Along with munching our recommended five portions of fruit and veg a day, we’ve forever been told that gulping down eight glasses of water is the route to clearer, brighter skin and better digestion.
However, doctor and health writer Aaron E. Carrol says there’s a condition to this rule that we’ve missed. In a recent article in the New York Times, Carrol makes the point that the food we eat also contributes quite considerably to our consumption of water, and that our normal meals can help us reach our recommended daily intake.
Carrol says the eight-glasses-a-day myth all came about because people misunderstood a 1945 study by the Food and Nutrition board.
The study said, "Many people believe that [they] need about 2.5 litres of water a day.” But, says Carrol, everyone ignored the sentence that followed closely behind, which read, “Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.'
Most fruits and vegetables - particularly cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot and watermelon - have a really high water content, so if you're eating plenty of those, you're already getting a good amount of water.
Now, this is a bit of a mind-shift for those of us who have long believed that water comes only from a bottle. But it might also come as a relief to know that while hydration is undoubtedly key to a happy, healthy body, you don't need to be chugging down 2.5 litres of Evian to get there.