The University of Wisconsin, Madison, conducted a study that found that people don’t need to drink eight glasses of water daily.  This recommendation has been the standard for years until now. The researchers state that the water required daily depends on the country and individual. Furthermore, people could take less than eight glasses daily and still be healthy.

How researchers conducted the study

 The researchers gathered 5600 participants from 26 countries for the study.  These participants were from the age of 8 days up to 96 years. The findings indicated that men in their 20s had higher water requirements than those older or younger. However, women in their 20s required the same amount as those in their 50s. Moreover, infants had the highest turnover, replacing 28% of their body water daily.

According to Dale Schoeller, a study author, and nutritional sciences professor, the recommended eight glasses of water daily has never made sense. The reason is that it confuses total water turnover with water people take from beverages. He also points out that most water people take comes from their food.

Schoeller adds that this study enabled them to evaluate the water turnover in and out of the body. It also helped them to look into factors influencing water turnover.

Factors influencing water requirements

The researcher concluded that men required two more glasses of water than women. They also found that men of average weight in temperate climates lost about 3.2 liters daily, while women lost about 2.7 liters.

The findings also show that people who used more energy lost four more glasses of water. If humidity rose by 50%, water loss would be about 0.3 liters. For people 50kgs heavier, turnover increased by 0.7 liters. In addition, athletes lost about a liter more than the average person.

Schoeller states that some people could even lose about 10 liters daily. He explains that the variation in turnover means that sticking to an average of eight glasses daily for everyone makes little sense.

The study author adds that it is essential to determine how much water people need due to climate change and population growth. For this reason, it is important to know factors like humidity, age, and sex which affect turnover.