incurable diseases are nothing more than disease labels given to various stages of drought. Literally, our healthcare system has declared war on the American people, including those of us who run this incompetent system. 

Thanks to Dr. Batmanghelidj, you have options. As always, Dr. B. recommends that you consult your doctor before making changes, especially where congestive heart failure and renal problems (related to liver and kidneys) may be a factor.

There is only a handful of us who've taken on the most powerful system in our country, the $1.7 trillion healthcare system. In no way are we blaming those of us who work in the system because this deadly system has created the problem and it must be reformed. According to Dr. B., the ignorance of healthcare is directly killing more than one million Americans a year by treating drought in the human body with drugs and money generating procedures. 

In reality, we are all contributing to this holocaust so long as we put profitability before responsibility. This means that so long as we believe that our worth as human beings is measured in terms of money and power, we are contributing to everything that is taking away from the quality of our lives. No one is to blame for what is happening, but we are all responsible. May God protect us from ourselves?

Naturally, the quality of drinking water is most important to health. Water should be water and not just any drink. Asthmatics should observe this instruction to the letter. Water should be free of chemicals, particularly caffeine and alcohol. Please bear in mind that caffeine and alcohol are toxic chemicals addictive drugs as far as the cells of the human body are concerned. It is true that the manufacturers of these agents have unrestricted permission to contaminate good drinking water with these toxic chemicals and to sell them to the public, but, sooner or later, their detrimental impact on society will also become the focus of attention like the tobacco industry presently is.

 

It is my sincere belief that many of our societys problems of ill health can be blamed on the marketing tactics and unceasing pushes of the beverage industry. They tend to cultivate the palates of younger people toward the selection and use of their products in preference to the water that young bodies need to develop naturally and normally. Once teenagers - the target of the industry became addicted to caffeine, the industry has converted them to cash machines for the rest of their shortened lives! The unfortunate outcome of addiction to caffeine is the ÒupgradeÓ effect that forces some children to experiment with harder drugs.

 

Caffeine is a natural diuretic. It forces more water out of the body than is contained in the caffeinated beverage. Caffeine also acts directly on the brain cells and forces them to use some of their critical energy reserves on trivial actions and whims. It lowers the threshold for triggering an action from cells that would otherwise remain quiet until a more serious engagement is deemed necessary. The effect of caffeine on the brain is energy depletion. Caffeine, if taken repeatedly, eventually exhausts the brain. When the brain needs energy reserves to cope with a crisis, it will be far less effective because it is energy-depleted and depressed. The energy-reserve-depleting effect of caffeine on the brain is one of the primary causes of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

 

Caffeine has another detrimental effect on the brain that should be considered as the second main impact that pushes the brain in the direction of reaching an ADD status. The brain maintains its energy reserves to use for new confrontations, experiences, dangers, and exciting, fresh ideas. This is how it learns selectively and from new experiences. Caffeine not only depletes the stored energy pools in the brain, it also inhibits the enzyme system initiated by PD (phospho-diesterase). PD activity is a vital step in Òmemory makingÓ by the brain cells.

 

All seeds that are designed to create the next generation of a plant contain in their covering shell one or other chemical to deter food scavengers, such as ants and beetles, from eating the protein-rich seeds before they sprout. If this were not so, these plants would become extinct. Legumes such as lentils, peas and green beans possess a chemical called CCK (chol-e-cysto-kinin), a digestive enzyme inhibitor that causes a form of indigestion in the systems of critters that eat the seeds. It causes gas formation in humans who eat lentils without soaking them well and discarding the skin, or boiling them briefly first, washing them well, and then boiling them a second time until cooked. This is the way to Òde-gasÓ legumes that would normally produce indigestion. Get rid of the CCK.

 

Caffeine is naturally designed to produce stupefaction of the brain.  Caffeine is used by a number of plants as a nerve warfare chemical against their predators. The coffee plant produces caffeine in its seeds to defend itself. Caffeine inhibits the nervous system and the memory mechanisms in its Òfood-chainÓ predators in such a way that they lose their ÒwitÓ and their art of camouflage. They become less alert and less reactive, and thus less able to protect themselves. They become much easier prey for their predators.

