Tom Brady drinks half his weight in water every day – but experts warn the ‘hydration diet’ could be lethal for the football star’s fans.

Brady, 40, is revered for his surprisingly good physical health so late in his career as arguably the NFL’s best ever quarterback.

However, his lifestyle choices are extreme: in his new book The TB12 Method, he claims to drink at least 37 glasses of water daily – five times the recommended amount. 

Speaking to Daily Mail Online, nutritionists insist the rest of us should take his advice with a pinch of salt for risk of developing a dangerous condition. 

Tom Brady claims to drink at least 37 glasses of water daily – five times the recommended amount. But nutritionists warn this could be damaging to your body’s sodium levels

‘Forcing yourself to drink a pre-prescribed amount of water each day presents the very real danger of Hyponatremia,’ Abbey Sharp, registered dietitian at Abbey’s Kitchen, said.  

‘This is essentially a sodium deficiency which occurs because of the imbalance of H2O to sodium. While you may have heard that a low sodium diet is a good thing (it definitely can be), have too little sodium in our bodies can be deadly!’

Sodium, an electrolyte, helps regulate the level of water in and around your cells.

If your sodium becomes too diluted, your cells start to swell.

This can cause headaches and confusion and fatigure, but can also lead to muscle weakness, cramps, seizures, and even a coma.

The risk is particularly high for older adults and people on medication.

It is most commonly heard-of among endurance athletes, who overhydrate during a competition, or people taking illicit drugs like ecstasy.

‘Most people around the world are chronically mildly dehydrated but the truth of the matter is you can get water from other sources, and what Tom Brady is suggesting is extreme and dangerous,’ Tammy and Lyssie Lakatos of the Nutrition Twins told Daily Mail Online. 

‘The sodium-water balance in your body is very delicate. If you throw that balance off by drinking 37 cups of water, you could have a stroke.’

Sharp and the Lakatos twins both concede that it is difficult to assess Brady’s water needs without doing a personalized assessment of his activity levels, climate and other factors – indeed, he is an athlete who exercises a lot and sweats a lot.

EXPLAINED:  HYPONATREMIA, THE DEADLY CONDITION TRIGGERED BY TOM BRADY’S WATER DIET

Sodium, an electrolyte, helps regulate the level of water in and around your cells.

If your sodium becomes too diluted, your cells start to swell, causing Hyponatremia.

This can cause headaches and confusion and fatigure, but can also lead to muscle weakness, cramps, seizures, and even a coma.

The risk is particularly high for older adults and people on medication.

It is most commonly heard-of among endurance athletes, who overhydrate during a competition, or people taking illicit drugs like ecstasy.

‘Hydration needs are incredibly individualized,’ Sharp said.

‘It definitely sounds to me that what Tom Brady is suggesting he does is far more than he likely needs. 

‘If he’s listening to his body’s cues and it works for him, then who knows, maybe he needs that. It seems highly unlikely.’ 

She adds: ‘My recommendation is to forget all of the standards about how much you should be drinking each day. 

‘It’s not half your body weight, it’s not two liters, it’s not that any one size fits all. 

‘Listen to your body’s thirst cues and keep plain water near by at all times to hydrate. Check in with yourself regularly to see if you are indeed thirsty and don’t deny those cues.’

Brady is also known for consuming an alkaline diet. 

The idea behind it is that certain foods cause your body to produce acid.

Problematically, this list is quite extensive: meat, wheat, dairy, eggs, refined sugar, and processed foods.

According to Brady’s personal chef, the family eats mainly a plant-based diet, with very few grains. And Brady rarely eats vegetables. 

He avoids hot peppers, sweet peppers, eggplant, and tomato, for fear of inflammation.

Eighty percent of his meals are organic vegetables, with the rest either salmon or steak. 

Such a preventative lifestyle is far beyond anything most sports nutritionists would advise. 

‘There are very few people that can eat like Tom Brady,’ sports nutritionist Mary Jane Detroyer, who is based in New York, told Daily Mail Online.

‘I would never recommend it.

‘Athletes need carbs. You can get that from fruits and vegetables but it’s very, very hard.’

She adds: ‘Based on the science, I’m not sure the secret to his success is his low alkaline diet.

‘The amount food can affect our acid levels is minimal.’ 





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