Meet The Water Haters
Despite the fact that the human body is roughly 60% water, some people absolutely loathe the taste of it. Charlotte, a water hater, tells Bustle, “When I take a mouthful, I feel like I'm going to retch; it reminds me of being in a swimming pool as a child and accidentally ingesting a load of water up my nose. It's a similar sensation.”
Like any peculiar movement, there are public faces for these sorts of things. Several celebrities have bravely gone on the record to state themselves as water haters. Vanessa Hudgens has “fainted twice from dehydration,” which led her to found a cactus water company, while Zendaya dislikes water, coffee, energy drinks, and soda. According to Lindsay Lohan, “Water is so boring.”
This is not entirely untrue. Water itself has no color, taste, or smell to the average person. However, there’s also evidence to suggest the source of water can play a role in how it tastes.
“Most people feel neutral about it or lean towards enjoying it, but there are some folks who really do hate the taste of water, similar to how you may hate the taste of pickles,” Ellen Davenport, an anti-diet-culture licensed nutritionist based in Chicago, tells Bustle. “They may be ‘supertasters,’ which is a term used to describe people who have very strong taste reactions compared to other people — especially bitter or sour foods and drinks. Supertasters actually have more taste buds than an average taster. It's possible that supertasters can taste the minerals in the water they are drinking, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, [and] chloride.”
