More Koreans follow the 2 liters of water a day rule but is it really necessary?

Water is essential for survival. While humans can live for up to three months without food, we cannot survive more than two to three days without water. That is because water in the body is continuously lost through various processes — roughly 1.6 liters a day through urine and feces, 0.6 liters through sweat and 0.4 liters through breathing. Given these losses, how much water should we drink daily? Some experts argue that we must drink at least 2 liters of water daily. However, others say there is no strong evidence that drinking this much water provides significant health benefits. A U.S. study published in 2002 tracked healthy adults aged 38 to 100 over six years. Participants who drank at least five cups of water daily (about 1.25 liters) had a 54 percent lower risk of heart disease among men and a 41 percent lower risk among women compared with those who consumed fewer than two cups (about 500 milliliters) per day. However, more recent research contradicts those findings. A U.S. study that followed adults over the age of 25 for an average of 11.4 years compared two groups: those

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