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NHS advice to drink eight glasses of water a day is “nonsense”, according to an article published in the British Medical Journal.

Dr Margaret McCartney, who is based in Glasgow, claims there is no reliable evidence to support the widespread belief that we should be drinking more water to promote good health.

Her comments are published today in response to the annual meeting of the Hydration for Health initiative, held in Evian, France, last week.

Hydration for Health was established by French food giant Danone, which produces Evian and Volvic bottled waters, and has a mission statement promising to establish healthy hydration as an integral part of public health nutritional guidelines and routine patient counselling so people can make informed choices.

In the article, Dr McCartney, a GP at the Fulton Street Medical Centre in Anniesland, states the evidence upon which the initiatives advice is based is lacking quality.

The NHS Choices website advises people to try to drink about six to eight glasses of water (or other fluids) a day to prevent dehydration.

However, Dr McCartney said: This is not only nonsense, but is thoroughly debunked nonsense.

In 2010, the British Bottled Water Producers industry report put bottled water consumption at 33 litres annually per person.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: Advice here in Scotland on the drinking of water is based on benefits of that compared to beverages such as fizzy, sugary, caffeinated drinks.

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Patients with cardiovascular disease who stop taking daily low-dose aspirin show an increased risk for nonfatal MI, according to a nested case-control study in .

Researchers followed a U.K. cohort of some 40,000 patients who’d been prescribed aspirin for secondary prevention of cardio- or cerebrovascular events. Cases were patients who had the combined outcome of nonfatal MI or death from coronary heart disease during roughly 3 years’ follow-up.

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The recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water a day to prevent dehydration “is not only nonsense, but is thoroughly debunked nonsense,” argues GP, Margaret McCartney in this week’s BMJ.

There is currently no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water, she says, yet the “we-don’t-drink-enough-water” myth has endless advocates, including the NHS.

The NHS Choices website states: “Try to drink about six to eight glasses of water (or other fluids) a day to prevent dehydration,” while many schools also feel it appropriate to insist that pupils are accompanied to school by a water bottle.

Other organisations, often with vested interests, reinforce this message, she says.

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TINY particles emitted by diesel exhaust fumes can raise the risk of heart attacks, according to new research.

Scientists from Edinburgh University discovered ultra-fine particles produced when diesel burns are harmful to blood vessels and can increase the chances of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke.

The research sheds further light on the risks of traffic fumes after another study from Italy warned high levels of exposure to tiny particles in emissions can dramatically raise the risk of deep-vein thrombosis.

Glasgow has a long-standing problem with air pollution and was recently named as one of three areas in the UK alongside Greater London and north-east Scotland which were expected to fail European limits for nitrogen dioxide emissions.

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