In a ruling last week, European Union (EU) officials announced that there is no proof that water prevents dehydration.
The ruling means that manufacturers who sell bottled water in the EU are not allowed to make the claim that their product helps to prevent dehydration.
The whole thing started when two German professors wanted to test new regulations on health claims. The professors advise food advertisers and submitted the seemingly obvious statement to the EU.
Three years later, after proper consideration, the conclusion was reached that “reduced water content in the body is a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.”
The dictionary defines dehydration as “an abnormal depletion of body fluids”. I suppose the argument the officials are making is that there are other contributing factors to dehydration.
Body fluids could be depleted as a result of running a marathon through Death Valley in the summer. However, that wouldn’t negate the benefit of drinking water – which would seem to be all the label was trying to claim.
Of course, the EU isn’t the only governing body with odd ideas about ordinary every day items. The U.S. Congress recently declared pizza a vegetable.
Image by dotjay, used with Creative Commons license.
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