Drinking six to eight cups of water called 'nonsense' in editorial

Drinking six to eight cups of water called 'nonsense' in editorial

By Marissa Cevallos, HealthKey / For the Booster Shots blog

July 13, 2011, 3:39 p.m.

Drinking six to eight glasses of water each day is healthful, most health experts agree. But apparently not everyone is on the same page.

A general practitioner from Scotland says that health advice is “thoroughly debunked nonsense” and is propagated by bottled water companies out to make a profit.

In a commentary published online in the British Medical Journal, Margaret McCartney quotes experts that say drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia (low sodium levels in the blood) and expose people to pollutants. And the public health push makes people feel guilty for not drinking enough.

Experts were quick to pounce on the commentary as being misleading. The article hadn’t been peer-reviewed, pointed out Thomas Sanders, a professor of nutrition and dietetics from King’s College London. Sanders wrote in a reply on the BMJ website:,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,