EU outstupids US Congress with water claim

thee glitz

Presumably not wanting to be outdone by their American counterparts, EU officials have banned claims that water can prevent dehydration.

Telegraph link

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a
two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

German professors Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer, who advise food manufacturers on
how to advertise their products, asked the European Commission if the claim could be made on labels.

They compiled what they assumed was an uncontroversial statement in order to test new laws which
allow products to claim they can reduce the risk of disease, subject to EU approval.

They applied for the right to state that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce
the risk of development of dehydration” as well as preventing a decrease in performance.

However, last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement.

A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom
of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.

Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU directive which was issued on Wednesday.

Prof Brian Ratcliffe, of the NutSoc, said

The EU is saying that this does not reduce the risk of dehydration and that is correct.

It's a good thing i'm well stocked up on lucozade sport

R0ot

"outstupids"

amacachi

Technically they're correct. Drinking a load of water when dehydrated to the point that it actually affects the body isn't a great idea.

Capt'n Midnight

The cure for dehydration is salty, sugary water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilip_Mahalanabis

Oral rehydration therapy is calculated by the World Health Organization to have saved the lives of over 60 million persons.

Almost all of those people would have died had they relied on just designer water marketing claims.

thee glitz

amacachi wrote: »

Technically they're correct. Drinking a load of water when dehydrated to the point that it actually affects the body isn't a great idea.

But would it help your dehydration?

amacachi

thee glitz wrote: »

But would it help your dehydration?

No because dehydration isn't when you've run a coupla miles. Dehydration is rare (in the west) and dangerous. Drinking water when actually dehydrated isn't a good idea because it's generally caused by illness or a medical condition and adding more water makes little difference as it will just pass straight through as well as taking a load of salt and **** with it. Bad.

RachaelVO

So water doesn't hydrate or prevent dehydration????

Erm, well, looks like my leaving cert biology is all wrong!

amacachi

RachaelVO wrote: »

So water doesn't hydrate or prevent dehydration????

Erm, well, looks like my leaving cert biology is all wrong!

If you're "dehydrated" after a gym work-out then probably. If you're dehydrated then it's a bad idea.

im invisible

Ever notice on the side of a bottle of regular Lucozade, it says something like 'not suitable for replaceing the fluids lost due to diarrhea'

RachaelVO

amacachi wrote: »

If you're "dehydrated" after a gym work-out then probably. If you're dehydrated then it's a bad idea.

Does the article not say to prevent dehydration? So if you drink water will it not prevent dehydration???

I'm getting very confused altogether! (although your explanation in an earlier post makes sense). So if I'm interpreting it right, REAL and PROPER dehydration needs to be liquid with salts and sugars so the water can get into your cells, however drinking water won't help prevent you getting into that state?

galwayrush

im invisible wrote: »

Ever notice on the side of a bottle of regular Lucozade, it says something like 'not suitable for replaceing the fluids lost due to diarrhea'

Yeah, sticking the bottle up your arse does not help.

Jesus Wept

Water is a vegetable.

corktina

if you don't drink enough water, your body thinks theres a risk of dehydration and stores every little bit it can around the body resulting in bloating.

So , to combat this, you have to drink more which will result in the body not storing as much reducing bloating.

I don't have a clue whether this means in terms of water curing dehydration though.

holystungun9

R0ot wrote: »

"outstupids"

Yeah, surely it's 'outstupidz'.

imitation

Dehydration isn't as simple as just a lack of water. The body needs a careful balance of salts called electrolytes function properly.

As far as I can remember if your blood plasma gets too salty it draws the water out of blood cells and they shrivel, likewise in reverse if your blood gets too much water the blood cells will actually swell and burst. There is a whole bunch of other processes going on too that will be affected.

They are probably right to be careful, ignorance can kill when it comes to things like this, a woman was killed in the US by drinking excessive amounts of water for a stupid radio contest to "hold their wee for a wii"

amacachi

RachaelVO wrote: »

Does the article not say to prevent dehydration? So if you drink water will it not prevent dehydration???

I'm getting very confused altogether! (although your explanation in an earlier post makes sense). So if I'm interpreting it right, REAL and PROPER dehydration needs to be liquid with salts and sugars so the water can get into your cells, however drinking water won't help prevent you getting into that state?

Same thing. :pac: Like I said, dehydration probably only happens to a few thousand people a year in Ireland from severe diarrhea and the like. Guzzling down a load of water as soon as it hits ain't gonna help. Someone else mentioned Lucozade has the warning on it that it's not suitable for replacing fluids lost in diarrhea even though (open to correction) it would probably be better than water at least.

Capt'n Midnight

galwayrush wrote: »

Yeah, sticking the bottle up your arse does not help.

It doesn't say not to do that on the warning.

