T/F: "I Only Drink Room Temperature Water So My Organs Won't Shut Down!"

[Zeke1955]

Catchy title to the thread... I suppose this is the most appropriate area of the pharmacy forums for this.

My girlfriend is a store manager of a Subway. As is the common practice amongst companies with high employee turnover rates, Subway is no exception to hiring some particularly not-so-scholarly individuals. However, the quote in the title of this thread came from a gentleman about to graduate with a BA in a non-science concentration from my university. When questioned further by my girlfriend, he replied that "(he) read it in an article about drinking cold water and how it shuts your organs down," and that "duh, it just makes sense dude."

I received a phone call immediately about it and I thought for several minutes of any possible way for this to relate to my knowledge on human anatomy. Instantly I thought he must be confusing this with swimming in ice-cold water causing hypothermia, however he was apparently very adamant about about the wording of the article he read. So, the best I came up with is that ingesting 40F water on an extraordinarily hot day does cramp your stomach and is certainly unpleasant. As best I know, cold water is not absorbed by your body very well either and I know I do not enjoy drinking 40F fluids myself. But organ failure under normal physiological conditions?

That being said, I imagine that the average person's body would have to be in a very stressed state beforehand in order to suffer any serious chronic or short-term health issues (like organ failure) from drinking cold water alone.

Anyone else know for sure? Maybe read this article?

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[RyanRyan]

I remember reading somewhere that cold water is more hydrating.. I forgot the reason though..

Hmm I'm pretty sure you can't die from drinking cold water.. it reminds me of those questions "Can I get pregnant from _________"

edit: found an article online..

"I've noticed recommendations for cold water a couple of times recently. Is there a difference between room temperature and cold water as far as how the body uses it?

Cold (40 - 50 degrees F) water is absorbed more quickly from the stomach. Also, if cold water is drank during physical exercise has the dual effect of also cooling the internal body temperature along with sweat produced by exercise. Since sweat is your body’s way of cooling itself, leave sweat on your skin and you should feel cooler."

http://www.dietitian.com/fluids.html

 

[longstech]

Catchy title to the thread... I suppose this is the most appropriate area of the pharmacy forums for this.

My girlfriend is a store manager of a Subway. As is the common practice amongst companies with high employee turnover rates, Subway is no exception to hiring some particularly not-so-scholarly individuals. A gentleman about to graduate with a BA in a non-science concentration that works there said that exact phrase in the title of this thread. When questioned further by my girlfriend, he replied that "(he) read it in an article about drinking cold water and how it shuts your organs down," and that "duh, it just makes sense dude."

I received a phone call immediately about it and I thought for several minutes of any possible way for this to relate to my knowledge on human anatomy. Instantly I thought he must be confusing this with swimming in ice-cold water causing hypothermia, however he was apparently very adamant about about the wording of the article he read. So, the best I came up with is that ingesting 40F water on an extraordinarily hot day does cramp your stomach and is certainly unpleasant. As best I know, cold water is not absorbed by your body very well either and I know I do not enjoy drinking 40F fluids myself. But organ failure under normal physiological conditions?

That being said, I imagine that the average person's body would have to be in a very stressed state beforehand in order to suffer any serious chronic or short-term health issues (like organ failure) from drinking cold water alone.

Anyone else know for sure? Maybe read this article?

There was an e-mail about this going around, that if you drank cold liquids when you ate it would turn digested food to slugde, eventually cause cancer and therefore people should only drink liquids at room temp.

Here is a link that refutes it:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/coldwater.asp

 

[Pharm47]

oh please....let's think evolution here. caveman walks up to stream on cold day...the water isn't "room temperature." there are NO ROOMS! humans adapted to drinking water at whatever temperature it was served...by good old mother nature.

i don't know...maybe if you can trace your ancestry to the subtropics, your water "digestion enzymes" work optimally with warm water. but for me...my british isles heritage says 40 degree water is mighty fine.

 

[nightcrawleRx]

I’ve actually read that drinking cold water is better for you than room temperature because it takes a little more energy for your body to maintain its internal temperature after drinking the cold water…ultimately speeding up your metabolism.