 

This is why the coffee plant is plagued by fewer bugs than most other plants during its growth period. Bugs know better than to eat it. But we humans take the caffeine-containing coffee beans, brew them to our desired concentration, and consume the plants chemical poison as a pleasure-inducing beverage. High soda consumption, in my opinion, is the reason so many kids in American school have reading and learning problems. Despite all the money that is spent on their education, their average standard is far below children in less- privileged societies, whose access to caffeine-containing beverages is much more limited.

 

The beverage industry grows and thrives on the addictive properties of caffeine. A report published in the magazine, The Nation, April 27, 1998, states: ÒThe most conservative estimates have children and teens guzzling more than sixty-four gallons of soda a year an amount that has tripled for teens since 1998, doubled for the 6-11 set and increased by a quarter for under-5 tots (from a 1994 survey by the Agriculture Department).Ó This finding confirms what I published several years ago in my book, Your BodyÕs Many Cries for Water, on pages 104-113. It is also interesting to note that the increased consumption of sodas by infants under five years is most probably why the rate of asthma occurrence in that age group tripled in the years between 1980 and 1994.

 

The beverage industryÕs recent name selection of new brands Surge, Zapped, Full Speed, Outburst, Josta, laced with caffeine and the pick-me-up herb guarana, that hypes Òraw primal power is designed to attract children and teenagers to consume more and more sodas. The 12-oz cans of soda that contains high amounts of caffeine include Jolt with 72 mg., XTC with 70 mg., and Pepsi-ColaÕs Surge with 51 mg. And you get near double dose when you buy the 20-oz bottles.

 

At schools, the kids often take sodas in place of milk and the schools profit from the sale of these addictive beverages. They serve the regular 12-oz cans of soda, with Mountain Dew containing 55 mg. Of caffeine per can, Coke containing 45 mg., Sunkist with 40 mg., and Pepsi with 37 mg.

 

Grown-ups consume so much coffee that coffee bars are growing like mushrooms. It is said that a regular 12-oz cup of regular Starbucks coffee contains 190 mg. of caffeine.

 

In my professional opinion that caffeine by itself has all the detrimental effects on the brain cells to produce the type of brain physiology that dislocates the brain from stimuli received from outside. In addition, the dehydration caused by extensive caffeine intake produces different health problems, devastatingly and early. Among the symptoms are asthma and allergies. Thus, my protocol for the treatment of asthma excludes any form of caffeine-containing beverage until the body has recovered from caffeineÕs unhealthy side effects, particularly on the brain and its nervous system. After that, wisdom will have to take over. 

Biser: Now what does all of this have to do with asthma?

Batmanghelidj: It has everything to do with asthma. Here’s how it works. When the body is low on water, it tries to conserve it. Now one of the main areas of water loss is in the lungs. You remember the steam that comes out of your mouth on cold winter days. This is obviously water vapor leaving the body.

To conserve water, the body constricts the lung tissue to reduce fluid loss. It does this by increasing the levels of a substance you have heard about. It’s called histamine. One of the unknown functions of histamine is to regulate water intake and its conservation. This is a new and revolutionary concept I have just introduced to the medical world, in my papers and in my lectures.

Biser: Wait a minute. I thought histamine was a bad substance. Isn’t that why we have drugs called antihistamines?

Batmanghelidj: Histamine is not a bad substance, as drug company advertising has led your readers to believe. Histamine is one of the main energy ration-masters of the body. It facilitates the release of stored energy for essential functions.

Biser: But, what does this have to do with asthma?

Batmanghelidj: In a state of chronic dehydration, the increased histamines cause chronic inflammation in lung tissue. Whenever the stress from low tissue water gets worse, the lungs will constrict. And one of the side effects of prolonged high histamine is that it suppresses certain cells in the immune system. So the consequence is an increased tendency to lung infections, and this is a problem with asthmatics.

Biser: So taking antihistamines doesn’t really solve the problem?

Batmanghelidj: How could it? Antihistamines merely suppress the body’s cry for water. You see, the more dehydrated you are, the less water should leave your lungs through evaporation. It is the design of the human body that histamine at the same time seeks water and regulates that which is available. It also blocks the loss of water through evaporation, and there are lots of histamine-producing cells in the lungs that can trigger bronchial inflammation and spasms.

Histamine has two groups of “henchmen” - chemical messengers – that do its work. One shunts the water to other tissues, and the other constricts the blood vessels to drive the water out. One substance opens the blood vessels and the other constricts. The whole process reroutes water to where it is needed most.