Sisko

Someone else mentioned Lucozade has the warning on it that it's not suitable for replacing fluids lost in diarrhea even though (open to correction) it would probably be better than water at least.

I can confirm it does indeed say that, have bottle here beside me.

dsmythy

Sisko wrote: »

I can confirm it does indeed say that, have bottle here beside me.

We have confirmation people!!

RichieC

No we didn't.

corktina

corktina wrote: »

if you don't drink enough water, your body thinks theres a risk of dehydration and stores every little bit it can around the body resulting in bloating.

So , to combat this, you have to drink more which will result in the body not storing as much reducing bloating.

I don't have a clue whether this means in terms of water curing dehydration though.

Completley inaccurate.

Batsy

In 2003 the EU claimed that Britain isn't an island.

AnonoBoy

Any remember the feature length film of the 1960's Batman in which The Joker dehydrated the world's leaders and turned them into a fine powder?

Man that was crazy!

Mike 1972

imitation wrote: »

Dehydration isn't as simple as just a lack of water. The body needs a careful balance of salts called electrolytes function properly.

As far as I can remember if your blood plasma gets too salty it draws the water out of blood cells and they shrivel, likewise in reverse if your blood gets too much water the blood cells will actually swell and burst. There is a whole bunch of other processes going on too that will be affected.

Holy **** its a wonder any of us are still alive I tell ye

HavingCrack

Batsy wrote: »

In 2003 the EU claimed that Britain isn't an island.

I really doubt that. What's your source?

Latchy

Batsy wrote: »

In 2003 the EU claimed that Britain isn't an island.

Is it any wonder Britain wants to take back powers it reluctantly gave over to Brussles .

imitation

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Holy **** its a wonder any of us are still alive I tell ye

Well it would be a problem if it we weren't equipped with a sense of thirst and a sense of being "full".

If your half knackered from going through the Sahara or drowning your self for a radio competition its a different story again.

Capt'n Midnight

Batsy wrote: »

In 2003 the EU claimed that Britain isn't an island.

Technically speaking you can walk to the UK without getting your feet wet.

oppenheimer1

thee glitz wrote: »

Presumably not wanting to be outdone by their American counterparts, EU officials have banned claims that water can prevent dehydration.




Prof Brian Ratcliffe, of the NutSoc, said


It's a good thing i'm well stocked up on lucozade sport

When it comes to anything Europe related the Torygraph is not the paper to be reading when looking for balance.

Its a shit paper only worth looking at when I want to annoy myself. Those fools are so gleeful about the euro crisis they seem blind to the fact that if the euro goes down, their banks will go bust and the City is finished as a centre of world trade.

Manic Moran

imitation wrote: »

Dehydration isn't as simple as just a lack of water. The body needs a careful balance of salts called electrolytes function properly.

I would have thought that by definition, dehydration is lack of water. One of the problems we had in Iraq was, obviously, the threat of heat casualties: dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, in order of severity. The easy bit was the consumption of water, the Army issues a table referencing temperature, minutes of physical effort, and quarts of water per hour. The difficult bit was enforcing that people eat. Temps in the forties tend to kill the appetite. However, enforced eating without the water would have resulted in incapacitated troops, so yes, routine consumption of water will reduce the chance of dehydration, but our only casualty was a heat exhaustion case from a guy who was drinking like a fish but failed to eat.

NTM

dermiek

Blast them with pìss. Solves everything.

Richard Dower

I'm thirsty......

Manic Moran

Manic Moran wrote: »

, but our only casualty was a heat exhaustion case from a guy who was drinking like a fish but failed to eat.

NTM

My guess is he was suffering from hyponatremia. Salt is lost through sweat. If you replenish your blood volume by drinking water but do not correct for the salt loss you reduce the osmolarity of the blood. This leads to water diffusing out of the vasculature by osmosis, leading to oedema. It is oedema of the brain which is the most dangerous in this situation as there is no room within the skull for the brain to expand.

Water on its own is not enough to correct for dehydration. Glucose and sodium are also required. This is so that they can be transported across the apical surface of intestinal epithelium by the sodium/glucose co-transporter. Water follows by osmosis.

Thus water on its own is of limited effectiveness for correcting dehydration, and is potentially dangerous.

harney

Is not the real issue here that somebody is citing the Telegraph. A paper several levels below a trolled Wikipedia page when it comes to respectability.

Saila

amacachi wrote: »

Same thing. :pac: Like I said, dehydration probably only happens to a few thousand people a year in Ireland from severe diarrhea and the like. Guzzling down a load of water as soon as it hits ain't gonna help. Someone else mentioned Lucozade has the warning on it that it's not suitable for replacing fluids lost in diarrhea even though (open to correction) it would probably be better than water at least.

lack of water primarily leads to deyhydration, but drinking too much too soon when you already are dehydrated is not good.