 

[Farmercyst]

Exactly how long do you think it takes the body at 98-102F (37-39C) to get water from 40F to 75F (~6C to 25C). There maybe a period of like 30 seconds if you drank it straight without letting it sit in your mouth and chug it so it doesn't coat the esophagus on the way down, but please. It's like the girl who told me you could make everything your body needed when you drank lemonade with honey and breathed because the body only needs C, H, and O.

 

[nightcrawleRx]

Exactly how long do you think it takes the body at 98-102F (37-39C) to get water from 40F to 75F (~6C to 25C). There maybe a period of like 30 seconds if you drank it straight without letting it sit in your mouth and chug it so it doesn't coat the esophagus on the way down, but please. It's like the girl who told me you could make everything your body needed when you drank lemonade with honey and breathed because the body only needs C, H, and O.

Not much, hence why I said it takes the body a "little" more energy, but you know how health magazines are...they'll give you a variety of minuscule tips they think can help you. That being said I didn't say I completely agreed, although I'm fairly sure that the person writing for a popular men's fitness magazine has more credentials to say whether or not it is true than you or I.

Here ya go man: http://www.banderasnews.com/0511/hb-coldwater.htm
Haha, sorry about the boob in the picture, didn't see that at first, ah well.

 

[pharmdong]

I’ve actually read that drinking cold water is better for you than room temperature because it takes a little more energy for your body to maintain its internal temperature after drinking the cold water…ultimately speeding up your metabolism.

Yeah, i read that if you drink cold water then you burn more calories because your body must raise that water to body temperature.

 

[nightcrawleRx]

Yeah, i read that if you drink cold water then you burn more calories because your body must raise that water to body temperature.

Exactly, I wasn't just saying it for shats and gaggles but I mean if you're morbidly obese you probably need more than just drinking cold water.

 

[velvet75]

You know I just saw a show this past weekend on Discovery Health but I forgot the name of the show. Well, anyway this episode was about this older man who kept having seizures and no one knew why. So he goes to the ER and while he is there he has a cold glass of water. Well, within seconds he starts to have a seizure type of attack and he passes out. But then within minutes the man wakes up and returns to normal. The Dr starts think it may be the cold water. So he gets another glass of cold water and asks another Dr to join him while the man drinks the cold water. Well, sure enough the same thing happens but this time the man's heart stops! The first doctor freaks out and starts think "oh, no I've killed this guy!" But then the man wakes up and returns to normal. So what the 1st Dr do now? He gets another glass of cold water but then gathers a whole bunch of top doctors from the hospital so they can witness this event. So again the man drinks the cold water and the exact same thing happens. So what was causing this reaction? The doctors on the show said that the cold water was causing some nerve (I forgot which one) to respond as if the man had hypothermia and causing the seizure type reaction and stopping his heart. The doctors told him that the only way to avoid this reaction was to never drink cold water again. They, also, said that this condition is extremely rare! I just wish I could remember the name of the show! It was quite fascinating.

 

[Julianne]

shats and gaggles

Been a long time since I heard that

 

[Zeke1955]

You know I just saw a show this past weekend on Discovery Health but I forgot the name of the show. Well, anyway this episode was about this older man who kept having seizures and no one knew why. So he goes to the ER and while he is there he has a cold glass of water. Well, within seconds he starts to have a seizure type of attack and he passes out. But then within minutes the man wakes up and returns to normal. The Dr starts think it may be the cold water. So he gets another glass of cold water and asks another Dr to join him while the man drinks the cold water. Well, sure enough the same thing happens but this time the man's heart stops! The first doctor freaks out and starts think "oh, no I've killed this guy!" But then the man wakes up and returns to normal. So what the 1st Dr do now? He gets another glass of cold water but then gathers a whole bunch of top doctors from the hospital so they can witness this event. So again the man drinks the cold water and the exact same thing happens. So what was causing this reaction? The doctors on the show said that the cold water was causing some nerve (I forgot which one) to respond as if the man had hypothermia and causing the seizure type reaction and stopping his heart. The doctors told him that the only way to avoid this reaction was to never drink cold water again. They, also, said that this condition is extremely rare! I just wish I could remember the name of the show! It was quite fascinating.

Wow! Well... I suppose if you took that out of context and applied it to the global "everyone" group in earth's ecosystem, everyone could have this reaction . I think it's pretty clear with these responses that the guy was definitely mistaken in his interpretation.

