Tea = Water?

Options
projektai
projektai Posts: 107 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone, I've got a strange question for you!
I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, and I don't mean iced tea like Arizona brand or something of the sort,
I just mean hot water with a tea bag in it.
My recent favorite has been Trader Joe's Ruby Red Chai, and this just happened to pop into my head today:

Can hot tea count toward my overall water intake?
I know things like juice, soda, and other soft beverages don't count because of calories, sugar, and sodium, etc.
But according to the label, it has none of that.
So what do you think?
Can tea be counted toward water intake? (๑ △ ๑)

As a side note, I've just been drinking so much hot tea because it's freezing where I live. This winter has been very hard, especially for someone on a budget, and cold drinks aren't very appetizing to me most of the time.

Replies

  • deadyankee
    deadyankee Posts: 74
    Options
    Yes, it's hot water with essence of leaves in it
  • charlicee
    charlicee Posts: 53
    Options
    Herbal and decaffeinated teas, yes. Some green and black teas can have as much as half that of coffee, and given its diuretic properties, I saw switch it up with water, or reuse tea bags because the second time will be far less caffeinated, but still retain most of the flavor.
  • zhidecitta
    zhidecitta Posts: 15 Member
    Options
    It should count as water just fine, even if it is caffeinated. Though there are diuretic effects to caffeine, it's largely over hyped. Even black coffee is a gain of water in your day for essentially the full amount.

    source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/caffeinated-drinks/expert-answers/faq-20057965
  • projektai
    projektai Posts: 107 Member
    Options
    Thank you for the input, everyone. (〃＾▽＾〃)
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    Options
    Basically, it's all about hydration. It doesn't matter what you drink as long as you are properly hydrated. So enjoy your tea. And even have an occasional glass of juice if you feel like it and it fits into your goals - the sugar doesn't reduce the amount of water in it.

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/water/ART-20044256
  • ME0172
    ME0172 Posts: 200
    Options
    It should count as water just fine, even if it is caffeinated. Though there are diuretic effects to caffeine, it's largely over hyped. Even black coffee is a gain of water in your day for essentially the full amount. source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/caffeinated-drinks/expert-answers/faq-20057965
    ^^ This. The amount of caffein from the tea does not overtake the benefit of the water. Enjoy!
  • CharlotteAnneUK
    CharlotteAnneUK Posts: 186 Member
    Options
    I drink de-caff and I dont. I agree its all hydration and yours could be different because I have skimmed milk in mine but I like to differentiate my liquid intake, it also helps to keep an eye on how much tanning I take in as it prevents the body from taking in the iron content from the foods you eat.

    Tea (even herbal and de-caff) and red wine have a fair amount of tanning and depending on what you are looking at health wise, its good to know things like that.
  • Chadomaniac
    Chadomaniac Posts: 1,785 Member
    Options
    Water = Water

    Tea has caffeine which acts as a diuretic . Therefore you need more water to replace the water lost from caffeine
  • EdTheGinge
    EdTheGinge Posts: 1,616 Member
    Options
    Water is water
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
    Options
    All drinks are water, some just have caffeine, sugar etc. In them. It's about balance, but ultimately you should drink what you enjoy, as long as you log it!
  • arrseegee
    arrseegee Posts: 575 Member
    Options
    Water = Water

    Tea has caffeine which acts as a diuretic . Therefore you need more water to replace the water lost from caffeine

    Doses of caffeine over 300 mg have a proven diuretic effect, however this is ONLY in people who are not habitual caffeine consumers, and the effect is about 1.1 mL extra urine per milligram of caffeine. One espresso coffee has around 70-100 mg, a standard can of Red Bull has 80 mg, a cup of black tea has about 40 mg. Coca Cola has 34 mg per 12 oz. If you don't drink caffeine and then suddenly have 300 mg one day there will be a diuretic effect of about 330 mL of extra urine produced.

    To ingest 300 mg of caffeine and NOT have compensated for it by drinking the caffeine in coffee or tea you'd need to be taking caffeine pills or knocking back four espresso coffees, as well as not usually comsuming caffeine. The following advice is taken from a study that looked at this: Single caffeine doses at the levels found in commonly consumed beverages have little or no diuretic action.

    [Maughan, R.J and Griffin, J. 2003 "Caffeine ingestion and fluid balance: a review". J Hum Nutr Diet; 16, pp. 411–420]

Categories