Can I count coffee as water?

[LarryTheGreat]

I drink about 32-48 ounces of coffee per day.  Can I count this toward my water goal?

[Odyssey13]

This is a controversial question, LarryTheGreat! Here is a link to one thread where it was discussed.

To get myself started on drinking more, I include anything that is liquid, including coffee, tea, soda and juice. Many people only count pure water, but for me, it's helped to see just how much I'm drinking in a day.

Welcome to the Forums!

[Kmheidemann]

Hi- 

A couple things- are you drinking your coffee black? If you are adding cream, then I wouldn't count that as water. Also, if it's decaf, you are good to go. If its got caffeine, don't count that as water. Same with tea, if you are drinking decaf tea, it's okay, but once you add things like milk and sugar and caffeine, it's not the same anymore 😞

I also wouldn't count juice as water. A lot of people think juice is really good for you because it's made of fruit, which is sort of true (the vitamins are good) but they can be loaded with sugar. 

I would check out Mio, it's a concentrate that you add to water for flavoring, but no calories or sugar. I like lemonade the best! 

Suck that water down, it's what you're made of!

[gerrymcd]

Sure you can.  But, why have a water goal in the first place?  

[LarryTheGreat]

Well, I believe a water goal is a good thing to help you flush your body and keep your system healthy.  

Having said that, I don't see how running water through coffee grounds renders it unfit to be called water. There is no real evidence supporting the notion that the so-called diuretic effect of coffee or tea is in any way significant, so it seems to me that coffee is water.  If I add a little half and half I log it as calories consumed, but I also count it as water.

References:  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19774754

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559762_2

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2014/02/27/3951831.htm

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/coffee-hydrates-as-well-as-water-study-finds/

[Odyssey13]

@LarryTheGreat   Another thread, @SpikedHolly  posted this from Weight Watchers and it counted coffee.

Like I said before, this is controversial!

And we're each free to decide how to measure our water consumption.

Some water tastes bad and needs those coffee grounds!

[GarryM]

Only when I can start counting beer as water...

[LisaDoha]

A diabetic relative was told by a doctor to make sure she drinks lots of water. She wasn't keen on water but drank about 10 cups of tea a day. The doctor said this was fine as the diuretic effects of the caffeine in the tea are out weighed by the volume of water you are consuming. 

If you look at your pee after drinking coffee or tea all day, it is a smilier colour to when you drink water all day. Meaning the water levels in your blood are high, and so your kidneys are working hard to lower them. So you are hydrated. The caffeine means it's not as good a hydration as water, but you are still hydrated. 

Clearly water should be everyone first choice for hydration but I think it's ok to count a cup of tea or coffee as water, just remember to include the milk, cream or sugar in your calorie count! 

[kdennis250]

there are many points of theory out there that say coffee/caffeine can lead to dehydration - basically the opposite of water.

i'd say thats a huge NO to can you count it as water - water is water.

[LarryTheGreat]

All of the theories of which you speak are outdated and have been thoroughly debunked.  Caffeine as a dehydration agent is especially a myth in chronic consumers as the body develops a tolerance which diminishes the already insignificant effect.  You have subscribed to an old wive's tale for which there is no basis in fact and has been shown in *many* scientifically conducted studies to be, in fact, false.

References:  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19774754

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559762_2

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2014/02/27/3951831.htm

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/coffee-hydrates-as-well-as-water-study-finds/

[kamalchatila]

I wish i love coffee but no it has more calories much more calories than water, you should drink water more often because it helps you lose weight and lose calories

[LarryTheGreat]

Coffee has no more calories than water.  If you add cream and/or sugar, that's a different story, but it's still flavored water.  Log the calories -- and the water.

Larry

[Danielle87]

Caffeine is also a dieuretic which will may you urinate more, and caffeine also dehydrates you, so NO it does not replace water!!

[LarryTheGreat]

Caffeine is a mild dieuretic, but it is insignificant. In addition, like all drugs, chronic users build a resistance to the effects which diminishes the already small effect of dehydration.  Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to have no significant effects on hydration.  Scientific studies (check the references below), conducted by respected institutions, show conclusively that the concept that coffee will dehydrate a person is an old wive's tale -- to which you have subscribed.  Please don't drink the cool-aid, but, if you do, log it as water.  

