Last month I spent a few weeks on vacation in Europe. I saw the sights. Perhaps the highlight of my trip was a visit to the real Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, where many beers were happily sipped while standing atop picnic-style benches singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver. (Germans love American songs And West Virginia.)
But I will say that it was good – even necessary – to drink so much beer. How else was I going to hydrate?
You see, Europeans don’t share Americans’ love of universally available water. There were hardly any drinking fountains abroad. When sitting down to eat at a restaurant, water is never served without request. Even purchasable water bottles come in smaller sizes.
It was even the subject of a viral discussion on TikTok this month of July, summed up by the phrase “Europeans do not believe in water”. Europeans have, however, responded, pointing out that the typical experience of life on the continent is not the same as that of the tourist. As “Bon Appetit” noted, “‘Water is pretty much all we drink here, but usually sparkling,’ one well-meaning commenter wrote.”
This whole dichotomy raises important questions about water: Do Americans really drink more water than Europeans? How much water should a person drink? What are the consequences of good or poor hydration? This is actually a very interesting question for Utahns, especially considering our many fitness fans. Let’s dig.
Water consumption data
Unfortunately, hydration is not an incredibly well-researched topic. There is a real lack of double-blind studies with control groups and large sample sizes. There are some studies sponsored by beverage companies like Gatorade that don’t scream “unbiased research.”
There is also a measurement problem. Measuring hydration is difficult. It is certainly possible (but boring) to measure fluid intake and urine output. But that ignores an important part of the human water cycle: the food we eat provides water, and we sweat out a decent amount of it. Urine color can be an indicator, but it may be more indicative of how much water a person has very recently consumed rather than their true hydration status.
However, we know a little. In particular, we know that there is an absolutely gigantic gap between the amount of water Americans and Europeans actually drink. A journal article by three prominent American nutrition researchers titled “Water, hydration and health» summarizes the current situation: “Study results suggest that American adults consume more than 2.1 liters of water per day, while European adults consume less than half a liter. »Holy cow!
Europeans, however, tend to drink a lot of non-water drinks to make up the difference, whether they are alcoholic or not. The figures are quite variable depending on the country — adults in the Czech Republic drink on average about half a liter of alcoholic beverages per day and only a tenth of a liter of soft drinks, while adults in the Netherlands drink about a quarter of a liter of alcohol, but more of one liter of non-alcohol.
As a study noted: “In Hungary, very low total fluid intakes (559 ml) were noted. » It was not for a reason that they called their country “Thirst”.
Congratulations, you have now read the worst joke ever written.
Even accounting for Europeans’ preference for waterless drinks that also contain water, Americans are simply significantly better hydrated. THE medium germanfor example, would fall between the fifth and 10th percentile among Americans in terms of overall water consumption.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Does drinking beer count toward measuring total daily water intake? Comparing the hydration habits of Europeans and Americans, Tribune data columnist Andy Larsen says…kinda.
How much water do we need?
So, is the average German simply living in constant dehydration? Not really. In fact, when 24-hour urine samples from a representative group of more than 2,000 Germans have been studied over 24 hours, only 3% of them were found to be dehydrated. Since American diets tend to be larger, almost everyone is probably in pretty good shape.
But wait, Andy! Even a simple Google search for “how much water should I drink” will likely result in the recommendation from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). It is The recommendation for adequate water intake is 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids per day for men and 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids per day for women. By these standards, many Americans are far from their daily water intake.
So what explains what is happening? Well, it turns out that NASEM’s estimate isn’t based on much. Notably, almost all Americans studied were in a state of good hydration, regardless of whether they were at the high, middle, or low end of their water intake in the study. Given this, the agency did a strange thing by setting the recommended water consumption at the median consumption of the sample. Rather, researchers should have learned that even lower water consumption is acceptable.
This is the kind of thing that happens when the available studies on a topic are limited – which is a recent theme in these data articles. Whether it be Solar creamOr hand washing or water consumption, we tend to lack data on these very universal subjects of improving daily health.
In the absence of hard data, folklore, myths, and TikTok wisdom abound: people plugging in water fasts, drinking giant bottles of water in Zoom meetings, and basically guessing the best amount of hydration.
I will say that I think the German recommendation estimate is a little more reasonable, around 9 cups of fluid per day. After all, they were able to find people who were actually dehydrated in their investigation.
The impact of exercise
But this defect also reflects a relatively normal level of effort. Exercise can be a game changer.
In particular, water loss through the skin can vary considerably, from almost negligible to two liters per hour during high thermal activity. This can actually lead to rapid dehydration, resulting in an increase in core body temperature.
Clearly, dehydration in these settings leads to decreased performance – more in high-intensity endurance activities like tennis or long-distance running, with lesser impacts in shorter energetic activities like weightlifting. Research also shows that drinking just to quench thirst in these situations generally does not result in rehydration, meaning mild dehydration can last for hours after physical activity.
There is also correlative evidence that dehydration after exercise can lead to short-term mental impacts, such as loss of concentration, alertness, and short-term memory. But other studies have shown that water deprivation over a 24-hour period led to no decrease in cognitive performance. In other words, cognitive declines might be less related to hydration than to other consequences of exercise, such as body temperature.
There is a some other impacts studied hydration to take into account: cardiac, renal and gastrointestinal function, and avoid headaches. On the other hand, there is not much evidence on the impact of hydration on skin health.
Overall, however, there is not much data that recommends the average American’s preferred approach to water consumption versus that of the average European. I admit that I missed my usual water intake when traveling abroad, but I found that I got used to the situation after a few weeks – and found myself no worse off. comfortable. Quenching your thirst is essential, as is rehydrating after exercise, but forcing gallons of water down your esophagus probably isn’t a priority.
Andy Larsen is a data columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune. You can reach him at alarsen@sltrib.com
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