310774 Thu Jul 20 05:10:38 -0700 2006 7 33 Food Media and News 0 1755720 I was watching Good Eats this evening, the episode titled Water Works II" and the little factoid blurb before a commercial break read as follows: Every 24 hours the body recycles the equivalent of 40,000 glasses of water. Is this a mistake? If it's correct, what did I miss? Thu Jul 20 05:10:38 -0700 2006 16301 Non Cognomina 1 1756025 Your body mass is about 70% water. Essentially every bodily function involves water. I don't know where the figure of 40,000 glasses comes from, but the line itself perhaps comes from this book: http://www.grandtimes.com/Water_Cure.html Thu Jul 20 14:05:20 -0700 2006 1755720 11296 Darren72 2 1757909 Wikipedia entry on Dr. Batmanghelidj http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Body%27s_Many_Cries_for_Water Unless someone finds another source, I'll regard the 40,000 glasses as this doctor's ideosyncratic estimate. paulj Fri Jul 21 01:56:52 -0700 2006 1756025 12139 paulj 1 1756993 After watching the homebrew show AB did, I wonder what other bad "facts" and bad procedures he BS's his way through that I just don't know any better. Still think he is entertaining and pretty knowledgeable, but now I view his advice and scienitic facts with bit more skepticism. Thu Jul 20 19:36:16 -0700 2006 1755720 12014 LStaff 2 1757040 What makes you think the water fact is wrong? I just provided a link to a book that makes the same claim. Thu Jul 20 19:49:25 -0700 2006 1756993 11296 Darren72 2 1757064 At what rate does blood flow through the kidneys? 40,000 cups per day translates to about 1/2 cup per second, or 1/4c per kidney. Is that unrealistic? paulj Thu Jul 20 19:57:05 -0700 2006 1756993 12139 paulj 3 1757095 I'm not going to pretend to have a medical degree. I do know that most of the water in your body is *not* contained in the blood. Thus, blood flowing through the kidney is not where most of the action is. Rather than AB being wrong, I submit that he wasn't clear and, therefore, it is very difficult to understand what he is referring to. Thu Jul 20 20:08:20 -0700 2006 1757064 11296 Darren72 1 1757889 I'm just trying to translate that meaningless 40,000 number into something I can at least picture, or even look up in other sources. Anyways, my wife just checked one of her nursing books. The blood flow through the kidneys is about 1200 ml/min, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is around 130 ml/min. So the rate of production of the glomerular filtrate is on the order of 187,000 ml/day, 187 l/day, roughly 750 'glasses'. The kidney blood flow is about 7000 'glasses'. I accept that other body processes could be included in some sort of definition of 'recycle'. But if those processes are not specified, the 40,000 number isn't particularly meaningful. The glomerular filtration rate, at least, has its own wikipedia entry - and may be recorded in your lab results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glomerular_filtration_rate paulj Fri Jul 21 01:38:30 -0700 2006 1755720 12139 paulj