Tea and coffee - bad for hydration?

rodgers73

In general I avoid caffeine (decaf coffee, red bush tea etc) but wondered if this actually has an impact on my overall hydration levels or is it a bit of a waste of time?

thiscocks

Why do you avoid it?

rodgers73

Been told it dehydrates you. By now it gives me a headache if I drink it anyway. Just wondered if this is correct or a myth?

dirtymonkey1985

If you drink more than 500mg a day then it is a diuretic which can cause dehydration, under that and it's fine. But if your drinking that much daily you'd probably get worse side effects.

ShutUpLegs

How much sugar do you put in it?

adm1

Any idea how much caffeine in a pint of PG Tips?

I drink gallons of the stuff daily (no sugar) and have always considered it to be hydrating.

"Gallons" may be an exaggeration - but a single gallon probably wouldn't be as I have a one pint mug. I normally have a couple of pints of tea before going out riding and haven't noticed any ill effects.

dirtymonkey1985

As far as I remember it's between 30-70mg. I might be wrong as it was a while ago since I was at college

adm1

dirtymonkey1985 wrote:

As far as I remember it's between 30-70mg. I might be wrong as it was a while ago since I was at college

Hmm....sounds like I am on or under the limit then.

Good. Let's have another cuppa.

jibberjim

No, coffee won't dehydrate you, 'cos there's a load of water there aswell as a very very mild diuretic.

rodgers73

ShutUpLegs wrote:

How much sugar do you put in it?

Usually none

Tri-ing

jibberjim wrote:

No, coffee won't dehydrate you, 'cos there's a load of water there aswell as a very very mild diuretic.

^this.

If you were massively dehydrated and wanted to rehydrate, tea/coffee not really the best because of it's mild diuretic effect. However, this is massively outweighed by the fact you've drunk the best part of 500ml/a pint/whatever of water

le_boss

No it doesnt dehydrate you, but be wary of how much tea and coffee you drink because you get addicted to caffeine very quickly.

Try drinking only decaff for a few days - you will know after the first 36 hours if you were addicted to caffeine because you get an absolutely agony headache (lasts for about 3-4 days).

patbriggsmbr

Think you may find its not a dietetic as you may think, it can however irritate the bladder which makes you want to pee.

rodgers73

Normal tea leaves me with a very dry mouth though. I wondered if this was a "sign"!

Herbsman

le_boss wrote:

No it doesnt dehydrate you, but be wary of how much tea and coffee you drink because you get addicted to caffeine very quickly.

Try drinking only decaff for a few days - you will know after the first 36 hours if you were addicted to caffeine because you get an absolutely agony headache (lasts for about 3-4 days).

I went for a week without. No headache and I felt better in the mornings but I had considerable cravings and felt really tired by lunchtime.

dw300

Tri-ing wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

No, coffee won't dehydrate you, 'cos there's a load of water there aswell as a very very mild diuretic.

^this.

If you were massively dehydrated and wanted to rehydrate, tea/coffee not really the best because of it's mild diuretic effect. However, this is massively outweighed by the fact you've drunk the best part of 500ml/a pint/whatever of water

These^

Such is the power of marketing companies, or sources with an ulterior motives, that there's a lot of misleading 'science' about.

I reckon this notion also comes from the fact that alcohol is a diuretic, and people are aware of potentially how bad you can feel after drinking a lot of that. However iirc, the hangover is mostly due to the large volumes of alcohol washing so much of the salt out of your system, as well as leading you to sleep for extended periods that your body isn't used to which could cause some dehydration that compounds the diuretic effect. This is why a salty kebab or electrolyte drink after a night out can take the edge off, or stop a hangover. I've head that rowers at the local club enjoy several 'vodka and Hi-5s' as their tipple of choice!

Herbsman

dw300 wrote:

Tri-ing wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

No, coffee won't dehydrate you, 'cos there's a load of water there aswell as a very very mild diuretic.

^this.

If you were massively dehydrated and wanted to rehydrate, tea/coffee not really the best because of it's mild diuretic effect. However, this is massively outweighed by the fact you've drunk the best part of 500ml/a pint/whatever of water

These^

Such is the power of marketing companies, or sources with an ulterior motives, that there's a lot of misleading 'science' about.