Larry

References:  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19774754

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559762_2

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2014/02/27/3951831.htm

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/coffee-hydrates-as-well-as-water-study-finds/

[kdennis250]

i don't understand the point of posting this in the first place if you didn't want anyones opinion lol. there are countless people stating that only water is water - in a bunch of different threads other than yours at that. anything else is you lying to yourself. at the end of the day just choose what you want to do, but why make a thread that isn't to really ask a question but to let everyone know how you read a couple research posts and had your decision made already. its just silly and argumentative in my opinion. good luck tough! hopefully you are also drinking water throughout the day as well, and not just coffee 🙂

something to keep in mind is while i'm sure there are many research projects that say coffee wont dehydrate, etc.....there are probably just as many that say it does. i would suggest reading both of them to get a good viewpoint for opposing sides. i'm sure that they werent written by old wives either, but actual specialists in their field.

i know i used to pee like a race horse when i'd drink only a cup in the morning. my personal viewpoint is stop reading and listen to your body. how do you feel when you stop drinking it and detox from the caffeine addiction? then add one cup back in and note the changes to your body. i'm POSITIVE you will find you are shakey, heart beats faster, lots of urination, followed by a crash. its basically a drug, albeit not a horrible one, but still it is a drug that is addicting and its a stimulant, its not water, water doesnt do any of that. 😉

also a good idea is to read what large quantities of caffine do to your system and the long term health factors of it. kinda frightening.

[leebee]

I am all about the Cherry Coke Zero. It fills my bottomless need for sweets without any fat or calories! However, that being said, I never count my dirty little drink as water. If you look on the label, the first ingredient in my soda is carbonated water, however even though when my body is making water  it is pretty much no color at all, I am also drinking 64 ounces of plain old water a day. With all that being said, even when I was younger and way more foolish (Like a year ago!) I didn't drink water at all for quite a few months. I only drank soda and the occasional Starbucks tall hot chocolate, my urine was still nearly clear. 

Conclusion:

I still drink plain water 64 ounces at least a day, and enjoy my soda as a yummy sweetness that doesn't give me any added calories like See's candy would. I don't think that coffee and soda dehydrate you to the extreme they once were thought to have. If that were true I'd never have to take a potty break when driving the ten hours down to California!

[LarryTheGreat]

First things first.  I posted the question because I wanted to hear what people thought.  After receiving several answers, I decided to do a simple Google search and was surprised at what I found.  As far as I can tell there are absolutely no scientific studies that show there is any real dehydration associated with coffee.  None.  There are a lot of people saying there is, but nothing to back it up.  True, caffeine is a dieuretic, but a very mild one and regular coffee drinkers build up a tolerance to it which reduces the effect.  What studies I did find show that coffee and water are about the same in terms of hydration.  The body retains about 80% of water consumed and about 80% of coffee as well.

So having found this out, I felt compelled to post what I found.  I am only trying to point out that the common assumption that coffee causes dehydration has no basis in fact.  It bothers me to see people making decisions based on fallacies that sound true because they are stated so often.  You suggest that I read studies from both sides, but I have found no studies at all that say coffee causes dehydration.

The fact that there are people in other threads stating that only water is water is meaningless if they have no scientific basis for their statements.  You may as well call a dog a horse -- it's still a dog, but if you say it's a horse and get enough people to agree with you then you might be able to sell that dog for the price of a horse.  But it's still a dog.

So now, when I run into people such as yourself that post based on what you believe instead of what you know I simply point out that I have references for the information on which I base my decisions.  Maybe it will make a difference and maybe it won't, but I'll keep trying.

In terms of the long term health effects of coffee, you say it's frightening.  On what do you base this statement?  Do you have references, or is it just something you believe to be true?   I urge you to read this article: 

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/coffee/ .  

You may be surprised at what you learn.  Which is the point of posting this in the first place.  I wanted to gain information, and now that I have I want to share it.  I offer only what I consider reliable and scientific information.  You, of course -- as you point out, can believe what you want.

[kdennis250]

No i spoke of Caffeine not Coffee, if you read my post again you'll see that i was speaking of that.

i am of the mind that water is water, the end. however, i do agree with the one poster that said if you wanted to log coffee/tea that is DECAF then i think the differences are negligible, its not what i would do, but i can see someone doing it and it being basically about the same.

if you are drinking regular coffee then as i said, do some research on caffeine.

[LarryTheGreat]

I too love both Cherry and regular Coke Zero.  And I count it as water, but I also drink 40-60 oz of water a day. Life is good and there's no reason not to enjoy a treat now and then.  Water is water, but then so are most water based drinks.

Larry

[gerrymcd]

I don't get the 'only water is water' argument either.  We get a lot of water from fruits and veg - to the point its easy to turn an organge or a melon into juice!  Its all down to net fluid intake.  If you eat a diet filled with the above, rather than a bunch of dried crackers you will actually only need to drink a relatively small amount of additoinal fluid to remain fully hydrated - whether this is coffee, soda, wine or water is moot.