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Indian Water Therapy is an ancient practice which involves drinking 1-1.5 litres of water every day as soon as you wake up, then not eating anything until 40 minutes has passed, at which point you can carry on your day as normal.

There is an amazing list of ailments which can supposedly be cured.

How does pure water act? Consuming ordinary drinking water by the right method purifies human body. It renders the colon more effective by forming new fresh blood, known in medical terms as Haematopaises. That the mucousal folds of the colon and intestines are activated by this method, is an undisputed fact, just as the theory that new fresh blood is produced by the mucousal fold. If the colon is cleaned then the nutrients of the food taken several times a day will be absorbed and by the action of the mucousal folds they are turned into fresh blood. The blood is all important in curing ailments and restoring health, and for this water should be consumed in a regular pattern

Other sites make similar claims.

I wonder, is there any proof that such a practice can actually improve your health more than if you just drank the same amount of water spread out across the day?

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    Claiming "new""fresh" blood made in the colon = Fail. I dispute this "undisputed fact".
    – Monkey Tuesday
    Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 17:53
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    @Monkey Given that the blood is mostly water, I'm not sure that you should dispute it. Dehydration is one of the causes of hypovolemia.
    – ChrisW
    Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 11:55
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    @ChrisW: What does the water content of blood have to do with disputing that "new/fresh" blood is made in the colon? Are you suggesting that "new water" combined with old blood cells = new blood? I don't see "the colon" in this list; thus, I concur with Monkey.
    – Hendy
    Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 15:47
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    Simply, new blood cells are NOT made in the colon.
    – Monkey Tuesday
    Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 20:05
  • possible duplicate of Are there any benefits to drinking 1.5 liters of water first thing in the morning (water therapy)?
    – Gamma Function
    Commented Jul 10, 2013 at 9:14

2 Answers 2

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Dr Stanley Liew Choon Fong, Specialist in Endocrinology, Raffles Hospital claimed, in response to a question about water therapy:

There is no scientific evidence that “water therapy” has any specific benefits to people with hypertension or diabetes. In fact, healthy diet, regular exercise and keeping body weight in the healthy range are the best lifestyle modifications for people with hypertension and diabetes.

Consuming 1.5 litre of water in one go can even be harmful as this is almost approaching the limit which can result in water intoxication. Also, drinking an excessive amount of fluid is not advisable for those with weak heart, which can be present in people with hypertension and diabetes. If in doubt, they should consult their doctors.

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    In fairness, he doesn't cite anything to back his claim...
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 11:48
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    So, you use as your cite some other random person who himself as no cites? :P
    – Russell Steen
    Commented Sep 9, 2011 at 20:21
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    @Russell, yes. It is far from ideal. In my defence, (a) his point is that there is NO scientific evidence to cite. This is difficult to prove; all you can do is point to someone who has made a concerted effort to look and come up empty-handed. Hey wait, that's exactly what I did! (b) I openly pointed out that I had done so, so you could judge its merits for yourself.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Commented Sep 10, 2011 at 0:45
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From the site you mention:

By research and experience, the following diseases are observed to be cured with this therapy within the indicated days as below

  • Constipation: 1 day
  • Acidity: 2 days -Diabetes: 7 days
  • BP & Hypertension: 4 weeks
  • Cancer: 4 weeks

I'm always suspicious of any treatment that claims to 'cure' cancer.

How does pure water act? Consuming ordinary drinking water by the right method purifies human body. It renders the colon more effective by forming new fresh blood, known in medical terms as Haematopaises. That the mucousal folds of the colon and intestines are activated by this method, is an undisputed fact, just as the theory that new fresh blood is produced by the mucousal fold.

An undisputed fact? Blood is formed in the medulla of the bone (someone more familiar with English might check the right word), not in the colon or intestines (unless in severe circumstances). A good explanation is given here: http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/rattler/46/haemopoiesis.htm and also wikipedia gives the same interpretation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haematopoiesis

I believe it is not necessary to try to find other arguments why this therapy should work/should not work. In that case, we could as well try to do the same for the 51272 therapies generated on this website:

http://www.denayer.com/inspiratie/index_en.html

This experiment was started from the observation that alternative therapies are typicall using vague, almost absurd description. You will find that an alternative therapy often

  • refers to the age of the therapy (older = better)
  • refers to far away/mysterious countries (oriental is preffered)
  • has a very broad reach (it is useful for everything)
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  • Do you mean bone marrow? Please add a reference to support that blood isn't formed in the intestines. (Also, the second part is effectively arguing that the burden of proof is on the claimant. That is an excellent rule in general, which Skeptics.SE subverts by allowing people to question claims that they have heard from sources that may not carry this burden. We are voluntarily taking on more burden we should.)
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Commented Sep 9, 2011 at 1:33

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