The whole mechanism of asthma is very simple. It is so simple it is uncanny.

Biser: How do asthmatics pass on? Do they have an attack and can’t breath? –

Batmanghelidj: Suffocation, lack of oxygen.

Biser: You mean they will suffocate to death?

Batmanghelidj: Absolutely.

Biser: A friend told me of a woman he did business with. She died of asthma because they couldn’t get her to the emergency room quick enough. She passed on.

[Editor’s Note: An asthmatic can suffocate to death. It happens over 8,000 times a year, even after the best medical care. You may not have asthma, but how would you like it if someone pressed a pillow over your face, making it impossible for you to breathe? How would you like to gasp for your life – and not get air.]

Batmanghelidj: Unfortunately, if she had taken three glasses of water, she might have survived.

Biser: And the medication can’t stop the attack in these cases?

Batmanghelidj: No, the medication sometimes cannot stop it. Fortunately, there are a new such cases. But it is increasing. The death rate from asthma has doubled in the past few years. More children are prone to it and black children are prone to it even more.

See it All Here: Source: http://www.watercure2.com/ 

---

    Salt is a vital substance for the survival of all living creatures, particularly humans. Water and salt regulate the water content of the body. Water itself regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working its way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells. It balances the amount of water that stays outside the cells. There are two oceans of water in the body; one ocean is held inside the cells of the body, and the other ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a most delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance is achieved by salt - unrefined salt.

    

  When water is available to get inside the cells freely, it is filtered from the outside salty ocean and injected into the cells that are being overworked despite their water shortage. This is the reason why in severe dehydration we develop an edema and retain water. The design of our bodies is such that the extent of the ocean of water outside the cells is expanded to have the extra water available for filtration and emergency injection into vital cells. The brain commands an increase in salt and water retention by the kidneys. This is how we get an edema when we don't drink enough water.

   

   Initially, the process of water filtration and its delivery into the cells is more efficient at night when the body is horizontal. The collected water, that mostly pools in the legs, does not have to fight the force of gravity to get onto the blood circulation. If reliance of this process of emergency hydration of some cells continues for long, the lungs begin to get waterlogged at night, and breathing becomes difficult. The person needs more pillows to sit upright to sleep. This condition is the consequence of dehydration. However, you might overload the system by drinking too much water at the beginning. Increases in water intake must be slow and spread out until urine production begins to increase at the same rate that you drink water.

    

  When we drink enough water to pass clear urine, we also pass out a lot of the salt that was held back. This is how we can get rid of edema fluid in the body; by drinking more water. Not diuretics, but more water!! In people who have an extensive edema and show signs of their heart beginning to have irregular or very rapid beats with least effort, the increase in water intake should be gradual and spaced out, but not withheld from the body. Naturally, salt intake should be limited for two or three days because the body is still in an overdrive mode to retain it. Once the edema has cleared up, salt should not be withheld from the body.

    Salt has many other functions than just regulating the water content of the body. Here are some of the more vital functions of salt in the body:

    1. Salt is most effective in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and, Contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure, it is actually essential for the regulation of blood pressure - in conjunction with water. Naturally the proportions are critical.    

    2. Salt is vital to the extraction of excess acidity from the cells in the body, particularly the brain cells.

    3. Salt is vital for balancing the sugar levels in the blood; a needed element in diabetics.

    4. Salt is vital for the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in the body. It is used for local power generation at the sites of energy need by the cells.

    5. Salt is vital to the nerve cells' communication and information processing all the time that the brain cells work, from the moment of conception to death.

    6. Salt is vital for absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract.

    7. Salt is vital for the clearance of the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma and cystic fibrosis.

    8. Salt is vital for clearing up catarrh and congestion of the sinuses.

    9. Salt is a strong natural antihistamine.

    10. Salt is essential for the prevention of muscle cramps.

    11. Salt is vital to prevent excess saliva production to the point that it flows out of the mouth during sleep. Needing to constantly mop up excess saliva indicates salt shortage.

    12. Salt is absolutely vital to making the structure of bones firm. Osteoporosis, in a major way, is a result of salt and water shortage in the body.