I reckon this notion also comes from the fact that alcohol is a diuretic, and people are aware of potentially how bad you can feel after drinking a lot of that. However iirc, the hangover is mostly due to the large volumes of alcohol washing so much of the salt out of your system, as well as leading you to sleep for extended periods that your body isn't used to which could cause some dehydration that compounds the diuretic effect. This is why a salty kebab or electrolyte drink after a night out can take the edge off, or stop a hangover. I've head that rowers at the local club enjoy several 'vodka and Hi-5s' as their tipple of choice!

large volumes of alcohol washing salt out of your system. Right. Ok.

Cleat Eastwood

I drink about 3 pints of tea a day and its great.

dw300

Herbsman wrote:

large volumes of alcohol washing salt out of your system. Right. Ok.

Read 'fluid', rather than 'alcohol'. I'm not saying it's a factor every time, but if people with less bodyweight drink several litres of fluid, especially if it's a diuretic, you can get dehydrated and cause an electrolyte imbalance, a mild state of hyponatremia, which can cause headaches and nausea, essentially the same symptoms as a hangover. This is why you're recommended to drink sports drinks rather than just water on long or intense rides. It's the same principle except you sweat them out on a ride, and piss them out on a pub-crawl.

d87heaven

No matter how much you drink you will dehydrate unless you have salt in the body. Once the salt is gone you stop being able to use the fluid. Then people drink more, but this then just passes through or sits in the stomach giving you a bloated feeling. Lots of people don't have enough salt as we are now told its bad. Get a set of scales that measure your fluid, ok they aren't 100 % accurate but anything under 60% means you need to get the hydration levels up. And this may mean cutting back on tea/coffee or drinking more water etc . If you take squash/water on a ride just add a pinch of salt.

ric/rstsport

in general there's a fair amount of evidence to suggest that caffeine has an ergogenic effect on performance, everything from glycogen sparing through to being a positive help and also some health benefits (i think i may have seen something about it being associated with a reduced incidence of alzheimers).

caffeine is mildly deiuretic but once you become habituated to caffeine this wears off. i wouldn't worry about drinking tea or coffee pre or post exercise (and indeed there's a whole stack of gels you can get that have caffeine in for use during exercise)

ric

slowsider

http://www.highfive.co.uk/reviews/caffeine_review.pdf

Herbsman

dw300 wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

large volumes of alcohol washing salt out of your system. Right. Ok.

Read 'fluid', rather than 'alcohol'. I'm not saying it's a factor every time, but if people with less bodyweight drink several litres of fluid, especially if it's a diuretic, you can get dehydrated and cause an electrolyte imbalance, a mild state of hyponatremia, which can cause headaches and nausea, essentially the same symptoms as a hangover. This is why you're recommended to drink sports drinks rather than just water on long or intense rides. It's the same principle except you sweat them out on a ride, and wee-wee them out on a pub-crawl.

Yes. Well it's important to write what you actually mean, rather than expecting people to read a different word to what you actually wrote.

dw300

Herbsman wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

large volumes of alcohol washing salt out of your system. Right. Ok.

Read 'fluid', rather than 'alcohol'. I'm not saying it's a factor every time, but if people with less bodyweight drink several litres of fluid, especially if it's a diuretic, you can get dehydrated and cause an electrolyte imbalance, a mild state of hyponatremia, which can cause headaches and nausea, essentially the same symptoms as a hangover. This is why you're recommended to drink sports drinks rather than just water on long or intense rides. It's the same principle except you sweat them out on a ride, and wee-wee them out on a pub-crawl.

Yes. Well it's important to write what you actually mean, rather than expecting people to read a different word to what you actually wrote.

Fair point .. my copy-checker has been given 50 lashes, he'll not make that mistake again! ;

rodgers73

How does Coke/Diet Coke compare? Is that a higher dosage than tea and coffee?

slowsider

rodgers73 wrote:

How does Coke/Diet Coke compare? Is that a higher dosage than tea and coffee?

Did you click the link I gave you ? :?: :roll:

rodgers73

I have now. Puzzling figures though - if I have a cup of normal tea I'm ok but if I have a can of Diet Coke I get a headache. Yet your link suggests there is the same caffeine levels in both drinks.

rodgers73

Maybe the fizz in the Coke gets the caffeine into your bloodstream quicker than ordinary tea? Like champagne gets you drunk quick.

slowsider

Only if you drink it with a straw