EU Bans Claim that Water Can Prevent Dehydration! Wait...What?

Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
~Edgar Allan Poe

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration!
Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration!

Great headline! Further research reveals: In 2008, German scientists Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer submitted an application to the European Food Safety Authority  (EFSA) requesting the right to make the claim ”regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration and of concomitant decrease of performance” on labels of bottled water.

 I don't think that is exactly the same thing. I understand that decreased performance would be concomitant with dehydration, but drinking water prevents dehydration specifically, and dehydration is the cause of decreased performance. So, despite the fact that yes, it is silly to ban claims that water prevents dehydration, that does not give sellers of bottle water to make carte blanche statements about how well you will perform if you drink water.

Double learned today: Context matters, and don't take all things at face value just because you read a news headline. How does the song go? "People say believe half of what you see, some or none of what you hear."

Something else I learned: In pure scientific terms there is a significant distinction between dehydration and being in a state of dehydration.

Why Does Skin Wrinkle When It Gets Wet?

All we need is a meteorologist who has once been soaked to the skin without ill effect. No one can write knowingly of the weather who walks bent over on wet days.
~E. B. White

Hands and feet, when left in water over a period of time, gets prunish. Why?

Skin has two layers, epidermis (the outer layer) and dermis (the inner layer) Epidermis produces, sebum (an oily substance intended to keep water out of your skin). Extended time spent soaking in water causes sebum to rinse off. As the sebum decreases the epidermis begins to absorb water. This causes the surface area of the skin to swell. The Epidermis is tightly attached to the dermis so the epidermis compensates for the added area caused by the absorbed water by wrinkling.

OR~

There are 4 layers of epidermis -the outermost layer of which is the stratum corneum - the layer we see and feel. The stratum layer contains dead keratin cells. Extended time spent soaking in water causes the dead keratin cells to absorb water. This causes the surface area of the skin to swell. Because the epidermis is tightly attached to the dermis, the epidermis compensates for the added area caused by the absorbed water by wrinkling.


But... why is it only hands and feet that wrinkle?

Either because hands and feet have the lowest amount of sebum, or because hands and feet have the most dead keratin cells.

About skin. 

New research suggests that narrowing of blood vessels in water may contribute to "after the bath prune skin."

Learned: No definitive answer to the prune skin question.

Note: I can't stand it when I am wearing enclosed shoes with socks that get wet. That is a guaranteed wrinkly skin scenario, and feels totally icky!

Something else I learned: There are 20 calories in a dried prune