Debate: Does Tea and Coffee count towards your water intake?

stevepound

I've done a bit of research into whether or not Normal Tea and Coffee count towards your daily intake of water. We all know that you should take in 8 cups of water each day, and I'm sure many of you drink your fair share of Tea and Coffee throughout the day at work etc to keep on the ball.

After everything I've looked at, there seems to be a 50/50 divide on if these 2 popular drinks count towards your water intake.

The universal argument for this is:

Even though your Tea and Coffee contain milk, sugar and the substance itself, it still has to contain the cup of water to mix it in, therefore it would count towards your daily intake of water.


The universal argument against this is:

Normal Tea and Coffee both contain Caffeine, which is a dehydrator, this in effect counts negatively towards your water intake, as it contributes to moving water out the system, meaning you then have to drink even more water to make up for the loss.



Does anyone have anything that can strengthen either side of this debate?

vickiele1

There has been some debate about how much water one should drink each day, and whether or not beverages like coffee and tea count towards that amount. As most of us know, coffee and tea contain caffeine, which is a diuretic, and diuretics do the opposite of hydrating you.


A cup of coffee has about 200mg of caffeine. A cup of tea has quite a bit less (40-100mg), depending on the strength of the tea. However, the general consensus as of late is that, despite the caffeine, these beverages still count towards your fluid intake for the day. The reason is that, although caffeine is a diuretic, the amount in a strong cup of coffee or tea is simply not enough to dehydrate, and there will still be a net gain of fluid.


Although coffee and tea may be equal in their hydration factor, tea still gets the upper hand for your health. A recent sutdy in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that drinking tea is not only as good as drinking water, but possibly better, as it may carry extra health benefits in protecting against heart disease and some cancers.


The beneficial ingredients in tea are flavinoids, polyphenol antioxidants that are found in many plants (including tea leaves) that protect against oxidative cell damage. Other benefits were found to be bone strengthening and protection against tooth plaque, due to the flouride content. Researchers from this study recommend 3-4 cups of tea per day to help reduce the risk of heart attack.


One thing not mentioned in this article is the difference between types of tea. Different teas have different amounts of processing and, therefore, have different degrees of health benefits, with green tea found to be the strongest. More on that in another post...


*This particular study was funded by the Tea Council, which usually leaves me extremely skeptical of a study's results. However, this is not new evidence nor is it the first time these findings have been reported.*

http://www.factorfictionnutritionblog.com/2009/03/tea-and-coffee-vs-water.html

kbailey374

Thanks! was just doing my diary and wanted to know.

yarwell

It would be miraculous if the alleged diuretic effect of a cup of tea or coffee or a can of diet soda happened to precisely match and thereby cancel out the water content of said item, don't you think ? So the idea of not counting water in food and other drinks dies there for me. About half the water in some diets comes from the food you eat.

I can add to that countless studies of hydration with different agents and recommendations of health bodies, but you'll have seen them already. They can't even agree on what measure of "hydration" to use to determine if a given dose of liquid achieves it.

A recent BBC Panorama documentary looked at sports drinks and one expert in sports nutrition said that dehydration is a normal metabolic state and not a disease.

caraiselite

if its liquid, then i count it.

krystyleee

This is actually very interesting. I drink either tea or coffee everyday and I have never thought about counting either one as water. I can see how tea can be counted moreso as water that coffee, but yeah--I've never thought of that. I would love to see more responses in this thread. I still don't know if I would count them, although if I did it wouldn't definitely help me out!

reojames

I had a health instructor in college that taught us this:

Once you add ANYTHING to water, it stops being water. Count only H20 as water. Coffee and tea (which I love and drink a lot of) should not be included in your water intake goals. At least that's my belief....

MassiveDelta

if its liquid, then i count it.

That would be a bad plan.


Taking shortcuts in anything that is hard or worth doing is a bad decision just drink the water people.

47Jacqueline

I count herbal tea only, as water - nothing with caffeine in it and especially not coffee with milk

wvu2uall

I typically count coffee towards my intake, but I generally drink a ton of water aside from coffee as well. So, I usually make my "goal" even without the coffee.

mcarter99

It would be miraculous if the alleged diuretic effect of a cup of tea or coffee or a can of diet soda happened to precisely match and thereby cancel out the water content of said item, don't you think ? So the idea of not counting water in food and other drinks dies there for me. About half the water in some diets comes from the food you eat.

There are a lot of people that never drink any water, just tea, coffee or soda. They would just dry up and blow away if the diuretic effect cancelled out the water.

Counting your water glasses is something they'll be laughing at us for 100 years from now. Or 20.

yecatsml

I had a health instructor in college that taught us this:

Once you add ANYTHING to water, it stops being water. Count only H20 as water. Coffee and tea (which I love and drink a lot of) should not be included in your water intake goals. At least that's my belief....

I go by the same theory. For me, water is just that - water. Not Mio, Crystal light or tea/coffee (iced or hot).

bigdon2823

I drink decaffeinated tea so yes I count it as water.

MtnKat

I only include my actual plain water in my water count.

I do put coffee and tea in my regular journal though.

ElaineDoherty40

I don't count Tea and coffee as my water intake, not sure why though.. it would make life easier if i did and totally lead to less toilet breaks with all the fluids inside me

KristysLosing

I had a health instructor in college that taught us this:

Once you add ANYTHING to water, it stops being water. Count only H20 as water. Coffee and tea (which I love and drink a lot of) should not be included in your water intake goals. At least that's my belief....

I go by the same theory. For me, water is just that - water. Not Mio, Crystal light or tea/coffee (iced or hot).

That's a bummer. I drink usually 2L of water every day, but I put crystal light in it. It keeps me from drinking soda and I drink a lot more since I've flavored it. I just can't drink that much plain water.

vim_n_vigor

I had a health instructor in college that taught us this:

Once you add ANYTHING to water, it stops being water. Count only H20 as water. Coffee and tea (which I love and drink a lot of) should not be included in your water intake goals. At least that's my belief....

I dare you to drink a glass of pure H2O

jabarih

Because I don't like plain water, I would say that it should count towards your daily water intake. Not only that but water from veggies and other liquids that have water in it should be counted as your water intake. But I'm so confused by this arguement as well, that I have started to up my 'plain' water intake. I haven't seen much difference. Just that plain water has no cals and it has helped me cut down on my carb intake.

EmergencyGraphics

Well if the argument is that tea and coffee contain at least a cup of water and should be counted as your daily intake; then you should count things like beer as well because its just barley, hops and water.

UnleashingLovely

Only count half! It's not gonna kill you to drink some more water. Lots of water=goood.

Genem30

I count tea usually, because I tend to drink a lot of tea.