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The explanations that follow are based on clinical observations made in one of the worst stress laboratories in the world. These observations have given birth to a new physiology-based explanation of how diseases of the body occur. My findings have been presented at several international gatherings of scientists. Detailed scientific explanations that support my findings have also been published.

It does not require a detailed knowledge of science to understand that water should be used to prevent and cure certain dehydration-produced disease conditions. Nor does the use of water as a “medicine” require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Water is the main source of life, and everyone knows about it. Still, there is shameful ignorance about the health dangers we expose our bodies to when we do not drink enough water. Our saving grace is that the human body understands the role of water in maintaining its physiological and physical well-being, even though mainstream medicine does not. It seems we doctors have not been well informed about the different functional relationships of water in the human body. We have been caught in a most embarrassing situation. We do not yet know when the human body is truly thirsty. We do not understand what happens if the body does not receive adequate water on a regular basis.

The current practice of clinical medicine is based on the application of pharmacological chemistry to the human body. At medical schools, more than six hundred teaching hours are allocated to the use of pharmaceutical products. Only a few hours are allocated to instructions on diet and food. It seems that in most “disease” conditions, medical educators are trying to force the test-tube understanding of chemistry into the human body.

The trouble is, pharmaceutical or chemical products do not cure most disease conditions. Nor are most of these products safe for long-term use. They only temporarily mask and silence the outward manifestations of the problem. No matter how seemingly scientific, sophisticated, and appealing the justifications for the use of these chemical products might seem, they often do not remove the medical problem-except for the use of antibiotics in infections. People with hypertension, who begin treatment with diuretics or other chemicals, are not cured. They are told they must continue the treatment for the rest of their lives. They often need to supplement the diuretic and use other types of medication at the same time. People with rheumatoid arthritis are not permanently cured by any of the many analgesics on the market. They have to use analgesic medications for the rest of their painfilled lives. No diabetic is cured; no person with myasthenia gravis is cured; no person with muscular dystrophy is cured. How is it possible that, despite extensive research, no cure for any one of the prevalent conditions such as heartburn, dyspepsia, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, or asthma has been found?

Dehydration eventually causes loss of some functions and produces damage (pathology). The various signals or symptoms produced during severe and lasting dehydration have been interpreted by doctors as various disease conditions of unknown origin. The signal, however, is actually for water shortage, and the local damage is because of water shortage. Because doctors don't recognize chronic dehydration as the original cause, the “disease” conditions receive all sorts of explanations and labels, and all of them are said to have an unknown cause. This is the basic mistake that has distorted the truth in medicine and devastated people needing professional advice and guidance for their health issues. This is the crack through which all past research on the origin of some disease conditions has fallen.

Copyright © 2003 Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D.

Tags: Nutrition

About the Author

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, was born in Tehran, Iran, and now lives in Falls Church, Virginia.