 

[Pharm47]

You know I just saw a show this past weekend on Discovery Health but I forgot the name of the show. Well, anyway this episode was about this older man who kept having seizures and no one knew why. So he goes to the ER and while he is there he has a cold glass of water. Well, within seconds he starts to have a seizure type of attack and he passes out. But then within minutes the man wakes up and returns to normal. The Dr starts think it may be the cold water. So he gets another glass of cold water and asks another Dr to join him while the man drinks the cold water. Well, sure enough the same thing happens but this time the man's heart stops! The first doctor freaks out and starts think "oh, no I've killed this guy!" But then the man wakes up and returns to normal. So what the 1st Dr do now? He gets another glass of cold water but then gathers a whole bunch of top doctors from the hospital so they can witness this event. So again the man drinks the cold water and the exact same thing happens. So what was causing this reaction? The doctors on the show said that the cold water was causing some nerve (I forgot which one) to respond as if the man had hypothermia and causing the seizure type reaction and stopping his heart. The doctors told him that the only way to avoid this reaction was to never drink cold water again. They, also, said that this condition is extremely rare! I just wish I could remember the name of the show! It was quite fascinating.

Hmm...do you think the cause could be the presence of Doctors??

 

[velvet75]

You know I just saw a show this past weekend on Discovery Health but I forgot the name of the show. Well, anyway this episode was about this older man who kept having seizures and no one knew why. So he goes to the ER and while he is there he has a cold glass of water. Well, within seconds he starts to have a seizure type of attack and he passes out. But then within minutes the man wakes up and returns to normal. The Dr starts think it may be the cold water. So he gets another glass of cold water and asks another Dr to join him while the man drinks the cold water. Well, sure enough the same thing happens but this time the man's heart stops! The first doctor freaks out and starts think "oh, no I've killed this guy!" But then the man wakes up and returns to normal. So what the 1st Dr do now? He gets another glass of cold water but then gathers a whole bunch of top doctors from the hospital so they can witness this event. So again the man drinks the cold water and the exact same thing happens. So what was causing this reaction? The doctors on the show said that the cold water was causing some nerve (I forgot which one) to respond as if the man had hypothermia and causing the seizure type reaction and stopping his heart. The doctors told him that the only way to avoid this reaction was to never drink cold water again. They, also, said that this condition is extremely rare! I just wish I could remember the name of the show! It was quite fascinating.

Ok I remember the name of the show. It was called Untold Stories of the ER. And it was the man's vagus nerve that was sensitive to the cold water. And I forgot to mention that the doctors' put in a pacemaker in case it were to ever happen again.

 

[acetyl]

False.

I love cold water-drink it everyday.

 

[Pharm47]

^^Well then, since it's fine for acetyl....

??

 

[piyi]

I actually prefer water a just a little below room temp. What I like best is for a glass of previously cold water to have been sitting out for a little while until the temperature has mostly evened out.

 

[bsmspharmd]

Here ya go man: http://www.banderasnews.com/0511/hb-coldwater.htm
Haha, sorry about the boob in the picture, didn't see that at first, ah well.

best post ever.

thank you.

lol

 

[bsmspharmd]

Catchy title to the thread... I suppose this is the most appropriate area of the pharmacy forums for this.

My girlfriend is a store manager of a Subway. As is the common practice amongst companies with high employee turnover rates, Subway is no exception to hiring some particularly not-so-scholarly individuals. However, the quote in the title of this thread came from a gentleman about to graduate with a BA in a non-science concentration from my university. When questioned further by my girlfriend, he replied that "(he) read it in an article about drinking cold water and how it shuts your organs down," and that "duh, it just makes sense dude."

I received a phone call immediately about it and I thought for several minutes of any possible way for this to relate to my knowledge on human anatomy. Instantly I thought he must be confusing this with swimming in ice-cold water causing hypothermia, however he was apparently very adamant about about the wording of the article he read. So, the best I came up with is that ingesting 40F water on an extraordinarily hot day does cramp your stomach and is certainly unpleasant. As best I know, cold water is not absorbed by your body very well either and I know I do not enjoy drinking 40F fluids myself. But organ failure under normal physiological conditions?