    13. Salt is vital for sleep regulation. It is a natural hypnotic. 

    14. Salt is a vitally needed element in the treatment of diabetics.

    15. Salt on the tongue will stop persistent dry coughs.

    16. Salt is vital for the prevention of gout and gouty arthritis.

    17. Salt is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido.

    18. Salt is vital for preventing varicose veins and spider veins on the legs and thighs.

    19. Salt is vital to the communication and information processing nerve cells the entire time that the brain cells work - from the moment of conception to death.

    20. Salt is vital for reducing a double chin. When the body is short of salt, it means the body really is short of water. The salivary glands sense the salt shortage and are obliged to produce more saliva to lubricate the act of chewing and swallowing and also to supply the stomach with water that it needs for breaking down foods. Circulation to the salivary glands increases and the blood vessels become "leaky" in order to supply the glands with water to manufacture saliva. The "leakiness" spills beyond the area of the glands themselves, causing increased bulk under the skin of the chin, the cheeks and into the neck.

    21. Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. Unrefined sea salt is a better choice of salt than other types of salt on the market. Ordinary table salt that is bought in the super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. Aluminum is a very toxic element in our nervous system. It is implicated as one of the primary causes of Alzheimer's disease.

    22. Twenty-seven percent of the body's salt is in the bones. Osteoporosis results when the body needs more salt and takes it from the body. Bones are twenty-two percent water. Is it not obvious what happens to the bones when we're deficient in salt or water or both.

    London, March 12 - A low-salt diet may not be so healthy after all. Defying a generation of health advice, a controversial new study concludes that the less salt people eat, the higher their risk of untimely death. 

    The study, led by Dr. Michael Alderman, chairman of epidemiology at Albert Einstein School; of Medicine in New York and president of the American Society of Hypertension, suggests the government should consider suspending it's recommendation that people restrict the amount of salt they eat.

    "The lower the sodium, the worse off you are," Alderman said. "There's an association. Is it the cause? I don't know. Any way you slice it, that's not an argument for eating a low sodium diet. 

    Below is a copy of a letter from one of our readers. His name is Edward Leonforte and we thank him.

    Thank you for your great work. I have been drinking water and using salt for two decades. Following are two sources of unrefined salt, one from Utah salt mines, the other hand raked from the Brittany sea. Please post them on your site so people know how to find unrefined salt. Also you might want to tell people how to tell if salt is natural. It is simple. Natural salt is not white and it is not dry. It is a little gray with minerals and feels damp or clumps in humidity. This product is labeled Real Salt and can be found in some health food stores.

FACT - No one can live without these. Mainstream medicine too often ignores 2 & 3 in favor of selling drugs and procedures to treat the symptoms of dehydration.

FACT - Nothing kills life quicker than lack of water.

FACT - The people with the worst health drink the least water and use the most deadly diuretic drought causing drugs - caffeine and/or alcohol.

FACT - The salinity of the water outside the cells in our bodies is the same as the ocean.

FACT - In the middle ages people were put to a horrible death by salt deprivation.

FACT - Health care makes big bucks by selling a quart of water with salt in it (Saline 4) for up to $350.00 installed, but won't tell the patients they do indeed need more water and salt in their diets.

FACT - How can you expect drug companies to do research on the importance of water in our daily lives when they can't make money on it? Who does research to put themselves out of business?

FACT - No two substances in the Bible are mentioned more than water and salt. 

FACT - The environment of an unborn baby is water and salt.

---

Dec 21-2001

Hi! I am excited to read all about your discovery about salt and water! I am going to start my new life with it right now! I can tell you that we always had sick fish in our "freshwater" aquarium. One day, after many trips to the pet store for advice on my dying fish, one knowledgeable employee suggested that I ad mineral salt to the water. I was taken aback, and well, I decided to try it as a last ditch effort. 

After I cleaned the tank and added the necessary water conditioners, I slowly added the salt. I was waiting for the fish to start acting weird with this new addition. To our family's surprise, our fish were living healthy and stronger than they ever had before. I did not have to add any more unessesary antibiotics. 

I think people have been told salt is bad for you and it can be deadly, so we have come to not trust it in our diets. Your site has clearly changed my mind! As for me, I thought I had "sinus" problems for the last 25 years, and have been taking "sinus" pills for just as long. Well, I had had enough and decided to go to the doctor. Well I was seen by a male nurse who suggested that I try "nasal crom" which is a saline spray. 

