Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Should humans be encouraged to drink water to excess?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, pages 875–876 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

The finding of our study (Szinnai et al., 2005) cited by Jéquier and Constant (2010) does not support their conclusion that: ‘Severe dehydration therefore affects the function of many systems and is a life-threatening condition’. Instead we found that cognitive-motor function was preserved up to a dehydration level of 2.6% of body weight (BW).

A number of other erroneous concepts are included in their article. We limit ourselves to the most important.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  • Bossingham MJ, Carnell NS, Campbell WW (2005). Water balance, hydration status, and fat-free mass hydration in younger and older adults. Am J Clin Nutr 81, 1342–1350.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brown KH, Creed de Kanashiro H, del Aguila R, Lopez de Romana G, Black RE (1986). Milk consumption and hydration status of exclusively breast-fed infants in a warm climate. J Pediatr 108 (5 Part 1), 677–680.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goulet EDB (2011). Effect of exercise-induced dehydration on time-trial exercise performance: a meta-analysis. Brit J Sport Med (in press).

  • Jéquier E, Constant F (2010). Water as an essential nutrient: the physiological basis of hydration. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 115–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manz F, Wentz A (2003). 24-h hydration status: parameters, epidemiology and recommendations. Eur J Clin Nutr 57 (Suppl 2), S10–S18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noakes TD, Goodwin N, Rayner BL, Branken T, Taylor RK (1985). Water intoxication: a possible complication during endurance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 17, 370–375.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Szinnai G, Schachinger H, Arnaud MJ, Linder L, Keller U (2005). Effect of water deprivation on cognitive-motor performance in healthy men and women. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 289, R275–R280.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zizza CA, Ellison KJ, Wernette CM (2009). Total water intakes of community-living middle-old and oldest-old adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 64, 481–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition and Biochemistry, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland

    M J Arnaud

  2. UCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    T D Noakes

Authors
  1. M J Arnaud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T D Noakes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M J Arnaud.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Arnaud, M., Noakes, T. Should humans be encouraged to drink water to excess?. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 875–876 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.40

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.40

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links