Studies on Water Drinking

The daily drinking of three liters of water with meals, for a period of five days, by a man twenty-two years of age who was in a condition of nitrogen equilibrium through the ingestion of a uniform diet, was productive of the following findings : 1. An increase in body weight, aggregating two pounds in five days. 2. An increased excretion of urinary nitrogen, the excess nitrogen being mainly in the form of urea, ammonia, and creatine. 3. A decreased excretion of creatinine and the coincident appearance of creatine in the urine. The decreased creatinine output is believed to indicate that the copious water drinking has stimulated protein catabolism. The appearance of creatine is considered evidence that the water has caused a partial muscular disintegration resulting in the release of creatine, but not profound enough to yield the total nitrogen content of the muscle. The output of creatine is, therefore, out of all proportion to the increase in the excretion of total nitrogen. 4. An increased output of ammonia which is interpreted as indicating an increased output of gastric juice. 5. A decreased excretion of feces and of fecal nitrogen, the decrease in the excretion of fecal nitrogen being of sufficient magnitude to secure a lowered excretion of both the bacterial and the non-bacterial nitrogen. 6. A decrease in the quantity of bacteria excreted daily. 7. An increase in the percentage of total nitrogen appearing as bacterial nitrogen. 8. A lower creatinine coefficient. 9. A more economical utilization of the protein constituents of the diet. 10. The general conclusion to be reached as the result of this experiment is to the effect that the drinking of a large amount of water with meals was attended by many desirable and by no undesirable features.