We all know that drinking water is good for us. If you are feeling tired, have some water. Have a dry skin? Have some water. Have a dry throat? Have some water. It is almost like water is the fix to all our issues. May be it is, but not always. So, are we sometimes drinking more water than necessary? What happens then?

Many say that there is an 8x8 rule one must follow when it comes to drinking water.

What is the 8x8 drinking water rule?

Many believe that in the 8x8 rule, eight 240ml glasses of water per day adds up to almost 2 liters. However, it is not in the guidelines in both the UK and the EU health advisory. None of them recommends this specific amount.

So, where did it origin from?

The origins of this rule seem to come from misinterpreted advice given decades ago. In 1945, a US advisory board suggested adults should consume one milliliter of fluid per calorie of food, totaling about two liters for women and 2.5 liters for men. Importantly, this included all drinks and even water-rich foods like fruits and vegetables.

A later book in 1974 recommended six to eight glasses of water daily but also noted that coffee, tea, and even beer could count towards hydration. Yet, the idea of drinking two liters of plain water daily took hold and has persisted ever since.

How Much Water Do We Really Need?

As per experts, drinking 8 glasses of water a day may be unnecessary and the research estimates that the actual requirement is around 1.5 to 1.8 liters per day. This not only includes water, but all kinds of fluids from all sources that we may consume in a day.

Also, studies show that instead of following a rigid routine, what is best is to focus on factors like temperature, physical activity and health conditions for your water intake. Those in hot and humid climate, high altitudes or pregnant or breastfeeding, and athletes may require more water. Whereas those in cooler areas, with a more sedentary lifestyle won't. However, for the average person, thirst is a more reliable guide than any fixed rule.

ALSO READ: What Happens When You Drink Too Much Water?

Science of Hydration and Dangers Of Over hydration:

Water is necessary to transport nutrients, control temperature, and keep organs functioning. We lose water through sweat, urine, and respiration, so staying hydrated is critical. However, dehydration develops only when the body loses 1-2% of its total water content.

A widespread myth is that feeling thirsty indicates that you are already severely dehydrated. Experts argue that thirst is an excellent evolutionary mechanism that ensures us drink when we need to. The body also produces hormones that aid in water conservation when necessary.

Drinking More Water Than Needed:

While drinking too much water is generally harmless, it can cause hyponatremia, a condition in which salt levels in the blood become dangerously low. This can result in brain enlargement, disorientation, convulsions, and, in extreme cases, death.

There have been reports of athletes overhydrating during endurance races, resulting in significant difficulties. Experts caution that simply following hydration myths might be dangerous, stating that thirst remains the greatest signal of when to drink.

The latest Lancet Study warns that India is experiencing a rapid and worrying rise in the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). The UPF includes food like instant noodles, packaged snacks, ready-to-eat meals, sugary beverages, mass-produced breads, processed meats, and other industrially formulated products.

The paper was authored by 43 global experts who noted that traditional Indian meals are increasingly being replaced by convenient but nutritionally poor foods, which are not contributing to a rise in chronic diseases.

The Series calls for “immediate and decisive public health action”, stressing that individual willpower alone cannot fix dietary patterns. Instead, the availability, affordability, marketing, and widespread promotion of UPFs must be addressed at the policy level.

The Rate Of UPFs Growth In India

The shift has been dramatic. The retail sales of UPFs in India jumped from ₹7,996 crore in 2006 to ₹3.3 lakh crore in 2019. In other words, the initial value for the same products in 2006 was less than $ 0.9 Billion and by 2019, it reached the value of $ 38 Billion, leading to a forty-fold rise, or an increase around 4000%. This reflects a massive surge of how deeply these products have entered the Indian household.

During the same period, obesity rates among both men and women have doubled. Today, nearly one in four Indians is obese, one in ten has diabetes, and one in three has abdominal obesity. Childhood obesity has also risen, increasing from 2.1% to 3.4% between 2016 and 2019–21. The authors warn that this pattern mirrors global trends where UPF consumption is strongly linked to weight gain and metabolic disorders.

