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When you’re thirsty and need a drink, which drink is best to keep you hydrated?
Certainly, you can reach for a glass of water any time, but according to a study from the University of St Andrews in Scotland that compared the hydration responses of several different drinks, plain H20 is not the most hydrating drink around.
Researchers have found that water-rest and sparkle do a rather good job of moisturizing the body quickly, but with a bit of sugar, fat or protein, it does an even better job of keeping us hydrated for longer.
According to Ronald Morgan, a professor at St. Andrews School of Medicine, and the author of the study, the reason has to do with how our bodies respond to drinks. One factor is the amount of a particular drink. The more drinks you have, the more empty the drink will be from the stomach, absorbed into the bloodstream, diluting and hydrating the body’s fluids.
Another factor affects how hydration in a drink is related to the nutrient composition of a drink. For example, milk has more hydration than regular water, as it contains sugar lactose, protein and fat. All of these help slow the drainage of fluid from the stomach and maintain long-term hydration.
Milk also contains sodium. Sodium functions like a sponge, and is held in the water inside the body, resulting in less urination.
The same can be said for oral liquid-liquid solutions used to treat diarrhea. These contain small amounts of sugar, as well as sodium and potassium. This also helps to promote fluid retention in the body.
Ranked Most Moisturized Beverage
A research team at St Andrews University tested 13 popular beverages to see how they affect hydration. What they find is ranked from most hydration over a period of four hours.
“This study tells us a lot of what we already know: electrolytes like sodium and potassium contribute to better water, but the calories in drinks reduce stomach emptiness and thus slow urination release.”
But here it becomes tricky. Drinks with more concentrated sugar, such as fruit juice and cola, are not necessarily as hydrating as low-sugar cousins. They spend a little more time in the stomach and are empty more slowly than regular water, but when these drinks enter the small intestine, the high concentration of sugar is diluted during a physiological process called permeation. This process essentially “pulls” water from the body into the small intestine to dilute the sugars that these drinks contain. And technically, everything in your gut is outside your body.
Juice and soda not only provide less hydration, but also provide extra sugar and calories that don’t satisfy us as solid foods, Majumdar explained. If your choice is between soda and water for hydration, use water each time. After all, our kidneys and liver rely on water to remove toxins from our body, and water plays an important role in maintaining skin elasticity and supply. It is the cheapest moisturizer you will find.
It remains hydrated, but doing so will lubricate the joints, prevent infection and help transport nutrients to the cells. Most of the time, people don’t need to worry too much about hydrating their drinks.
“If you’re thirsty, your body will tell you to drink more,” Morgan said. However, hydration is a serious problem for athletes who train seriously in warm conditions with high sweat loss, or for those who can negatively affect cognitive functions by working long hours without a drink break.
Can beer and lattes help me stay hydrated?
As alcohol acts as a diuretic and allows more urine to pass through, when it comes to alcoholic beverages, hydration depends on the total amount of drinks. “Beer loses less water than whiskey because it consumes more liquids from beer,” Morgan said. “Strong alcoholic drinks dehydrate, and diluted alcoholic drinks do not dehydrate.”
When it comes to coffee, your Java hydration depends on how much caffeine you consume. Regular coffee with about 80 milligrams of caffeine – what you can find in 12 oz. Maughan’s research shows that Folgers’ home blends – are almost as hydrated as water.
Consuming more than 300 mg of caffeine, or about 2-4 cups of coffee, can lead to excessive liquid loss, as caffeine causes mild, short-term diuretic effects. This is likely to happen in people who don’t normally consume caffeine, and can be offset by adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk to the jaw cup.
This story was originally released in September 2019. Updated.
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