Drinking high levels of water
can significantly reduce the
risk of coronary heart disease,
say researchers at Loma Linda
University whose research was
reported in the American Journal
of Epidemiology (Vol. 155,
No.9). This exciting study
reveals that drinking high
amounts of plain water is as
important as exercise, diet, or
not smoking in preventing
coronary heart disease.
“Basically, not drinking enough
water can be as harmful to your
heart as smoking,” warns
Jacqueline Chan, DrPH, principle
investigator and lead author of
the article. Dr. Chan and
Synnove Knutsen, MD, PhD ,
second author, chair of
epidemiology department, found
that California Seventh-day
Adventists who drink five or
more glasses of plain water a
day have a much lower risk of
fatal coronary heart disease
compared to those who drink less
than two glasses per day.
The results from this study show
that by drinking more plain
water, healthy people—without
any history of heart disease,
stroke, or diabetes—reduced
their risk of dying from a heart
attack by half or more. This is
as much or more than if they had
adopted any other well-known
preventive measure, including
stopping smoking and lowering
cholesterol levels, increasing
exercise or maintaining ideal
weight.
Because drinking more plain
water is a simple lifestyle
change that anybody can do, this
simple practice has the
potential of saving tens of
thousands of lives each year
with minimal cost. Neither total
fluid intake, nor intake of
other fluids combined showed
this reduced risk. Instead, for
women, high intake (5 or more
glasses a day) of other fluids
showed a greatly increased risk
of coronary heart disease.
“People need to be made aware
that there is a difference, at
least for heart health, whether
they get their fluids from plain
water or from sodas,” says Dr.
Chan.
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