Drinking Plenty of Water Can Provide Number of Health Benefits, New Review Says

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Drinking enough water can help with weight loss and prevent kidney stones, as well as migraines, urinary tract infections and low blood pressure, according to a new systematic review of 18 randomized clinical trials.

In the systematic review of 18 randomized clinical trials, interventions of increased water intake (or decreased intake in one study) were associated with statistically significant greater weight loss and fewer nephrolithiasis events; single studies suggested benefits related to migraine prevention, urinary tract infection, diabetes control, and hypotension but did not reach statistical significance. Image credit: Günter.

Water is a major constituent of the human body and is considered an essential nutrient that cannot be sufficiently produced by metabolism.

The National Academy of Medicine suggests a daily fluid intake of approximately 13 eight-ounce cups for men and 9 for women, respectively.

A common public health-related recommendation is to drink 8 cups of water per day, yet the supporting evidence is not clear.

Given the wide variability of body weight, activity level, and health status at the population level and the numerous mechanisms that regulate water balance, a single optimal amount of daily water consumption is a challenging concept.

Behavioral factors and hydration status have been widely studied in relation to health conditions owing to the known detrimental effects of dehydration.

University of California, San Francisco’s Professor Benjamin Breyer and his colleagues aimed is to summarize evidence from randomized clinical trials pertaining to the impact of increased daily water consumption on health-related outcomes.

“For such a ubiquitous and simple intervention, the evidence hasn’t been clear and the benefits were not well-established, so we wanted to take a closer look,” Professor Breyer said.

“The amount of rigorous research turned out to be limited, but in some specific areas, there was a statistically significant benefit.”

“To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing the benefits of water consumption on clinical outcomes broadly.”

The researchers found the most evidence in favor of drinking water to prevent kidney stones and to help people lose weight.

Drinking eight cups of water a day significantly decreased the likelihood of getting another kidney stone.

Several studies found that drinking about six cups of water a day helped adults lose weight.

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