Tea = Water?

tigersword

Let us all take a moment to remember our TEETH. Pepsi is acidic and will corrode your enamel. Coffee and tea will stain your teeth. If you sub those beverages for pure water all the time, you should probably be brushing like 10 times a day...

Depending on where it's sourced water can be just as acidic as soda.

Also, for everyone talking about diuretics, and whether a diuretic property makes something not water, I'm going to say this one more time...

WATER IS A DIURETIC. So if drinking something that has a diuretic effect dehydrates you, then I guess we should all stop drinking water. :huh:

Also, most water has as much, and in some cases, more sodium, than sodas. If you want to drink water with no sodium and no acidity, you''ll have to drink distilled water only, and that stuff is pretty much undrinkable.

bcattoes

The thing is, it isn't so much that our bodies need plain water. They need LIQUID.

I wouldn't oversimplify it. Bleach is a liquid, and no - you cannot count it toward your water intake

Why wouldn't bleach count toward your water intake? Just because you'll probably die soon does not mean you didn't consume the liquid.

If I use bleach in my brownie recipe, does that mean I shouldn't log the calories when I eat the brownie?

Shock_Wave

I have read and heard that you can't count tea as water because once you add the tea it changes the chemical make-up of water and thus your body treats it differently. Same as coffee can't count as water.

x2^ This.
unfortunaltey I have friends in chemisty classes and it just makes my head want to explode. But ya if you add sugar or caffeine..etc to any type of water it changes the chemical make up of water and as said above your body treats is differently. If my friends were here im sure they could write out what the chemical bond chain looks like and explain it until you head wants to explode.

Edit: it changes how it hydrates your body is the point here.

ShapeUpSidney

Depending on where it's sourced water can be just as acidic as soda.

I've only ever lived in the city, where high water quality standards prevail. I've never in my life heard of anyone getting drinking water with a pH of 2.5 like Pepsi

bcattoes

I have read and heard that you can't count tea as water because once you add the tea it changes the chemical make-up of water and thus your body treats it differently. Same as coffee can't count as water.

x2^ This.
unfortunaltey I have friends in chemisty classes and it just makes my head want to explode. But ya if you add sugar or caffeine..etc to any type of water it changes the chemical make up of water and as said above your body treats is differently. If my friends were here im sure they could write out what the chemical bond chain looks like and explain it until you head wants to explode.

No matter what the chemical structure, there have been mutiple scientific studies that showed coffee and tea both hydrate as well as water.

ShapeUpSidney

x2^ This.
unfortunaltey I have friends in chemisty classes and it just makes my head want to explode. But ya if you add sugar or caffeine..etc to any type of water it changes the chemical make up of water and as said above your body treats is differently. If my friends were here im sure they could write out what the chemical bond chain looks like and explain it until you head wants to explode.

Well I have a degree in chemistry, and disagree. I don't think, in terms of hydration, that herbal tea is significantly different in its ability to hydrate the body. Is it "processed differently" ? Probably. I'm sure there is some filtering of ions, and transporting of molecules across membranes that goes on...but water isn't pure either, so many of those processes are already occurring when you drink plain water.

ShapeUpSidney

Why wouldn't bleach count toward your water intake? Just because you'll probably die soon does not mean you didn't consume the liquid.

If I use bleach in my brownie recipe, does that mean I shouldn't log the calories when I eat the brownie?

Oh log it, by all means...I just probably wouldnt drink it in the first place. And certainly don't count on it as your "go-to" when trying to reach your fluid intake

tigersword

Depending on where it's sourced water can be just as acidic as soda.

I've only ever lived in the city, where high water quality standards prevail. I've never in my life heard of anyone getting drinking water with a pH of 2.5 like Pepsi

Everything I've read about sodas puts their pH at 5. You're the only person I've seen try and claim such a low pH, source please? And water can have a pH ranging from 5-8. Quality standards have nothing to do with it, just like some water is naturally harder from a mineral standpoint, some water is naturally more acidic.

EDIT - I found a few sources showing some sodas having lower pH's, but still, nothing particularly low, compared to other foods that we eat. I mean, most citrus fruit has a pH of around 2.0, and soda ranges from 2.5-4+. Vinegar has a pH of 2.5. Heck, stomach acid is a 1.

