Water is essential to life. About 70 percent of the human body is made up of water and, coincidentally, more than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water.
You can survive for 30-45 days without food, but you will only live for 3-4 days unless you consume water.
It is recommended you consume 4-8 cups of water per day; how much of that you need depends on your activity, temperature, and the quantity of vegetables and fruits you consume—fresh produce is an excellent source of hydration.
The best indication of hydration is NOT how much you drink, but the color of your urine. Ideally, your urine should be clear, not light yellow, and not dark yellow. (Although some supplements with extra riboflavin make the urine bright florescent yellow, so you may need to skip your supplement for a day to assess your hydration status.) The darker the color of your urine, the more dehydrated you are.
Waiting until you feel thirsty is too late, as thirst is a delayed sign of dehydration. The body functions best when you are fully hydrated. Notice how diligently athletes hydrate to ensure maximum physical performance.
Hydration is especially important for people with a history of kidney stones as concentrated urine has crystals that may produce stones, and keeping the urine diluted is the best way to avoid future stones.
Consuming some fluids such as alcohol, sodas, coffee, and tea, only provides limited net hydration because they increase urination— sadly, this is all some people drink. Drinking pure water is the best way to hydrate. Herbal infusions are another excellent source of hydration.
Obtaining pure water has become more complicated. Public water supplies are treated to kill microbes that can make us sick, which is not a bad thing, but water contamination and bad city plumbing can cause major problems. As we have heard from Flint, Michigan, some public water systems are also contaminated with harmful chemical compounds. Sadly, Flint was not a unique situation and many public water systems nationwide are contaminated.
Drinking water from plastic bottles is highly problematic. Plastic bottles leak phthalates into the water—a toxic compound that is an endocrine disrupter. In the past few years, researchers have linked phthalates to asthma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, breast cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, low IQ, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, autism spectrum disorders, altered reproductive development, and male fertility issues.
Let alone that all that plastic ends up polluting the environment!
I am not worried if someone on occasion drinks water from a plastic bottle, but some people drink several plastic bottles every day, which would provide very high levels of phthalates.
If you buy water in a bottle, it should come in glass. The challenge is that drinking bottled water in glass is more expensive, and is rarely available.
At home, the most economical and healthy source of drinking water comes from reverse osmosis. The public water supply can be pumped under pressure through a membrane, producing very pure water (chemical-free). At our home and sailboat, we have a Reverse Osmosis water maker to produce water. It tastes much better than tap water too.
Filling a stainless steel water bottle (preferably not a plastic bottle) provides a useful way to carry water from home when you are out and about.
There are a variety of other filtration devices using carbon and ceramic filters, but clearly, the best source of home water is produced using reverse osmosis. A reverse osmosis unit can be installed under your kitchen sink and provide drinking and cooking water for your home. There are even countertop models that are now available. The cost to install a reverse osmosis unit in your home may vary from $200-$500, which is expensive upfront, but actually cheaper than drinking bottled water long term.
I recently received an article discussing reverse osmosis water production. The source of the article, WaterTechAdvice.com had nothing to sell but had very detailed information on reverse osmosis systems, which I thought was refreshing. Please click here to see more information on reverse osmosis.
I highly recommend that you hydrate with pure water daily, either drinking water from a glass bottle or from water produced through reverse osmosis.
I wish you the best of health!
Steven Masley, MD, FAHA, FACN, CNS
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Thank You for the article. I wish Dr. Masley has talked about how to remineralize the RO water. Since RO takes everything out, aren’t we missing minerals and vitamins that would be found in natural water like that from a spring?
TY
Sharon
Hi Sharon, Spring water can provide a trace amount of minerals, but nothing close to what you get from eating fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and clean sources of animal protein. You will not find any significant amount of vitamins in spring water–again water should provide hydration and you can get all your minerals and vitamins from food. Best, Steven Masley, MD
Do you have to add minerals back in the water if you use reverse osmosis? If so, how do you do it?
I’m using a Berkey right now.
Hi Karen,
I would not worry about getting minerals from water. Water is supposed to provide hydration. You get ample minerals from eating real food. Best regards, Steven Masley, MD
We installed a water softener and RO system. After 4 months, my husband and I were feeling tired and then my husband found out he was anemic, with very low blood count and iron count. The doctors did an upper and Lower Gi worried that he had a blood loss somewhere. None were found. He then only drank Fiji water, which has minerals and electrolytes. A few weeks later, my husband got his blood count taken and he was normal. I kept drinking the RO water but added minerals and iron. I believe it is the RO that caused his problem. Do you feel that drinking RO water can created an anemia problem?
Hi Jean, Drinking pure water should not cause anemia. I would have to assume that this was an unfortunate coincidence. Even unfiltered tap water does not have a substantial quantity of minerals and iron, Fiji water does not have enough iron to correct anemia. Often times blood loss can occur from the GI system and doctors do not find a cause even after doing an upper and lower endoscopy (a barium study would not be adequate testing). Clearly he should be checking for blood in his stool to ensure that he does not have further blood loss. After an acute blood loss, you would anticipate that his blood count would come back to normal by itself. There are nutritional causes of anemia, and other causes for anemia that are not related to GI blood loss. My best advice is to ensure he has a complete evaluation and has close follow up. Best, Steven Masley, MD
I use a bria pitcher to filter tap water and repeatedly fill my water bottles. Am I still getting the bad stuff from the plastic bottles?
Hi Lori, I assume you mean a Brita filter, right? Most of these countertop filters will not remove lead and other toxins in the water, although they do make your water taste better.
The Brita Longlast® Filter will remove more contaminants than their Standard Brita® Filter (see their website for details), including lead and mercury. However it is not as effective as a reverse osmosis unit. Please do not filter your water and pour the water in a plastic bottle as the plastic bottle will release phthalates into the water you drink. Best, Steven Masley, MD
Hi Doctor Masley,
I boil water, place in a glass mason jar to cool, refrigerate, and then use the Brita filter after that. Does boiling water and filtering it make it healthier to drink?
Please advise,
Thank you,
George
Hi George,
Boiling the water will kill microbes but would not help remove toxins. A brita filter is better than nothing, but some of their filters remove heavy metals and some do not. None of their filters are as pure as RO water. I am very happy that you store the filtered water in a glass jar–that is smart. Best, Steven Masley, MD