# 8 glasses of water per day minimum (but just water??)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/8-glasses-of-water-per-day-minimum-but-just-water/203207>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 23, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/8-glasses-of-water-per-day-minimum-but-just-water/203207 "2003-09-23T00:22:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![quothz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/da6949/32.png) [@quothz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quothz)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/8-glasses-of-water-per-day-minimum-but-just-water/203207/21 "2003-09-24T02:54:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \*  
> \*\*Beer bad? Not as bad as wine. Beer’s alcohol content (4-5%) is much less than wine (12%) and the water in beer about balances the diuretic effect. \*\*

Beer is _good_ , according to one study. Follow the link for more information.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/8-glasses-of-water-per-day-minimum-but-just-water/203207/22 "2003-09-24T14:49:18Z")

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That link states only that beer does not cause calcium kidney stones (but may cause uric acid stones), and that coffee, tea, and wine have no effect. It did not discuss the question of hydration. Beer probably has no effect there, but wine is certainly bad.

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**Author:** ![quothz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/da6949/32.png) [@quothz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quothz)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/8-glasses-of-water-per-day-minimum-but-just-water/203207/23 "2003-09-24T16:18:39Z")

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This is correct. I’m only talking about kidney stones, not general benefits of hydration. I’m speculating that the “8 glasses of water” rule originated with studies linking lotsa water to the prevention of kidney stones. I’ve added that a few other fluids are good for this purpose, a few are bad, and most have no great effect.  
For _treatment_ of kidney stones, the most important thing is to urinate frequently over an indefinite period of time, so any non-diuretic fluid is probably\* okay (diuretics’ll make you whiz, but you want to go as often as possible, not as quickly as possible).  
In _general_, I expect Snopes is right and the buckets o’ water diet has little effect. However, kidney stones are common enough (especially in men) to merit getting plenty of water for prevention. They’re painful enough that you really, really want to prevent them. I expect that doctors and nurses who’ve seen too many folks passing rocks started telling everyone to drink lots of water, and this spawned the legend.  
Lots of idle speculation on my part, yeah. But water _does_, empirically, help prevent kidney stones, and UMM notes\*\* that although some other fluids can be good for this purpose, it’s not necessarily those that you would expect.  
I probably should’ve reiterated in every post that I’m talking about only a single, specific aspect of the alleged benefits of drinking water\*\*\*.

\*Although the goal is in fact frequent urination, the “non-diuretic fluids” is strictly my unfounded opinion. Doctors reccomend water alone, so do what they say, and ignore me on this one.

\*\*On the page I linked to in my first post.

_ **That aspect being the prevention of kidney stones** _\*.

**Which is best accomplished by drinking lots of water** \*.

_ **Despite Snopes’ claim** _\* that the exact fluid doesn’t matter much.

\*\*\*\*\*\*On the page linked to earlier in this thread.

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