Hey coffee lover,
Is coffee a diuretic?
When I set about researching this article, I was quite sure I knew the answer from personal experience. After all, my morning routine is to drink a cup of coffee and then pee 8000 times before lunch.
But when you dig a little harder into the science, as I love to do, the result is a bit more nuanced.
A diuretic is any substance that increases urine production. Caffeine is definitely a diuretic. But coffee is not caffeine; coffee is a drink that is 98% water. So, on balance, it is actually hydrating.
Then it gets more complicated, as is often the case with processes in the human body. Too much coffee (more than 5 cups) becomes dehydrating. I won't go into the details of that study here, but you can find them (plus the original journal report) in the full article.
You can also learn why caffeine is a diuretic, how long coffee's diuretic effect lasts, what to expect from a decaf brew, and more in this look at...
Long story short? Enjoy your coffee, but maybe don't use it to fill your water bottle for a long run on a hot day.
Julia
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.