Dr. Julian Whitaker's HEALTH& HEALING Newsletter, Aug. 2000
"Health& Healing subscriber Bob Butts of Moosic PA is a man with a mission: to let the world know about a remarkable therapy for our most common health problems. Over the past six years he has spent $300,000 of his own money on 12,000 radio, TV and newspaper spots to get the word out. Bob's cure-all is not drug or high medical device. It is water."
"I can relate to Bob's excitement about Dr. Batmanghelidj's theories. In medical school, I had been taught that water was essentially an inert substance - necessary, of course, but primarily as a carrier for the far more important things that are dissolved in tit. But think about it: water makes up 70 percent of our magnificently engineered bodies, and while we can survive for months without food, we can last only days without water. So when I encountered the hypothesis that water - or a deficiency of it - may be a factor in disease, I thought the doctor might be onto something.
Patients Improved Simply by Drinking Water
I decided to test Dr. Batmanghelidj's theory at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, initiating a standard recommendation to all our patients to drink a minimum of eight and preferably 10-12 glasses of water everyday. I also wrote about it in Health & Healing for the first time in 1994. Although I am not convinced as Bob Butts is that water is a cure-all, I have witnessed remarkable recoveries in scores of patients and subscribers.
A Subscriber from Canada reported that a year of seasonal migraines (occurring primarily during the summer when he was more likely to be dehydrated) disappeared after he upped his water intake.
After only four days of drinking eight glasses of water, eight-year-old Jeremy's asthma cleared up to the extent that he was able to discontinue all his medications. Within one month his lung capacity increased from 60 percent of normal to 120 percent.
Arthritis, ulcers, edema, even blood pressure - I've seen them all improve with water.
No Miracle, Just Common Sense,
Dr. Batmanghelidj May Have the Last Laugh
At first glance, these may seem to be miracle cures. But an understanding of mechanisms of these disease easily explains the "water cure." Adequate hydration ensures normal blood flow, relieving migraines, and keeps at bay the triggers, such as histamine that prompt an asthma attack.
Improvement in the aches and pains of arthritis also make sense, given that 85 percent of cartilage and virtually all of the synovial fluid lubricating the joints are water. Drinking water also restores the protective mucous membranes of the GI tract, soothing ulcers and other stomach problems. Furthermore, water is nature's best diuretic - nothing makes you loss excess fluid like drinking a lot of water.
Research Is Catching Up
Dr. Batmanghelidj's theory may sound simplistic to some. However, over the past couple of years a number of scientists have been seriously evaluating the merits of water. And as it turns out, Dr. Batmanghelidj may have the last laugh. Here are a few of the recent highlights:
Cancer. A 1999 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the association between risk of bladder cancer and fluid intake in almost 48,000 men over ten years. The men who drank the most had lower risk of developing cancer.
Asthma. Frank J. Cerny, Ph.D., and colleagues from University of Buffalo, presenting at the June 2000 American College of Sports Medicine meeting, reported that exercise-induced asthma (which is very common in asthmatics) is caused by water loss from the airway - and can be prevented by pre-exercise hydration.
Heart Disease & Stroke. A study of 34,000 Seventh Day Adventists revealed that individual who drank a minimum of five glasses of water a day had half the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who drank only two glasses daily. The research reported that adequate hydration decreased the viscosity, or stickiness, of the blood and improved blood flow.
Kidney Stones. Gary C. Curhan, M.D., of Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston, has found that 8 to 10 glasses of fluid a day decreased the likelihood of developing kidney stone. Water dilutes the urine, minimizing the risk of the formation of crystals that cause kidney stones.
Constipation. An Italian study found that in patients eating a high-fiber diet (25 grams per day) as the therapy for constipation, increasing fluid intake to 1.5 to 2 liters per day (6-8cups) significantly improved the condition, compared to fiber alone.
Health& Healing, Aug. 2000
