Claim: A message circulating on WhatsApp claims that warm water is effective in curing Asthma and 17 other health conditions.
Although drinking more water may bring some health benefits, like digestion and improved kidney health, there is no scientific evidence that Japanese water therapy can cure diabetes or cancer.
Full Text
A viral message shared multiple times on WhatsApp claims that a group of Japanese doctors have confirmed that drinking warm water will effectively cure Asthma and 17 other illnesses.
While persuading readers to share the message with loved ones so that it can save lives, the message also prescribes a warm water therapy which entails drinking approximately 4 glasses of warm water on empty stomach as an effective remedy to health issues such as cancer, blood pressure, diabetes, uterus health, heart diseases, epilepsy and paralysis.
The message reads partly: “WARM WATER
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS, IT’S VERY IMPORTANT AND CAN SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE.
A group of Japanese Doctors confirmed that warm water is 100% effective in resolving some health problems
DO NOT eat anything 45mins after taking the water.
The warm water therapy will resolve the health problems within reasonable period such as:-
Diabetes in 30 days, Blood pressure in 30 days, Stomach problems in 10 days, All types of Cancer in 9 months, Blockage of veins in 6 months, Poor appetite in 10 days, Uterus and related diseases in 10 days, Nose, Ear, and Throat problems in 10 days, Women problems in 15 days, Heart diseases in 30 days, Headache/migraine in 3 days, Cholesterol in 4 months, Epilepsy and paralysis continuously in 9 months, Asthma in 4 months.
COLD WATER IS BAD FOR YOU!!!
If cold water does not affect you at young age, it will harm you at old age.
* Cold water closes 4 veins of the heart and causes heart attack. Cold drinks are main reason for heart attack.
* It also creates problems in the liver. It makes fat stuck with liver. Most people waiting for liver transplant are victims of cold water drinking.
* Cold water affect internal walls of the stomach. It affects the large intestine and results in Cancer.
PLEASE DON’T KEEP THIS INFORMATION TO YOURSELF
Tell someone to tell someone, *IT MAY SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE.
“KNOWLEDGE IS POWER”
Help someone today by sharing it with your loved ones and friends, may God help us all….. Aameen”
The ambiguous use of “a group of Japanese doctors’ and the continuous persuasion in the message got this researcher wondering how true the claim can be since several claims as this one have been verified to be fake and misleading. So, Dubawa decided to check the authenticity of the claim.
Verification
A key word search revealed that this claim has been making the rounds since 2017 and it has been shared widely on social media and blogs.
The message was shared on Pinterest, an American image sharing and social media service, and also on quora, a social question-and-answer website, and the healthy lifestyle page on facebook in 2017.
Daily Times, a Nigerian based newspaper also published a report that included the claim, on 23 September 2017 attributing the source of the report to a “message trending on Whatsapp.”
According to Healthline, drinking warm water can:
- help digestion
- aid in circulation
- assist the body in getting rid of toxins faster
What is Japanese water therapy?
Supposedly, Japanese water therapy gets its name from being widely used in Japanese medicine and among the Japanese people, according to healthline
It involves drinking room-temperature or warm water on an empty stomach after waking to cleanse the digestive system and regulate gut health, which according to proponents can heal a variety of conditions.
Advocates of Japanese water therapy claim that cold water is harmful to human health because it can harden the fats and oils in the digestive tract, thus slowing down digestion and causing disease.
The therapy includes the following steps that should be repeated daily:
- Drink four to five 3/4-cup (160-ml) glasses of room-temperature water on an empty stomach upon waking and before brushing your teeth, and wait another 45 minutes before eating breakfast.
- At each meal, eat only for 15 minutes, and wait at least 2 hours before eating or drinking anything else.
According to practitioners, Japanese water therapy must be done for different periods to treat different conditions. examples:
- Constipation: 10 days
- High blood pressure: 30 days
- Type 2 diabetes: 30 days
- Cancer: 180 days
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that men 19 and older consume 3.7 liters of water per day (15.5 cups) and women 19 and older consume 2.7 liters per day (11.5 cups).
Dr Daniel Meshak, a lecturer, Department of Family Medicine, University of Jos and Consultant Family Physician, JUTH, Jos, in an interview with this researcher, said it is a false claim, noting that there is no scientific basis to explain the claim.
Meshak said “ warm water may have health benefits, but it has not been proven scientifically.”
He added that water generally aids in hydration, digestion, and kidney cleansing,
“ This Japanese water therapy has not been scientifically proven which makes it complementary and alternative medicine. Sometimes this complementary and alternative medicine as integrated with the othodox medicine if proven. But drinking a good quantity of water helps with hydration because dehydration causes headache, faecal impaction, intestinal obstruction and acute kidney injury” He added.
Conclusion
Though drinking more water may bring some health benefits like constipation and improve kidney health, there is no scientific evidence that Japanese water therapy can cure diabetes or cancer.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the 2021 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking Fellowship partnership with JAY 101.9 FM Jos to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.