The Water Reminderer

This “smart” water pitcher reminds you to drink water eight times a day. An entire micro-industry has been built around the spurious idea that you need to consume eight glasses of water a day. No one knows for sure where this myth started, but it spread via Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram until everyone in the world shared and re-shared the need to drink 80 ounces of water per day.

The best I can tell, this came from a 1945 article in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition Reviews, which I’ve excerpted below:

Of course, it’s less Pinteresting to say that the recommended daily allowance of water includes water contained in coffee, tea, soft drinks, and the food you eat. It doesn’t fit into the neatly-regimented food-nutty rules of people telling each other to “Eat Clean,” either. And it kills the idea of charging people to use an app, a smart bottle, or a smart cup to remind them to drink water. But capitalism doesn’t thrive on healthy, sane people making rational decisions and living their lives without fear. You can’t sell health and happiness. You can tell people they’re not healthy and sell them the cure, though. Drink your water.