Water Glass

Research Shows Water Is More Important Than Food

New research today tells us that water is more important than food for good health. Scientists from the Westphal Academy for Systematic Study of Exogenous Rehydration (WASSER) hailed it as a “landmark.” The study was a three-arm, randomized crossover study. It appears today in the American Journal of Food Policy. In a random order, 100 subjects each spent two weeks on three different regimens. The control condition provided normal, measured, constant food and water intake. Then the other two arms were severe calorie restriction and severe water restriction.

Health Outcomes

In both intervention groups, people lost modest amounts of weight. But in the water restriction group, markers of cardiovascular function were markedly less healthy by comparison with the other groups. For example, heart rhythms were a big problem in that group.

In a press release. lead investigator Victor Vatn offered perspective:

“Our work informs the view that folks pushing the food-is-medicine agenda are overstating their case. The truth is that water is medicine. You really can’t live without it.”

The Food Is Medicine Institute Pushes Back

“This research is a nothing but a marketing tool for water. It flies in the face of the value of good nutrition,“ said Carl Cothaigh of the Food Is Medicine Institute. He found fault with the funding for the research. This is because, he said, all of the money came from organizations that depend on water for their existence.

FIMI also referenced a recent “groundbreaking” narrative review and report on the food as medicine (FAM) movement. “It has more than 2,500 citations,” said Cothaig. “Case closed.”

Pseudoscientific Alternative Medicine

The FAM report blames credibility problems for their movement on social media. Because, they say,  alternative medicine hucksters have misrepresented the movement for their own purposes:

“Social media has facilitated the ‘hijacking’ of food as medicine as a disease treatment, co-opting it into a pseudoscientific alternative medicine. This has effectively alienated many health care providers from adopting food as medicine programs and policies.”

But back at WASSER, Vatn rejects all of this as puffed up “mumbo jumbo.” No doubt, this controversy about water and food will rage on for some time to come, even after this first day of April.

Click here for the breathtaking review of food as medicine and here for the Vatn study.

Water Glass, painting by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin / WikiArt

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April 1, 2022

9 Responses to “Research Shows Water Is More Important Than Food”

  1. April 01, 2022 at 7:54 am, Christine Rosenbloom said:

    Happy spring, Ted. Good one! I can just see the clickbait headlines, now!

  2. April 01, 2022 at 8:06 am, vanessao said:

    Nicely done.

  3. April 01, 2022 at 8:26 am, Andrew Brown said:

    Bravo! Well done for this day.

    • April 01, 2022 at 8:37 am, Ted said:

      I’m glad this one brought discerning people some smiles!

  4. April 01, 2022 at 9:23 am, Allen Browne said:

    Happy April Fool’s Day!!

  5. April 01, 2022 at 9:36 am, Chris Weithman said:

    This was great!! love the WASSER acronym – seeing the headline before reading the post i was like, ohh i need to forward this science to our team – i was in an early meeting sharing that this post always has a great April Fools day post – no disappointment today!!

  6. April 01, 2022 at 12:08 pm, Linda Gigliotti said:

    I’ve learned to expect your April 1 posts and read this one with a big grin!

  7. April 01, 2022 at 2:14 pm, Mary-Jo said:

    Wasser fur die Wiesen ist ausreichend! You did have me as when I was at Emory, a few of our internists/endocrinologists DID have their patients on what they called ‘the water diet’ in order to get them to quickly lose weight and I’m traumatized to this day.

  8. April 01, 2022 at 3:39 pm, Annemarie said:

    Interestingly, a similar 3-arm study set-up with normal oxygen levels, low oxygen levels and no oxygen at all shows that oxygen is even more important than water 😉