After I week of using it, ALL of my decades of "sinus" went way with the wind. Never have I been so happy with that out of my life! We as individuals must always question the "facts" that so called professionals give us as the "absolute" truths. Greed is behind so many things present in our lives, we must ourselves seek the truth to what is "good and beneficial" to our friends and family's well being. 

After we find these "hidden" truths, they should be shared with our fellow humans for their sakes. Why must some hide the truth from others so that he alone may benefit? Thanks for your strong desire to help yourself and others. 

You will prosper greatly. 

Pennie

---

    Health & Healing subscriber Bob Butts of Moosic, Pennsylvania, is a man with a mission: to let the world know about a remarkable therapy for our most common health problems. Over the past six years he has spent $300,000 of his own money on 12,000 radio, TV and newspaper spots to get the word out. He has pledged another $100,000 to entice customers at his auto parts business to give this therapy a try - anyone who does not improve after trying it for 30 days will get $25 in free auto parts. 

    Bob's cure-all is not a drug or a high-tech medical device. It's water.

Dehydration: The Root of Disease?
Several years ago Bob came across the work of Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D., a physician in Falls Church, Virginia, with a revolutionary idea about the origins of illness. In his book Your Body's Many Cries for Water, Dr. Batmanghelidj proposed that dehydration is an underlying cause of most of the diseases afflicting mankind. Furthermore, according to Dr. Batmanghelidj, increased water intake is a powerful therapy for many of these disorders, including headaches, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, ulcers, angina, obesity, and neck and back pain.
    This theory made a lot of sense to Bob, and he began sharing it with anyone who would listen. His faith in the concept quickly grew as he witnessed dozens of "water cures" in friends and acquaintances who suffered with ailments ranging from mild (dandruff and heartburn) to serious (cancer and multiple sclerosis).
    I can relate to Bob's excitement about Dr. Batmanghelidj's theories. In medical school, I had been taught that water was essentially an inert substance - necessary, of course, but primarily as a carrier for the far more important things that are dissolved in it. But think about it: water makes up 70 percent of our magnificently engineered bodies, and while we can survive for months without food, we can last only -days without water. So when I encountered the hypothesis that water - or a deficiency of it - may be a factor in disease, I thought the doctor might be onto something.  

Patients Improved Simply by Drinking Water
    I decided to test Dr. Batmanghelidj's theory at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, initiating a standard recommendation to all our patients to drink a minimum of eight and preferably 10 to 12 glasses of water every day. I also wrote about it in Health & Healing for the first time in 1994. Although I am not convinced as Bob Butts is that water is a cure-all, I have witnessed remarkable recoveries in scores of patients and subscribers.
    A subscriber from Canada reported that years of seasonal migraines (occur-ring primarily during the summer when he was more likely to be dehydrated) disappeared after he upped his water intake.
    After only four days of drinking eight glasses of water, eight-year-old Jeremy's asthma cleared up to the extent that he was able to discontinue all of his medications. Within one month his lung capacity increased from 60 percent of normal to 120 percent. 
    Arthritis, ulcers, edema, even blood pressure - I've seen them all improve with water.

No Miracle, Just Common Sense
    At first glance, these may seem to be miracle cures. But an understanding of the mechanisms of these diseases easily explains the "water cure." Adequate hydration ensures normal blood flow, relieving migraines, and keeps at bay the triggers, such as histamine, that prompt an asthma attack.
    Improvements in the aches and pains of arthritis also make sense, given that 85 percent of the cartilage and virtually all of the synovial fluid lubricating the joints are water. Drinking water also restores the protective mucous membranes of the GI tract, soothing ulcers and other stomach problems. Furthermore, water is nature's best diuretic - nothing makes you lose excess fluid like drinking a lot of water.

Research Is Catching Up
    Dr. Batmanghehdj's theory may sound simplistic to some. However, over the past couple of years a number of scientists have been seriously evaluating the merits of water. And as it turns out, Dr. Batmmghehdj may have the last laugh. Here are a few of the recent highlights:

    Cancer. A 1999 study published in the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine examined the association between risk of bladder cancer and fluid intake in almost 48,000 men over ten years. The men who drank the most had the lowest risk of developing cancer.  