According to the papers, the UPF industry is a central driver of this shift. Because UPFs are more profitable than minimally processed foods, corporations invest heavily in their production, distribution, and marketing. This profit-focused model encourages continuous expansion, making these foods widely accessible and aggressively promoted.

Read: After Lancet Links Ultra-Processed Foods to Organ Damage, New Study Ties Them to Bowel Polyps in Women Under 50

why Is This Happening In India?

The Lancet Series highlighted that the major concerns are due to corporate influence and gap in India's food regulation. The marketing network of corporate influence often delay or weaken public health policies.

They uses strategies like direct lobbying and political pressure, involvement in the government committees, litigation to block regulations, funding research that creates doubt or shifts the blames and influence public opinion through advertising and public relation campaigns.

“UPFs are advertised addictions. A ban on their advertising and sponsorship is needed,” said Prof. Srinath Reddy, Chancellor of PHFI University of Public Health Sciences to The Tribune.

What Are The Health Impacts?

The authors emphasize that the harm caused by UPFs extends far beyond poor nutrition. Industrial processes, such as chemical modification, extrusion, and the addition of synthetic ingredients, can alter food structure in ways that negatively affect metabolism, immunity, and long-term health.

Regular consumption of UPFs has been linked to higher risks of obesity, Type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and premature death. “These foods contribute to diminished immunity, aggravated inflammation, and a rise in life-threatening chronic diseases,” Dr. Reddy said.

Health and Me previously reported on the latest Lancet Study, which is world's largest review, as per the Lancet that links consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) with harm in every major organ system in the human body. A new study published in Jama Oncology by Andre T Chan, also cited on The Lancet Oncology now links the consumption of UPF with bowel polyps in women younger than 50 years. The study notes that these women are at a 45% increased risk of developing bowel polyps, which can further develop into colorectal cancer.

What Are Ultra Processed Foods?

UPFs are modern, highly engineered products that are made from cheap industrial ingredients like hydrogenated oils, protein isolates, and glucose or fructose syrups. They are also combined with cosmetic additives like dyes, artificial sweeteners, and emulsifiers. These foods are intentionally formulated to be hyper-palatable, and profitable. This is why UPFs are easily able to replace fresh or minimally processed food and traditionally home cooked meals around the world.

Also Read: China’s ‘Zombie Cell’ Pill Claims To Extend Human Life To 150—Could It Work?

What Did The Study Find?

The new findings come from the Nurses' Health Study II, which is a long-running US Cohort involving female registered nurses.

This analysis followed participants from 1991 to 2015, examining whether UPF consumption was linked to early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) precursors. Every four years, participants completed detailed food-frequency questionnaires, which researchers used to calculate UPF intake based on the Nova classification system, a widely used framework that categorizes foods by degree and purpose of processing.

According to the questionnaires, the biggest contributors to UPF intake were ultra-processed breads and breakfast items (23%), sauces and condiments (22%), and sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages (20%).

Researchers assessed two types of EOCRC precursors: conventional adenomas (polyps) and serrated lesions, both of which were verified through medical and pathology records.

Over 24 years, among 29,105 women with an average age of 45, the study recorded 1,189 adenomas and 1,598 serrated lesions. The data revealed that women in the highest UPF consumption group, where UPFs made up 42% of daily calories, had a 45% higher risk of developing conventional adenomas compared to those in the lowest intake group (23% of daily calories). The median UPF intake across the cohort was 35% of total calories.

How Can UPFs Increase Polyp Risk?

Chan, speaking to The Lancet Oncology explained that UPFs may impair the gut’s protective barrier or disrupt the intestinal lining, triggering inflammation and reducing the gut’s ability to repair itself, conditions that may encourage tumor development.

The authors offer a possible explanation for why only adenomas, not serrated lesions, were associated with UPFs. They suggest that mechanisms linked to UPFs, such as microbiome disruption, inflammatory signalling, and diet-related genotoxins, may accelerate polyp formation, especially in younger individuals.

