Are tea and coffee considered liquid? finding out if these drinks can be equated with water and included in the “eight glasses” rule
Everyone knows that you need to drink clean water throughout the day in order to maintain the water-salt balance in the body. For the forgetful and busy, there are even special applications that give a signal several times a day: get up and go to the cooler. And we go … But sometimes instead of tasteless water we pour ourselves aromatic tea or brew strong coffee …
However, are these drinks considered liquid? Or, on the contrary, they remove moisture from the body and you need to replenish the lost twice? If you are also trying to figure this out and keep an eye on your drinking regime, our article is for you.
How many liters should you drink
From 1.5 to 3 liters – this is how much liquid, according to doctors, each of us should consume per day. The classical calculation system: 30 ml per 1 kilogram of weight, or the notorious “8 glasses”. This is the minimum required. However, in the heat, during the heating season, as well as during intense physical activity, you need to drink an additional 2-3 glasses (for this it is convenient to keep a bottle for water with you). Of course, all these are average figures, because a lot depends on the state of health of a particular person, his age, lifestyle, and even gender. One thing is important – you need to drink! But what exactly?
“I drank coffee – drink it with a glass of water!”
Have you heard this phrase? It is believed that caffeine (and it is found in coffee and tea) acts as a diuretic, and therefore dehydrates the body. This means that after a cup of espresso and a mug of strong green or black tea, you need to drink the same amount of pure water.
What is it really?
Let’s make a reservation right away that there are no large, long-term, and detailed studies on the diuretic effect of tea and coffee on the body. About a dozen short-term experiments, the results of which have been published in various scientific and popular publications, mainly relate directly to caffeine, while tea and coffee contain many other chemical compounds! However, this was enough to create myths around our favorite drinks.
The buzz about the diuretic properties of caffeine began in 1928, almost a century ago. Then only three (!) Men took part in it. The participants in the experiment drank either tea, then coffee, then only water, and sometimes even water with pure caffeine added to it. Scientists who watched their condition found that the diuretic effect of “caffeine drinks” did indeed occur. But short-term and only if before that the subjects had not consumed tea and coffee at all for two months.
A similar experiment was carried out in 2005, but already on 59 healthy people. It lasted 11 days, during which scientists came to a similar conclusion: the human body, not accustomed to caffeine, reacts by releasing more than the usual amount of liquid, but quickly adapts to the mild diuretic effect of the substance after 4–5 days.
Other experiments with different dosages of caffeine only confirmed the results of the previous ones: after a long break, tea and coffee can act as diuretics, but this will not lead to dehydration. And people who constantly indulge themselves with a cup or two of Americano, cappuccino or, say, matches, will not feel any effect at all.
With the removal of water from the body sorted out. What about assimilating it?
We have good news: a 2014 study showed that moderate doses of caffeine, as well as drinks that are low in caffeine, moisturize the body in the same way as water. At the same time, during the experiment, the men tested drank about 800 ml of coffee a day – this, you see, is not so little! That is, a healthy person who regularly drinks tea or coffee can equate these drinks to water.
Coffee and tea are food because they have calories
So nutritionists will tell you. And they will add that when calculating the daily dose of the consumed liquid, they cannot be taken into account. For example, in a serving of espresso – 2 kcal, in a cappuccino without sugar – about 33–37 kcal, with sugar – 52–57 kcal, in a latte with milk and sugar – up to 130 kcal, and raff “pulls” as much as 190 kcal.
However, doctors say that everything that enters our stomach is involved in the water balance, from juices and fruit drinks to soups and fruits. Another thing is that the body still needs to try to “get” water from them.
It is worth remembering that both tea and coffee are a whole range of nutrients that have a positive effect on overall health. The same green tea helps to avoid heart disease, reduces the chances of “earning” diabetes, and reduces the risk of cancer. Yes, such drinks cannot be a full-fledged substitute for pure water by definition, but at the same time, they are able to quench their thirst and participate in the replenishment of fluid in the body.
Here, however, it is worth clarifying that we are talking about tea and coffee without additives – cream, milk, syrups, and sugar. This does not mean that you need to give up lavender raff or tea with honey and forever reject them as useless in the context of water balance, just such toppings “weigh down” drinks and slow down their absorption by the body.
Why drink at all if you don’t feel like drinking?
We will not turn into a biology textbook, let’s just say that water performs the most important functions in our body (which, by the way, consists of 60% water): it delivers useful substances to cells, removes toxins and toxins from the body, normalizes the work of all organs, supplies oxygen to the brain, prevents early appearance of wrinkles and premature aging of the body, and so on.
By the way, if you are thirsty, this can already be considered an SOS signal: it means that the brain thought that you are dehydrated. Therefore, you need to drink a little during the day, so as not to miss the moment when the body begins to lack moisture. However, too much water is also not useful. Despite the fact that the kidneys of a healthy person are able to filter up to 20 liters per day, the excessive load will only harm them.
Not instead, but together
In general, you already understood that even if you do not drink water at all, but at the same time consume fruits, vegetables, soups, juices, as well as your favorite tea and coffee, you will definitely not die from dehydration. Coffee and tea, of course, are liquid, but the worse from the fact that after a cup of espresso you drink a glass of water, you definitely will not. Drinking water is generally a healthy habit: for example, it can help refresh the receptors and sharpen the perception of taste after sipping a very strong ristretto. We ourselves prefer to use such drinks for pleasure, and water – to quench our thirst, so as not to bring ourselves to neurosis by strict counting “8 glasses”.