That being said, I imagine that the average person's body would have to be in a very stressed state beforehand in order to suffer any serious chronic or short-term health issues (like organ failure) from drinking cold water alone.

Anyone else know for sure? Maybe read this article?

This is why BS's move on to become doctors, pharmacists, and scientists, and BA's become the managers of Subways. Although if this guy refuses to serve cold water to his customers on ethical grounds, he won't last very long.

 

[Farmercyst]

I’ve actually read that drinking cold water is better for you than room temperature because it takes a little more energy for your body to maintain its internal temperature after drinking the cold water…ultimately speeding up your metabolism.

Cold food has the same effect. It just cools things down that have to return to homeostasis. Upregulation of metabolism would be very temporary, only enough to bring temp back within normal range. That's why the article said only 70 calories/day if you drank your daily recommended amount of water. Since one pound is like 3500 calories it would take you almost 2 months to lose a pound that way.

Stimulation of the vagus nerve causes a steep decrease in blood pressure which can cause blackouts and in some cases death. My Pharmacology teacher said people have been known to stimulate the vagus nerve by doing things as simple as wiping after using the bathroom (vagus nerve ends near the rectum). Said he's seen a few knots on the forehead by people falling down after getting up from the toilet.

 

[pharmhopeful]

Here ya go man: http://www.banderasnews.com/0511/hb-coldwater.htm
Haha, sorry about the boob in the picture, didn't see that at first, ah well.

That is the most random and unnecessary partial nudity ever. hahahaha

But yeah, I'm a fan of ice water. RT water just isn't satisfying to me. Who knew there was so much controversy about it? lol

 

[nightcrawleRx]

Yeah it’s not necessarily a weight loss plan, but should you drink 8 glasses a day and maybe cut a few calories somewhere else it could definitely help you lose weight over a sustained amount of time. Losing weight slowly but surely is by far the best way and has shown to be the most proven way to keep it off. I personally just didn’t like you trying to attack my statement when you so obviously had no clue about the science behind it….


"There maybe a period of like 30 seconds if you drank it straight without letting it sit in your mouth and chug it so it doesn't coat the esophagus on the way down, but please."

You may be a very bright person but you act like a “know it all” in some posts and I find it funny how all of the sudden “food has the same effect” when before it was a joke to you. Anyway, it is what it is…pharmhopeful…I agree it is pointless nudity but I honestly didn’t notice it until I pasted the link, I’m always up for a good boob shot anyways, haha.

 

[pharmhopeful]

…pharmhopeful…I agree it is pointless nudity but I honestly didn’t notice it until I pasted the link, I’m always up for a good boob shot anyways, haha.

I know! I honestly don't think I would have noticed it unless you had made the comment about it right under the link. I'm not mad about it at all...just amused.

Oddly enough, several years ago in a magazine for women I read that a tip for losing weight is to drink cold diet soda instead of water, because the carbonation makes you feel full while water does not fill up your stomach with gas. This argument always seemed tragically flawed to me, but then again, I was maybe 12 years old and had nothing to back it up with. I imagine that effect would only be temporary and then you'd be hungry again. I just can't believe that a magazine (not like it was a health magazine or anything) would reccomend that you drink soda over drinking water when there's all that artificial sweetener and stuff in it. Has anybody else heard this? I'm sure they would recant this argument now with all that controversy about the sweeteners, etc.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

That is the dumbest thing I've read all year. Beat this man with a shoe at the next opportunity.

 

[Pharm47]

This is why BS's move on to become doctors, pharmacists, and scientists, and BA's become the managers of Subways. Although if this guy refuses to serve cold water to his customers on ethical grounds, he won't last very long.

I have my BA. Pretty sure your idea is crap.

 

[nightcrawleRx]

I know! I honestly don't think I would have noticed it unless you had made the comment about it right under the link. I'm not mad about it at all...just amused.

Oddly enough, several years ago in a magazine for women I read that a tip for losing weight is to drink cold diet soda instead of water, because the carbonation makes you feel full while water does not fill up your stomach with gas. This argument always seemed tragically flawed to me, but then again, I was maybe 12 years old and had nothing to back it up with. I imagine that effect would only be temporary and then you'd be hungry again. I just can't believe that a magazine (not like it was a health magazine or anything) would reccomend that you drink soda over drinking water when there's all that artificial sweetener and stuff in it. Has anybody else heard this? I'm sure they would recant this argument now with all that controversy about the sweeteners, etc.

