The benefits of drinking plenty of water are endless. Now preventing certain kinds of cancer can be added to the list. So by simply drinking your recommended intake of water a day, you are not only remaining hydrated but helping protect your body from two of the biggest killing cancers.
Cancer of the large bowel
Water has a major role in digestion; its cancer preventing role here is by diluting toxic compounds in the bowel and speeding up the passage of stools to shorten contact of carcinogens with the bowel lining.
Three studies in which the effect of water was considered, found that people who maintained good levels of hydration had reduced risk of large bowel cancer compared with people whose intake was low.
Breast cancer
It is thought that remaining hydrated may help in the prevention of breast cancer. Though evidence is based on a small pilot study, it is suggested that the cells need to be hydrated to function properly. When cells are dehydrated, their internal functions become impaired which included being less able to remove harmful substances which may cause cancer.
Drinking our recommended intake of water keeps our cells hydrated and therefore best set up for fighting harmful cancer causing substances.
More details on this article can be found on the Water UK website.
Hydration = Healthy Ageing
Most of us will be aware of the fact that water is vital to maintaining good health, however, it is often overlooked as an essential nutrient. Few of us would pay as much attention to gaining our daily dose of water as to making sure we get our recommended intake of Vitamin C for example, but research shows that by drinking less than we should we are hindering our bodies' ability to age in a happy and healthy way.
There is currently no agreed recommended daily water intake for adults, however, a conservative estimate for adults is 2.5 litres a day. Unfortunately, many older people do not drink adequate amounts of water; a recent survey in UK care homes found that their residents drank on average 2-4 glasses a day, less than half the suggested 2.5 litres.
Older people often have diminished appetites and may miss out on water intake through their food, in addition, thirst has been shown to be impaired in older people, in particular those who have had a stroke or who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
So, what is the point of all this research? Well it shows us that we are missing out on the many benefits drinking lots of water has as we grow older, some of which are listed below: