Tea -- Hydrating or Dehydrating?

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ahadj
ahadj Posts: 257 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I googled this and got conflicting results. I drink a lot of tea... Does anyone know for sure whether tea hydrates you (since it's really just hot water with herbs) or dehydates you (because it's caffeinated)?

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  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
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    There's still water in it, so I still consider it a form of hydration. Up to you.
  • wildon883r
    wildon883r Posts: 429 Member
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    Caffeine is a diuretic meaning it makes you pee alot lol.. I wouldn't consider hydrating myself on either although i drink both. I have about 2 cups of coffee a day , cup of green tea and most days 8 glasses of water too not to mention water you get from fruits and other foods.
  • Caerith
    Caerith Posts: 15
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    Caffeine is a diuretic, which in itself would dehydrate you. However, the amount of water that caffeine pulls out of you is more than amply offset by the amount of water in your tea, coffee, or soda. You can drink all the tea/coffee/soda in the world and you wouldn't suffer dehydration because of it.

    So, short answer, it hydrates you.
  • ZanneB
    ZanneB Posts: 6
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    Anything with caffeine will tend to dehydrate you, including tea. I'm like you, I tend to drink tea through the day. Even just switching my afternoon tea to a herbal or decaf has helped with my hydration. Also, drinking more water has lessened how much tea I drink, which in turn has decreased my dependancy on caffeine. If I miss my morning tea on the weekend I no longer get a nasty caffeine headache. That's a definite plus.
  • stark23x
    stark23x Posts: 30 Member
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    There's a lot of misconceptions about caffeine's ability to dehydrate. Yes, on some level it is a diuretic for everyone. HOWEVER: if you regularly consume caffeine, you retain most of the water in whatever drink it is. I'm a nutrition student studying for my DTR, and I actually did a project on hydration. What I discovered was that in regular consumers of caffeine, the worst diuretic effect in the studies I read was a 25% water loss. So, if you drink 12 ounces of tea, you will retain at least 9 ounces for metabolic processes.

    Most regular caffeine drinkers will retain 80-90% of the water in any given beverage.

    These numbers are different for everyone, but that is the "rule of thumb" take-away info from the studies I read. If you take in massive amounts of caffeine, this rule of thumb no longer applies. But for the average person who drinks coffee or tea regularly, you ARE getting hydration from that beverage. It counts toward your daily water intake.

    One way you can be assured that it counts? ALL - and I do mean ALL - hospital meal plans for patients count every ounce of tea, coffee or other caffeinated beverage served to patients (actually we count to the milliliter). Often it is medically vital to calculate fluid amounts (metabolically available fluids) down to 1-2 ounce margins. Caffeinated beverages absolutely count.
  • laurenk182004
    laurenk182004 Posts: 1,882 Member
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    If you're worried about the caffeine having the diuretic effect you could switch to decaf tea. I suck back a TON of decaf tea
  • shreddingit
    shreddingit Posts: 1,133 Member
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    I drink a herbal tea and when im done I feel thirsty so it might dehydrating but with benefits, good thing it makes drink more water though so its a bonus to drink tea!
  • smelius22
    smelius22 Posts: 334 Member
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    i better be careful then! i probably drink around 100 ounces of tea per day :ohwell:
  • dmanakho
    dmanakho Posts: 143 Member
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    There's a lot of misconceptions about caffeine's ability to dehydrate. Yes, on some level it is a diuretic for everyone. HOWEVER: if you regularly consume caffeine, you retain most of the water in whatever drink it is. I'm a nutrition student studying for my DTR, and I actually did a project on hydration. What I discovered was that in regular consumers of caffeine, the worst diuretic effect in the studies I read was a 25% water loss. So, if you drink 12 ounces of tea, you will retain at least 9 ounces for metabolic processes.

    Most regular caffeine drinkers will retain 80-90% of the water in any given beverage.

    Thanks! this is a really good information to know. Good post!
  • kent4j
    kent4j Posts: 391 Member
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    I also drink a lot of tea. This week I'm trying something new I rotate between tea (oolong, pu-erh, green) and just a cup of hot water. I heard this helps with digesting fat, eliminating toxins and helps maintain balance in the nervous system. I make sure I have a cup of hot water after every meal. Not sure if it's true but it's definitely helping to get my water in and reduce my caffeine.
  • 19Marilyn53
    19Marilyn53 Posts: 1 Member
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    So would Decaf tea not be dehydrating? I drink decaf tea and have for some time - don't even notice the difference any longer.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
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    Tea will not dehydrate you... neither will coffee unless you are consume huge amounts. A daily intake of between 500-800mg I believe is when a caffeinated drink starts to dehydrate you. A few cups of tea or coffee in a day will not dehydrate you.

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