EU Ban's bottled water from claiming it prevents dehydration

[Tellos Athenaios]

So there's no difference in terms of becoming dehydrated if I drink half a liter of water before going for a long run or if I don't drink that water?

No. After that long run you will be dehydrated, too. Two and a half glass of water isn't going to prevent you from feeling thirsty after that long run. Now you could say: just drink much more water. But again, no you won't make a difference if you do it that way except that now your bladder will end up uncomfortably full.

It would have made a difference if you frequently drunk small amounts of water while running, you see, because then your body would not suddenly have to deal with the drop in salt levels that necessitate dumping water in the bladder.

But that is, unfortunately, at odds with “regular intake will reduce the risk...” If you didn't do that run, but took a walk instead you would've needed far less water. And if you did nothing, you might get by without consuming any during that time.

Instead of trying to invoke intuition as if that somehow makes it right, could you tell me where my view is wrong of the human body as absorbing only as much water until it doesn't want any more and dumping any more as waste?

[Crazed Rabbit]

No. After that long run you will be dehydrated, too. Two and a half glass of water isn't going to prevent you from feeling thirsty after that long run. Now you could say: just drink much more water. But again, no you won't make a difference if you do it that way except that now your bladder will end up uncomfortably full.

And would I be just as dehydrated as if I didn't drink any water before that run? Of course not.

You seem to view the human body as a system that immediately discards all extra water, as though water enters the mouth and goes straight to the bladder without traveling through the GI tract. If I drink water then go running, I'll start sweating as water is going through my GI tract, where it can be absorbed.

It would have made a difference if you frequently drunk small amounts of water while running, you see, because then your body would not suddenly have to deal with the drop in salt levels that necessitate dumping water in the bladder.

But that is, unfortunately, at odds with “regular intake will reduce the risk...” If you didn't do that run, but took a walk instead you would've needed far less water. And if you did nothing, you might get by without consuming any during that time.

It's not at odds at all. You seem to view the phrase "reduce the risk" as "be perfect for every situation to avoid dehydration with no extra water waste". If a person went for a walk instead of a run, and therefore needed less water, that does nothing to disqualify the statement that "regular intake will reduce the risk". Risk is probability.

CR