    Asthma. Frank J. Cerny, Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Buffalo, presenting at the June 2000 American College of Sports Medicine meeting, reported that exercise-induced asthma (which is very common in asthmatics) is caused by water loss from the airways - and can be prevented by pre-exercise hydration.

    Heart Disease and Stroke. A study of 34,000 Seventh Day Adventists revealed that individuals who drank a minimum of five glasses of water a day had half the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who drank only two glasses daily. The researchers reported that adequate hydration decreased the viscosity, or stickiness, of the blood and improved blood flow.

    Kidney Stones. Gary C. Curhan, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has found that eight to ten glasses of fluids a day decreases the likelihood of developing kidney stones. Water dilutes the urine, minimizing the risk of the formation of crystals that can cause kidney stones.

    Constipation. An Italian study found that in patients eating a high-fiber diet (25 grams per day) as a therapy for constipation, increasing fluid intake to 1.5 to 2 liters per day (6-8 cups) significantly improved the condition, compared to fiber alone.

    Cancer. A 1999 study published in the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine examined the association between risk of bladder cancer and fluid intake in
almost 48,000 men over ten years. The men who drank the most had the lowest risk of developing cancer.

    Asthma. Frank J. Cerny, Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Buffalo, presenting at the June 2000 American College of Sports Medicine meeting, reported that exercise-induced asthma (which is very common in asthmatics) is caused by water loss from the airways - and can be prevented by pre-exercise hydration.

    Heart Disease and Stroke. A study of 34,000 Seventh Day Adventists revealed that individuals who drank a minimum of five glasses of water a day had half the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who drank only two glasses daily. The researchers reported that adequate hydration decreased the viscosity, or stickiness, of the blood and improved blood flow.

    Kidney Stones. Gary C. Curhan, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has found that eight to ten glasses of fluids a day decreases the likelihood of developing kidney stones. Water dilutes the urine, minimizing the risk of the formation of crystals that can cause kidney stones.

    Constipation. An Italian study found that in patients eating a high-fiber diet (25 grams per day) as a therapy for constipation, increasing fluid intake to 1.5 to 2 liters per day (6-8 cups) significantly improved the condition, compared to fiber alone.

How Much Water Are You Drinking?
    If you are drinking at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day, you're a rare bird. A survey conducted earlier this year by the Rockefeller University in New York found that only 34 percent of Americans drink this much. Most average six glasses, and almost ten percent confessed to drinking no water at all!
    Even worse, many of us drink more than our share of caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea and soda, as well as alcohol. (Americans average
41 gallons of soda each per year!) These beverages have diuretic properties and actually increase water losses. Some experts, including Dr. Batmanghelidj, contend that for every such beverage, you should drink an additional glass of water.
    Summertime heat increases your water needs, so this is a good time to get into the lifelong, year-round habit of drinking enough water to keep your body hydrated and healthy.

Recommendations for Water
    • Drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water every day. I know this is easier said than done. Don't wait until you're thirsty to drink - you'll likely never get this much down. Instead, keep filled water bottles at your desk, in your car, by your bed, and near your favorite chair as a reminder.
    • During hot weather or physical activity water losses can easily double or triple. Be conscientious about drinking more water during the summer and when you exercise.
    • If you have congestive heart failure or kidney disease, or if you are taking diuretics, talk to your doctor before increasing your water intake.

    Julian Whitaker, M.D., has practiced medicine for over 25 years, after receiving degrees from Dartmouth College and Emory University.
    Dr. Whitaker has long been an advocate of living a healthy life. He was instrumental in the- creation of Healthy Directions, the nutritional supplement company that manufactures his exclusive product formulations, and continues as a compensated consultant to HD on the formulation and development of new products based on the latest patient-tested medical and nutritional research. He is the author of eight major health books: Reversing Hypertension, The Memory Solution, Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks, The Pain Relief Breakthrough, Reversing Heart Disease, Reversing Diabetes, A Guide to Natural Healing, and Is Heart Surgery Necessary?

Author: Julian Whitaker, M.D
Publisher: Glynnis Mileikowsky
Research Editor: Peggy Dace
Chairman: Thomas L. Phillips
Managing Editor: Teresa Herring
Assistant Research Editor: Kelly Griffin
President: Kevin Donoghue
Reports Editor: Pat Cotta
Digital Communications: Chip Fren


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