Olde Posts Addenda (4)

 More "Breaking News" to add to the older news items already provided in Mulcahy's Miscellany. 

Excessive Drinking - OF WATER!
   Back in 2021 I questioned whether we really needed to carry a large bottle of water with us when we drove to the 7-Eleven to get a Slurpee (see "Hydration: Going Against the Current.") I don't get out much, but apparently students are still putting canteens in their backpacks and carrying large water jugs for the short distance between seminars.
   This was noticed by Frank Bruni who writes for The New York Times. When he was asked to characterize the students at Duke, where he teaches, he offered this description in his weekly newsletter. He makes the point I was trying to make in my hydration post, but he does a better job, which is why he writes for the NYT and I don't. It is really quite good and is found in the Newsletter on Nov.21, 2024:

   "What’s most remarkable about my students isn’t their wokeness or pre-professionalism. It’s their sogginess. They drink water constantly. They carry water everywhere. If the young people who fought in World War II were the Greatest Generation, the young people pursuing their bachelor’s degrees today are the Moistest one. They live on the cusp of some imagined desert, beside an oasis that’s their last call.

Sometimes I glance at the desks in a lecture hall or the big table in a seminar room and think I’m looking at an art exhibit of Exotic Cylinders. There are improbably tall, slender water vessels and squatter, wider ones, though almost all taper at the base, the better to fit into the cup holders of cars and cardio equipment. They are shiny and matte, turquoise and lavender, their provenance imprinted on them in distinctive fonts. Here a Corkcicle or an Owala, there a Stanley or a Yeti.

Those brand names are a clue that part of what I’m seeing is pure commercialism: If you build it, they will fill it with water. Canny entrepreneurs have turned the frumpy canteens of yesteryear, associated with cowboys and mountaineers, into the spiffy fashion statements of today, dangling from student knapsacks and essential for any vigorous Peloton session.

But there’s more to it than that. There are principles, politics: The refillable Hydro Flask or ThermoFlask replaces the disposable plastic receptacle and represents scrupulous stewardship of the environment. There are economics: A beloved, portable vessel with water from a tap obviates an Evian or a Dasani from the convenience store refrigerator case.

And there is self-care, an ineluctable phrase that didn’t exist — or had negligible exposure — when I attended college. My students correctly wager that health-wise, including skin-wise, hydration is best, so lugging around liquid sustenance is a kind of personal optimization. It abets peak performance. Along with a dewy complexion.

I reflect on my desiccated youth — when there were old-style water fountains rather than newfangled water stations, and I had to bend over and slurp up enough to last me several hours — and feel foolish and cheated, the improbable survivor of a parched and primitive time. I now understand why my fellow boomers and I made a mess of the world, and the generations after ours should cut us some slack. We were thirsty."

Excessive Eating - The Obesity Epidemic
  More recently in, "Weighing In" obesity was observed and proof is now offered in: "Three-Quarters of U.S. Adults Are Now Overweight or Obese: A Sweeping New Paper Revels the Dramatic Rise of Obesity Rates Nationwide Since 1990," Nina Agrawal, The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2024. Definitions are offered for the plus-sized people and I will have to check and see if I belong to that growing crowd:The paper defined “overweight” adults as those who were age 25 and over with a body mass index at or over 25, and “obese” adults as those with a B.M.I. at or over 30.
The "sweeping new paper" is found in The Lancet, "National-level and state-level prevalence of overweight and obesity among children, adolescents, and adults in the USA, 1990–2021, and forecasts up to 20," Nov. 14, 2024. "Over the past several decades, the overweight and obesity epidemic in the USA has resulted in a significant health and economic burden. Understanding current trends and future trajectories at both national and state levels is crucial for assessing the success of existing interventions and informing future health policy changes."

More Metals  At Costco - Now You Can Also Buy Platinum
   

   Oddly enough, when I complete this post I will likely have spent as much time writing about Costco as shopping there. Although they are getting out of the book business (see:"More Bad News For Books"), you can find on their shelves, gold(see: "Gold At Costco!!) and silver (see: "Hi Ho Silver??) to take to your compound when the apocalypse arrives. You will have food that lasts years if you have also purchased "Readywise, Costco's Emergency Food Kit" (see: "Evidence of End Times at Costco?".)
   "The sales of silver and gold are going well and now Costco is offering bars of platinum. The Costco website lists the item as a one-ounce (roughly 28.3 grams) 999.5 pure platinum bar “with a proof-like finish.”  The bars bear the image of Lady Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck and good fortune – an image also on some of Costco’s gold bars. Customers will need a Costco membership to buy these bars. Unlike most other products available at Costco, however, you can’t buy this one in bulk. There is a limit of one transaction per membership, with a maximum of five units per member. The bars are also non-refundable."
For more see: "Platinum Rush? Costco Is Selling a New Precious Metal in the U.S." Uday, Rana, Global News, Oct. 4, 2024.

BOOZE At Costco For Ontarians
  While platinum is not yet available to us, we can now purchase, beer, wine, champagne and some 'soft' mixed cocktails at Costco, but not the hard stuff. For that, we will still have to go to the LCBO, but it is not yet clear what we do with all of the empty containers. See: "Ontario's 41 Costco Locations Can Sell Alcohol As Of Oct. 31, 2024," CBC News, Oct. 30, 2024. 

Happy Thanksgiving to Those In the U.S. 
   You have a lot to be thankful for - platinum at Costco, for example. Eat that turkey, but begin a diet in the new year.