What makes these study even more relevant is that the study arrives after The Lancet has released a major three-paper series on UPFs and health, with many calling the need for action to be similar to the historic action against the tobacco industry.

The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in daily diets is harming public health and driving chronic illnesses that range from obesity and diabetes to cancer across the world. It is also widening health gaps, according to a new Lancet series published on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.

The study by Lancet noted that the problem demands a coordinated global effort that challenges corporate influence and reshapes food systems so that people can access healthier and more sustainable meals.

Dr Arun Gupta, a pediatrician and one of the contributors to the three-part Lancet Series, said that India is experiencing the same pattern highlighted in the report. He explained that familiar home cooked plates are steadily being replaced by intensely appealing industrial UPF products, pushed through heavy marketing and constant advertising, as per The Independent.

With this new research drawing significant interest, here is a look at the ultra processed foods that should be kept off your plate.

What Are Ultra Processed Food (UPF)?

UPFs are items that have undergone multiple industrial steps and include artificial additives, salt and sugar. Common examples are breakfast cereals, ready meals, fizzy drinks and packaged snacks like crisps or sweets.

Steve Bennett, a qualified health coach who has advised the House of Lords’ committee on food, diet and obesity, told The Independent that UPFs are factory-produced products filled with additives that no one would normally use at home. These include emulsifiers, stabilisers and artificial flavours. He said the priority behind them is long shelf life and profit rather than nourishment.

Ultra-Processed Food You Should Avoid

As the new study by Lancet outlines the connection between ultra-processed food, organ damage and chronic disease, these are the items to watch out for.

Breakfast Cereals

Many breakfast cereals contain two to four teaspoons of sugar in a standard 40 g serving, with some of the least healthy versions reaching nearly four teaspoons even before milk or fruit are added. Yet Bennett said the bigger concern lies with cereals marketed as healthy, where much of the fibre is removed. He explained that even wholegrain varieties can turn into concentrated sugar because processing strips away protective fibre.

Ready To Eat Meals

Ready to eat meals, often sold frozen or chilled, are partly or fully cooked and only need reheating before serving. Bennett described these meals as chemical mixtures and advised shoppers to look for hidden sugars among the first few ingredients, especially anything ending in ose such as glucose or fructose or any form of syrup. He also pointed to emulsifiers like polysorbates and any ingredient that begins with E followed by numbers as signs to be cautious.

Low Fat Products

Bennett said people should be alert to misleading terms on packaging, including natural, low fat or 'source of fibre', and stay away from products with very long ingredient lists. Many UPFs are sold as healthy choices, which adds to the confusion.

One in twenty Britons even believe fresh fruits and vegetables qualify as UPFs, showing how unclear the category has become. He added that protein bars are often sweets with protein powder mixed in and low fat yoghurts usually contain a high amount of sugar after the fat is removed.

While most people recognise ready meals as ultra processed, fewer understand that low fat yoghurts fall into the same group. Less than half know that protein bars or supermarket salads can also be classified as UPFs, though nutritionists include them.

Supermarket Bread

Modern packaged bread is heavily processed and often stripped of the fibre that once made it nourishing. One of the main problems is the consistent removal of fibre during manufacturing. He said fibre works like a natural brake, slowing the body’s sugar absorption and protecting the gut. Without it, sugar enters the bloodstream very quickly.

Energy Drinks

These legal stimulants mix sugars such as glucose and sucrose with caffeine and other ingredients to raise alertness. Although energy drinks are promoted as a way to sharpen focus, frequent use can make the heart work harder and may lead to health problems, especially among children and teenagers.

To steer clear of the UPF trap, try preparing more homemade meals and read labels with care. If you notice an ingredient that does not sound familiar, try reducing your reliance on that product. When you do choose UPFs, pick those that still offer some nutritional value, such as wholegrain bread or baked beans. By cutting down the number of UPFs in your routine, even by replacing one or two of your usual items like bread or cereal, you may lower the health risks linked to them.