It is a widely held belief that a person must drink at least eight glasses of water in a day, however, a new study has contradicted this view which says that it might be “too much”.

A recent study, published in Sciencefound that the recommended eight glasses of water were more than the required amount, BBC reported.

As per the estimates, people only need about 1.5 to 1.8 liters of water as they also intake water from food.

“The original estimate of two liters a day comes from a slight miscalculation,” Professor John Speakman from the University of Aberdeen told BBC.

“The water that we need to drink is the difference between the total water that we need to ingest and the amount that we get from our food.

“The way they estimated the amount of food was by asking people how much they eat.”

The scientist said that asking people how much they eat is a common practice to estimate the amount of water intake that comes from food. He, however, said that following this method could result in misestimation as people “under-report” the amount of their food intake.

The study

There have been countless studies to find the correct answer to the question but the surveys are applied to small samples of people. However, this new study was conducted through collaboration across the globe, in which scientists used a stable isotope