There are so many little “tips” out there to help people lose weight. Obesity is such a major problem in this country but sadly enough many people want an easy way out, therefore you read things like that. I’ve been into weightlifting/fitness since freshman year in high school and I’m always reading health magazines on down time. I’ve read so many things that I don’t know what to believe anymore. When it comes to eating, I say everything in moderation and you’ll be fine. However, one thing I do really believe in is drinking a lot of water throughout everyday so I say stick with water over diet soda, without a doubt.

 

[Farmercyst]

You may be a very bright person but you act like a "know it all" in some posts and I find it funny how all of the sudden "food has the same effect" when before it was a joke to you. Anyway, it is what it is…pharmhopeful…I agree it is pointless nudity but I honestly didn't notice it until I pasted the link, I'm always up for a good boob shot anyways, haha.

I apologize for coming across a little high and mighty. I try to tone that down a bit. I actually edited that statement like 3 times before I posted. The joke to me was the organ failure, not that it actually would burn calories. I guess that didn't come across right. The fact that cold food/water burns calories was taught in my health/nutrition class. No problem with that concept at all, but as you said definitely not a weight loss plan.

 

[nightcrawleRx]

I apologize for coming across a little high and mighty. I try to tone that down a bit. I actually edited that statement like 3 times before I posted. The joke to me was the organ failure, not that it actually would burn calories. I guess that didn't come across right. The fact that cold food/water burns calories was taught in my health/nutrition class. No problem with that concept at all, but as you said definitely not a weight loss plan.

It's cool, just a misunderstanding...

 

[pharmhopeful]

There are so many little “tips” out there to help people lose weight. Obesity is such a major problem in this country but sadly enough many people want an easy way out, therefore you read things like that. I’ve been into weightlifting/fitness since freshman year in high school and I’m always reading health magazines on down time. I’ve read so many things that I don’t know what to believe anymore. When it comes to eating, I say everything in moderation and you’ll be fine. However, one thing I do really believe in is drinking a lot of water throughout everyday so I say stick with water over diet soda, without a doubt.

I'm totally with you on the water thing. It's amazing the products and hype that's out there for doing non-exercise type things to lose weight. I find that eat less, move more really works like a charm for me Everywhere I go now, I see ads on the sides of buses warning people about childhood obesity. It's really sad, but at least health care leaders are trying to get it out there that it's a major problem.

 

[blumatrix]

interesting thread..
but on a side note...

Yeah it's not necessarily a weight loss plan, but should you drink 8 glasses a day and maybe cut a few calories somewhere else it could definitely help you lose weight over a sustained amount of time. Losing weight slowly but surely is by far the best way and has shown to be the most proven way to keep it off. I personally just didn't like you trying to attack my statement when you so obviously had no clue about the science behind it….

...there's actually very little scientific evidence of the "8 glasses a day" or more commonly known as the "8 glasses of 8 ounces of water a day" as being beneficial to your health. i did a research piece on this a few summers ago and not only is this a myth, no one seems to know where it even originated from.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml

 

[nightcrawleRx]

interesting thread..
but on a side note...



...there's actually very little scientific evidence of the "8 glasses a day" or more commonly known as the "8 glasses of 8 ounces of water a day" as being beneficial to your health. i did a research piece on this a few summers ago and not only is this a myth, no one seems to know where it even originated from.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml

I said 8 glasses/day b/c that's what the article I pasted had said. However, you're right, I don't think everybody has the same requirements when it comes to water intake. At the same time you are much more likely to run into problems by drinking too little water as compared to too much. I drink way more than 8 glasses/day but I also workout a lot so I need to replenish my body. All I know is I feel better when I drink more water and it helps you eat a little less sometimes, at least for me (if you have a glass before a meal). I go by the pee-test, if it's bright-ass yellow, then I'm not drinking enough. Anyways, it's funny this should come up, it's the topic on Yahoo's home page...http://health.yahoo.com/topic/nutrition/other/article/mayoclinic/1488D60D-E694-4EE6-A0DFA79E4CEF5FD3