江蘇 陳福金

你肯定聽到過這個說法：為了健康或者美容，你每天都要喝八杯水。不過很多人都會困惑，這真的科學嗎？

A famous health tip says you'd better drink eight glasses of water (about two liters) a day.However, the results of a new study suggest that less is needed.

An international group led by scientists at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) in China found that the average daily water intake of a man in his twenties should be 1.5 to 1.8 liters, while it should be 1.3 to 1.4 liters for a female in the same age group.

The researchers investigated 5,604 participants from the ages of 8 days old to 96 years old and from more than 20 countries, using isotope-tracking methods.They have found that a man aged 20 to 35 consumes 4.2 liters of water each day,while a woman aged 30 to 60 consumes 3.3 liters, with the water requirements dropping as he or she ages.

Since metabolism (新陳代謝) and water exchange on skin can provide 15 percent, while food and drinking contribute half each of the remaining 85 percent,people are thus suggested to drink less than 45 percent of the total daily turnover,according to the researchers.

“The majority of people perhaps don't have to drink 8 glasses of water a day,”said Zhang Xueying, co-first author of the paper and an assistant research fellow at the SIAT.

The total water input and output varies according to multiple factors,including body size, physical activity,air temperature, humidity, and altitude,according to the study.

Reading Check

Do you really need to drink eight glasses of water a day? Please calculate how much water you need a day according to the text.

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