Coffee and Hydration

Today is National Hydration Day and the question we should ask is, are you drinking enough fluids?

You hear all kind of things about the effects of drinking coffee, one which you hear a lot is that it doesn’t help with keep your body healthily hydrated. Doctors recommend that every adult should drink around 2 litres of water daily and yet coffee, which is 98 per cent water, is not one of those drinks that naturally comes to the forefront when thinking of proper hydration.

This could be because drinking coffee is a mild diuretic and yes it does cause you to use the bathroom. So, the theory goes that you use the bathroom more often you are naturally passing water, ergo you are less hydrated than before drinking coffee. This theory has some merits but also some detractors too, after all 98 per cent of the volume of your coffee cup is hot water.

What has recently been proven is that it is not the coffee per se that you drink it is the relative quantity of caffeine within it that makes the difference between good and bad hydration levels. More caffeine in your system, the more runs to the toilet we make.  An average daily intake of 300mg of caffeine is associated with a 15 per cent fluid loss.

Almost everyone, however, agrees that whilst coffee tastes great it is not a great hydrator, with tea better and water, made up of…well 100 per cent water…is undoubtedly the very best and most natural hydration source.