So I retract my statement about water being as acidic as soda, but it can still be as acidic as coffee.

ShapeUpSidney

Everything I've read about sodas puts their pH at 5. You're the only person I've seen try and claim such a low pH, source please? And water can have a pH ranging from 5-8. Quality standards have nothing to do with it, just like some water is naturally harder from a mineral standpoint, some water is naturally more acidic.

I first heard about the pH issue because we were discussing the "corrosive" term in my HazMat training (chemical hygiene) at Genzyme. Apparently, they wanted to say ph 3 or lower was "corrosive" but that would mean that they'd have to label every coke and pepsi can as corrosive, so there was a massive lobby effort to prevent this.

Anyhow, it was a cute anecdote that made the class more tolerable...but

You can read it here:

http://www.dentalgentlecare.com/diet_soda.htm

I find a ton of dental sources, and school projects, but nothing "scholarly." I guess I'll just have to take a can in the lab, and make a YouTube video. Anyhow, I googled it pretty extensively and didnt find anyone claiming it was up near 5. Most put it somewhere between 2.5 - 3.5

Shock_Wave

x2^ This.
unfortunaltey I have friends in chemisty classes and it just makes my head want to explode. But ya if you add sugar or caffeine..etc to any type of water it changes the chemical make up of water and as said above your body treats is differently. If my friends were here im sure they could write out what the chemical bond chain looks like and explain it until you head wants to explode.

Well I have a degree in chemistry, and disagree. I don't think, in terms of hydration, that herbal tea is significantly different in its ability to hydrate the body. Is it "processed differently" ? Probably. I'm sure there is some filtering of ions, and transporting of molecules across membranes that goes on...but water isn't pure either, so many of those processes are already occurring when you drink plain water.

From what I understood yes it was something like "processed differently". Some thing about adding sugars or salt and stuff changes the chemical make up and it become different chemical.Remember my friends are the chemisty students but im am not a chemistry person. But the way they were showing me was kind of like being "processed differently". Its that it was kind of like alcohol sure it has water but it is "processed differently" in the way that it will actually dehydrate you rather than hydrating you.

ShapeUpSidney

Everything I've read about sodas puts their pH at 5. You're the only person I've seen try and claim such a low pH, source please? And water can have a pH ranging from 5-8. Quality standards have nothing to do with it, just like some water is naturally harder from a mineral standpoint, some water is naturally more acidic.

Actually, pH is a quality standard, and many water treatment facilities will buffer the water to improve it's pH. So yea...it does have to do with quality.

My minor was in environmental engineering, and I learned way more than I ever wanted to know about water treatment

tigersword

That's simply not true. Water hydrates you, no matter what temperature it is. Adding things to water doesn't make the water dehydrate you, if anything, it makes your body burn a few extra calories to separate the water from the other things while digesting.

tigersword

Food hydrates you. Food has water in it. Your entire argument makes no sense. If adding something to water makes it suddenly not hydrate you, then the food you eat wouldn't be able to hydrate you either. It's baseless nonsense, a scaremongering tactic.

Besides, ShapeUpSidney disagreed with you about it not hydrating.

Shock_Wave

That's simply not true. Water hydrates you, no matter what temperature it is. Adding things to water doesn't make the water dehydrate you, if anything, it makes your body burn a few extra calories to separate the water from the other things while digesting.

Even when alcohol is added?

ItsCasey

Let's just make this simple: if you pee a lot and your pee is clear, you're good to go on the hydration front, and you can stop agonizing over whether tea counts as water.

Jeff92se

If you add salt to water, the freezing point will change. But they don't combine to create a different chemcial. The salt just dissoves into the water as a solution of water and salt.

loved1

I add tea to my water count. I drink a lot of plain green tea throughout the day.

tigersword

That's simply not true. Water hydrates you, no matter what temperature it is. Adding things to water doesn't make the water dehydrate you, if anything, it makes your body burn a few extra calories to separate the water from the other things while digesting.

Even when alcohol is added?

Yes, beer is 90% water, and still hydrates you.

Shock_Wave

I would like to put my Gatorade under water but it has alot of sugar and salts and extra cals. If I constantly drank that every day opposed to water I would think this would be over doing it.

neanderthin

There's also hard water.........does that count.