DRINK MORE WATER?
You may have received the advice to drink more water “for health reasons” or “to suppress hunger” and even “to lose weight”. But if you found the advice not very compelling, you are not the only one. It just sounds a bit “wishy-washy” and not very scientific. It is not exactly clear HOW drinking more water would help us…
But WHAT IF drinking water could REALLY prevent major chronic diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol and so forth?
No, I haven’t suddenly gone mad.
Some doctors have noticed that patients whose health had not improved with “standard care” (often with additional supplements and even following a good, organic diet) did however improve SIGNIFICANTLY once the patient started drinking 8-10 glasses of WATER a day.
Please note… I did say WATER and not coffee, tea or soft drinks. I didn’t even say decaf coffee or tea or herbal teas. Just WATER.
What kind of health improvement were obtained by drinking water?
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
One patient had high cholesterol – this had stayed high (creeping towards 300, US measurement) for a year in spite of appropriate organic diet, supplements etc. Once the doctor realised the patient had been drinking carrot juice and herbal teas over that period of time (thinking “it would take care of the water intake requirement”), the doctor insisted that the patient stop drinking herbal teas and start drinking WATER.
Result? “His total cholesterol dropped 63 points and his HDL, the alleged “good” cholesterol, went up considerably”. In other words: water intake had done effectively in six weeks what many heart-friendly supplements and an ideal, nutritionally-sound diet had failed to do in a year. [2]
Science bit (skip if not interested). Water certainly serves many functions in our body, as a solvent in the blood, as well as “filler” in the extra and intracellular spaces, but it also functions as a main adhesive in cell membranes, keeping them intact while yet fluid, allowing the necessary passage of molecules in and out of the cell. As a polar molecule, water’s electrically charged surfaces keep the complex molecules that make up the membrane itself in place, where they are supposed to be. In a state of deficiency as the water level in the membranes falls, the movement of nutrients into the cells and wastes out becomes significantly less efficient, and the membrane structure itself becomes less stable. In this situation, if chronic, the liver begins synthesizing and releasing cholesterol into the bloodstream; this lipid can then substitute for water as a last ditch adhesive in the cells, to keep their membranes functional. So an elevated cholesterol in the context of undiagnosed chronic water deficiency reflects the body’s wisdom, rather than some random or genetic mystery [2].
DIABETES
Lack of water intake produces dehydration, which is an undesirable state of affairs. How does this relate to diabetes?
Insulin drives nutrients across membranes so it can be used by cells as an energy source. So nutrients including glucose, other substances including potassium, certain amino acids, and importantly, water pass into the cell interior.
According to Dr. Batmanghelidj (and others), the insulin-stimulated flow of water from the extracellular (outside the cell) to the intracellular (inside the cell) space can be a problem even with mild dehydration, because it an lead to further depletion of the body’s extracellular fluids and reduced blood volume. Since neurons are 85% water in their healthy state and since the brain receives and requires fully 20% of our total blood supply, carrying with it oxygen and essential nutrients, the effect of vascular volume depletion (i.e. reduction) can be catastrophic.
Dr. Batmanghelidj argues that to preserve its own blood supply and the integrity of its nine trillion cells, the brain, through prostaglandin and neurologic signaling, suppresses insulin synthesis and secretion. This in turn reduces the constant flow of water into the various cells of the body, conserving water to satisfy the brain’s own requirements. Of course there is a tradeoff, reduced fluid supplies to most cells in order to meet the water demands of the central nervous system.
Dr Nicholas Gonzales added more complexity to this picture, with two main pathways: SNS (sympathetic-dominant) and PNS (parasympathetic-dominant). But in short, both paths lead to the same end result, in a state of dehydration, a state of insulin suppression, less water seeping into cells and higher extracellular glucose acting as an osmotic pull to keep water where it is most needed in the bloodstream. As well as diet and an appropriate supplement regimen, Dr Gonzales claims that adequate water and with it (full spectrum) salt are a must [2][to improve or reverse the situation].
ENERGY
Who does not want more energy?
Lack of water in the intracellular space has a cost: lack of “energy”. [I am keeping it a bit simple here to avoid a highly technical explanation]. Water is absolutely critical, as critical as glucose itself, for the production of energy. In fact, without adequate water, insufficient hydrogen atoms will be available to produce the high levels of storage ATP energy needed to fuel every reaction in every cell in the body. [2]
WATER, ENERGY and HEALTH
Low grade chronic dehydration is suspected to affect the great majority of Westerners. “This overall subclinical deficiency curtails water availability even at the level of the cell cytoplasm and mitochondria, in turn reducing production of ATP and leading to all manner of disability, from chronic fatigue to, Dr. Batmanghelidj argues, auto immune disease, even cancer. This shouldn’t be surprising, since in one sense disease, whatever its form and whatever the name the experts give to it, represents at its core a state of cellular energy inefficiency”. [2]
TAKE-AWAY POINTS
Dr. Batmanghelidj insists:
- we all need to cut out all caffeine-containing and most other non-water fluids
- substituting instead a full 8-10 eight ounce glasses of plain water daily, including WITH meals contrary to popular teaching.
- In addition, he recommends we also ingest for each 10 glasses of water one-half teaspoon of good quality mineral-containing sea salt, such as Celtic or Himalayan, available in any health food store.
With increased water intake, we will lose salt, an essential nutrient, so we need to make up the difference. And please, don’t rely on your sense of thirst to determine water needs – in chronic dehydration, from which most of us suffer, our thirst thermostat in the brain down regulates so we learn not be thirsty, even when we need water. Forget the traditional teachings that we should drink only when we are thirsty, and that salt is our enemy.
To our health!
R.I.P. Dr Gonzales
References
1. Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj (1992 and 2008), Your Body’s Many Cries for Water
2. Water, Energy and the Perils of Dehydration
http://kellybroganmd.com/article/perils-of-dehydration