英国专家揭秘：每天喝多少水才健康

　　It is said to help us prevent kidney damage, lose weight and increase concentration levels。

　　我们常常听说，多喝水可以避免肾脏遭受损害，还有减肥的功效，同时也能降低血液的浓稠度。

　　But experts now warn that drinking eight glasses of water a day is not good for you after all – and could be harmful。

　　不过现在又有专家挑出来警告我们说，每一天喝足八杯水的量对健康不但没有好处，反而还是不利于人体的。

　　They say that scientific claims behind long-standing government guidelines are worse than ‘nonsense’。

　　他们表示，官方所宣传的健康指导意见背后的科学依据基本上都是“没有道理”的。

　　The NHS – along with leading doctors and nutritionists – advisesthe public to drink about 1.2 litres (or two-and-a-half pints) of waterper day。

　　英国国家卫生局，连同顶尖的医生和营养学家对公众发出建议：每天饮用水的量最好在1.2升左右。

　　However, a report describes the danger of dehydration as a ‘myth’and says there is no evidence behind claims that water prevents multiplehealth problems。

　　尽管如此，一份研究报告指出由于脱水而引发的健康危险的其实并不明确，同时也没有足够的证据可以表明喝充足的水更够避免众多健康问题的发生。

　　Glasgow-based GP Margaret McCartney says the NHS Choices website’sadvice that people should drink six to eight glasses a day is ‘not onlynonsense, but thoroughly debunked nonsense’. She adds that the benefitsof the drink are often exaggerated by ‘organisations with vestedinterests’ such as bottled water brands。

　　学者Margaret McCartney表示，英国政府机构向民众所倡导的每人每天需要喝6到8杯水，这其实是“毫无根据”的。她还指出，罐装水的生产商常常还会夸大饮水的益处，说是“对细胞组织有各种好处”。

　　Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr McCartney also pointsout that research shows drinking when not thirsty can impairconcentration, rather than boost it, and separate evidence suggests thatchemicals used for disinfection found in bottled water could be bad foryour health。

　　McCartney教授发表于《英国医学期刊》中的文章指出，在不口渴的情况下喝水，不仅不能刺激血液浓度，而是会打乱其健康值。另外也有证据表明，罐装水中可能含有的化学物质对于人体的健康是有害的。

　　Drinking excessive amounts can also lead to loss of sleep as peoplehave to get up in the night to go to the toilet, and other studies showit can even cause kidney damage, instead of preventing it。

　　大量的饮水同时还可能造成失眠，因为人们不得不常常在夜里起来去上厕所，另有研究表明，喝水过量不仅不会保护肾脏，反而会使其遭受损伤。

　　Worryingly, Dr McCartney also warns that taking on too much watercan lead to a rare but potentially fatal condition called hyponatraemia,which sees the body’s salt levels drop and can lead to swelling of thebrain。

　　McCartney博士还警告到，令人担忧的是喝太多的水可能会导致一种非常罕见但足以致命的病症发生，也就是所谓的低钠血症：机体的盐分急剧降低，会引起大脑的水肿。

　　n 2003 actor Anthony Andrews, who starred in the ITV adaptation ofBrideshead Revisited, was hit by the illness after drinking too muchwater during rehearsals for a West End role。

　　2003年，演员Anthony Andrews在出演ITV电视台的新版《故园风雨后》时，在排练时因为喝水过量而患上了低钠血症。

　　Another doctor quoted in the article adds there is no basis forclaims that water helps people to lose weight by suppressing theirappetite. Professor Stanley Goldfarb, a metabolism expert from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in the U.S., says: ‘The current evidence isthat there really is no evidence。

　　另外一位医生也在文章中指出，有人称喝水可以帮助减肥，是因为其降低了人们食欲，这种说法是没有根据的。美国宾夕法尼亚大学的新城代谢领域专家——Stanley Goldfarb教授说：“目前看来不存在肉任何证据。”

　　‘If children drank more water rather than getting extra caloriesfrom soda, that’s good ...[but] there is no evidence that drinking waterbefore meals reduces appetite during a meal.’

　　“如果孩子们喝更多的水，而不是从苏打饮料中获取热量的话，这的确是一件好事。不过现在真的没有证据表明在每餐饭前喝水能够降低人的食欲。”

　　About 2.06billion litres of bottled water was drunk in Britain lastyear, compared with 1.42billion litres in 2000. Despite this increasewe still drink three times as much tea, and five times as much beer。

　　在去年，英国人喝掉了20.6亿升的桶装水，在2000年时，这个量仅为14.2亿升。尽管如此，他们喝掉的茶是这个量的三倍，啤酒则是五倍之多。