By Sally Squires
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 12, 2004

A report by the National Academy of Sciences yesterday rejected the widely repeated advice that people should drink eight glasses of water a day, saying that the vast majority of Americans will be amply hydrated if they simply let thirst be their guide.

Taking on another contentious dietary issue, an expert panel assembled by the academy also said that 95 percent of American men and 75 percent of women consume too much salt. To help cut rates of high blood pressure, which afflicts an estimated 90 percent of Americans as they age, the panel urged consumers to reach for more fruit, vegetables and other foods rich in potassium while drastically cutting back on processed food and other fare high in sodium.

"The lower the better for sodium; the higher the better for potassium," said Lawrence J. Appel, chairman of the panel that drafted the report for the academy's Food and Nutrition Board, and professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University.