Does drinking water really help?

billsica

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BerryH

Are you suggesting that beer doesn't contain water. I drink 8 glasses a day. It all beer, so what!

Up until the mid-Victorian era you stood a good chance of dying of cholera if you drank water rather than beer.

billsica

Are you suggesting that beer doesn't contain water. I drink 8 glasses a day. It all beer, so what!

Up until the mid-Victorian era you stood a good chance of dying of cholera if you drank water rather than beer.

I decided to be non snarky because this turned serious.

I haven't seen anything to back up the claims of the water/soda/tea stuff. references?

jayb0ne

Tea and coffee are diuretics, plus if you take milk, that's 25 calories for a 25ml splash of semi skimmed. If you take sugar, that's 15 calories per sugar.

Soda is definitely a dehydrating drink.

Nope, that's a much-repeated myth. This from Wikipedia, with links to the research:

"Contrary to popular belief, caffeine does not act as a diuretic when consumed in moderation, and does not lead to dehydration or to a water-electrolyte imbalance; current evidence suggests that caffeinated beverages contribute to the body's daily fluid requirements no differently from pure water."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee#Laxative.2Fdiuretic

Same with soda.

For hydration purposes any of these will do.

For minimal calorie vales, sure, go with water, but you may just die of boredom if you totally avoid drinks you like.

There is no scientific proof behind the eight glasses a day myth either. Here's the Snopes article debunking with research sources.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

You CAN drink too much water, though. A marathon running friend collapsed and was in a coma for a week through hyponatraemia. Rare but can be fatal.

Suit yourself. If you want to try and get to the peak of your physical fitness drinking nothing but soda and coffee, go right ahead.

Best of luck with that...

jayb0ne

Tea and coffee are diuretics, plus if you take milk, that's 25 calories for a 25ml splash of semi skimmed. If you take sugar, that's 15 calories per sugar.

Soda is definitely a dehydrating drink.

Nope, that's a much-repeated myth. This from Wikipedia, with links to the research:

"Contrary to popular belief, caffeine does not act as a diuretic when consumed in moderation, and does not lead to dehydration or to a water-electrolyte imbalance; current evidence suggests that caffeinated beverages contribute to the body's daily fluid requirements no differently from pure water."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee#Laxative.2Fdiuretic

Same with soda.

For hydration purposes any of these will do.

For minimal calorie vales, sure, go with water, but you may just die of boredom if you totally avoid drinks you like.

There is no scientific proof behind the eight glasses a day myth either. Here's the Snopes article debunking with research sources.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

You CAN drink too much water, though. A marathon running friend collapsed and was in a coma for a week through hyponatraemia. Rare but can be fatal.

Suit yourself. If you want to try and get to the peak of your physical fitness drinking nothing but soda and coffee, go right ahead.

Best of luck with that...

AlyRoseNYC

YES! You absolutely do need water!

What you DON'T need are sarcastic and condescending replies to your question, so just ignore those

Miss_Chievous_wechange

UGH! That is all.

TMcBooty

I live in Baltimore- if you drink water, you end up getting lead poisoning.
Not because of the water, but because you will get shot in the back of the head while reaching for a glass to fill with water.

I live in Baltimore and I am cracking up right now LOL

Froggy1976

Water!?! Do you KNOW what fish do in that stuff?

jeeping_mom

Did I really see someone basically say that it was on Wikipedia so it must be true? Wow. Just. Wow.

BerryH

Did I really see someone basically say that it was on Wikipedia so it must be true? Wow. Just. Wow.

Try this research instead:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16131696
Precis: “These findings question the widely accepted notion that caffeine consumption acts chronically as a diuretic.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17620932
Precis: “This review, contrary to popular beliefs, proposes that caffeine consumption does not result in the following: (a) water-electrolyte imbalances or hyperthermia and (b) reduced exercise-heat tolerance.”

lodicox7

I've always been a big water drinker (so maybe it was easy for me to start at this high amount), but a week ago I decided to start drinking 88oz a day, every day. After being plateaued for several months before this, I've already dropped 3 pounds. I drink 16oz of green tea in the morning with breakfast, and I have a 24oz bottle that I refill three times daily.

I do eat a lot of salt and my body has always retained water because of this, but now I feel so much better. I'm not at all bloated.

Just saying, water works. Skip the other drinks. You might see the weight start to fall off.

bcattoes

Drinking liquids is necessary, and if you eat a lot of sodium then more liquids can help prevent water retention. But just about any non-alcoholic liquid will do the same thing as water. As for helping with weight loss, that's kind of a personal thing. Many claim that drinking water makes them feel full. Personally, I've never been hungry and been satisfied with a glass of water. So , you'll just have to try that one for yourself.

For losing weight you will naturally want to avoid sugary drinks because of the calories. But for hydration, even sugary drinks will do the trick.

jayb0ne

Did I really see someone basically say that it was on Wikipedia so it must be true? Wow. Just. Wow.

Try this research instead:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16131696
Precis: “These findings question the widely accepted notion that caffeine consumption acts chronically as a diuretic.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17620932
Precis: “This review, contrary to popular beliefs, proposes that caffeine consumption does not result in the following: (a) water-electrolyte imbalances or hyperthermia and (b) reduced exercise-heat tolerance.”

Did you read that properly? Translated into laymans terms, it says that in this study, a group of healthy males all consumed 3mg of caffein in pill form for 6 days and then split into 3 groups for another 4 days - 0mg caffeine per day (placebo), 3mg caffeine per day, and 6mg caffeine per day - with no other dietary caffeine intake. And this apparently proves that caffeine doesn't dehydrate you.

Considering 1 cup of instant coffee contains at least 10 times the max amount used in the study at 60-80mg of caffeine and a cup of brewed fresh coffee contains at least 15 times the largest amount used at 90-150mg of caffeine, I call this research irrelevant to the current conversation.

Look, I'm not disputing your ideas and conclusions here - if it works for you then go for it - but I doubt the OP needs to be told that he can ignore water and get all of his requirements through coffee and soda.

As I said before, you CAN get all your water through food and other drinks and you won't die of thirst, you probably won't even feel thirsty - but you certainly won't be at optimum level. You also don't need to get as much as 5 litres a day like I do but I've been doing it for the last 6 months and it certainly aint hurting.

DreamLittleDarling

Here's an idea... ask a doctor, ANY doctor, if just any old "liquid" is good for keeping you hydrated. My educated guess (and by educated, I mean, I was a nurse for 6 years and worked with doctors all 6 of those years) is that a doctor, any doctor, will tell you that no, "any" liquid won't do the trick.

ugh I really hate beating dead horses, it's just useless and tiresome so EFF it... here goes...

don't drink water. never drink it again. who really gives a damn, right?!

DRINK COKE, KOOLAID, TEA, COFFEE, JUICE, MILK, HORSE PISS (if thats what you want)... drink ANYTHING you want, do it however you want, just be sure to accept the consequences of your actions without coming back to the boards and complaining about it, mkay?