Hydration: Going Against the Current

 

  The cartoon above arrived today, courtesy of the New Yorker.  That fact, plus the fact that it is pouring outside, reminded me of a "FAD" which I have wondered about over a number of years. It has to do with the consumption of water. The need for humans to drink huge amounts of it; people doing little physical work at all in comfortable, climate controlled buildings. I recall going to meetings where the participants looked like they were heading off on a safari. To ascend to the second floor, elevator buttons had to be pushed for those carrying  enough water bottles to get them through the hour.  Had I been as smart then as I now am, I surely could have convinced the folks at "The Bay" to start selling colourful canteens to match the work gear.

   It is lucky for me that the answer to the question, "How Much Water Do You Actually Need?" arrived just prior to that cartoon.  The answer to the question is basically, "Not Much." Here is the recent article, as well as another one which determines that this whole myth began in 1945. You should look at the articles and additional literature since I am not providing all the stuff about electrolytes. Still, you are more likely to be waterlogged than dehydrated.

"How Much Water Do You Actually Need? Here’s how to know when you truly need to hydrate," Christie Aschwanden, New York Times, September 17, 2021. 

If you’ve spent any time on social media or visited an athletic event lately, you’ve surely been bombarded with encouragements to drink more water. Celebrity influencers lug around gallon-sized water bottles as the hot new accessory.... 
The purported benefits of excess water consumption are seemingly endless, from improved memory and mental health to increased energy to better complexion. “Stay hydrated” has become a new version of the old salutation, “Stay well.”...

We’ve all been taught that eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day is the magic number for everyone, but that notion is a myth, said Tamara Hew-Butler, an exercise and sports scientist at Wayne State University.

….Do I have to drink water to stay hydrated?

Not necessarily. From a purely nutritional standpoint, water is a better choice than less healthy options like sugary sodas or fruit juices. But when it comes to hydration, any beverage can add water to your system, Dr. Hew-Butler said.... One popular notion is that drinking beverages with caffeine or alcohol will dehydrate you, but if that’s true, the effect is negligible, Dr. Topf said. A 2016 randomized controlled trial of 72 men, for instance, concluded that the hydrating effects of water, lager, coffee and tea were nearly identical....
You can also get water from what you eat. Fluid-rich foods and meals like fruits, vegetables, soups and sauces all contribute to water intake. Additionally, the chemical process of metabolizing food produces water as a byproduct, which adds to your intake too, Dr. Topf said....
But drinking more water, even when I’m not thirsty, will improve my health, right?No. Of course, people with certain conditions, like kidney stones or the more rare autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, may benefit from making an effort to drink a little more water than their thirst would tell them to, Dr. Topf said.
But in reality, most healthy people who blame feeling ill on being dehydrated may actually be feeling off because they’re drinking too much water....

The Source of the Myth

"No, You Do Not Have to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day," Aaron Carroll, New York Times, Aug. 24, 2015

If there is one health myth that will not die, it is this: You should drink eight glasses of water a day.

It’s just not true. There is no science behind it.

I was a co-author of a paper back in 2007 in the BMJ on medical myths. The first myth was that people should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. This paper got more media attention (even in The Times) than pretty much any other research I’ve ever done.

It made no difference. When, two years later, we published a book on medical myths that once again debunked the idea that we need eight glasses of water a day, I thought it would persuade people to stop worrying. I was wrong again.

Many people believe that the source of this myth was a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation that said people need about 2.5 liters of water a day. But they ignored the sentence that followed closely behind. It read, “Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.”....

Water is present in fruits and vegetables. It’s in juice, it’s in beer, it’s even in tea and coffee. Before anyone writes me to tell me that coffee is going to dehydrate you, research shows that’s not true either.

Although I recommended water as the best beverage to consume, it’s certainly not your only source of hydration. You don’t have to consume all the water you need through drinks. You also don’t need to worry so much about never feeling thirsty. The human body is finely tuned to signal you to drink long before you are actually dehydrated.

Contrary to many stories you may hear, there’s no real scientific proof that, for otherwise healthy people, drinking extra water has any health benefits. For instance, reviews have failed to find that there’s any evidence that drinking more water keeps skin hydrated and makes it look healthier or wrinkle free. 

A Bonus Source:

This Question and Answer article is from the University of Virginia. Here is a sample. You can read the complete article by clicking on this link:

EVERYTHING WE THINK WE KNOW ABOUT DRINKING WATER MAY BE WRONG,

January 27, 2020 UVA. 

Perhaps, more important than the conflicting scientific evidence is the strong marketing effect for sports beverages and bottled water that began in the 1990s, along with a recommendation from the American College of Sports Medicine in 1996 that focused on higher fluid intakes and drinking as much as tolerated. This recommendation also popularized the claim that you should drink before exercise and stay ahead of dehydration. The marketing efforts have been highly effective and I think are likely the greatest contributor to current behaviors. 

Q. Is there a recommended amount of water that a person should drink on a daily basis? Do how much you weigh and your overall level of physical activity play into it?

A. I am always hesitant to give a specific amount of fluid intake that is “right” for someone.  There are so many variables involved, such as your activity level, fitness, ambient temperature and sweat rate, that blanket recommendations don’t make much sense.

More important, we should recognize that dehydration is not a disease. If you are exercising or doing other daily activities and you are not drinking then, at some point, you get thirsty. Thirst is our bodies’ way of telling you to drink. Thirst has evolved in the animal kingdom over millions of years and is a very effective way to prevent dehydration.

The notion that you should drink to prevent thirst makes no sense. Humans don’t need to be told when and how much to drink (except in rare medical circumstances). Thirst is our innate hydration sensor.

The End.