Juice and soda are not only less hydrating, but offer extra sugars and calories that won't fill us up as much as solid foods, explained Majumdar. If the choice is between soda and water for hydration, go with water every time.
Nutrients experts recommend 8 glasses of water per day while limiting soda or better yet, avoiding it altogether. Firstly, soda is caffeinated and high levels of caffeine may lead to dehydration. Water has the opposite effect, it is calorie free and hydrating and the benefits are priceless.
Do caffeinated drinks like Coca‑Cola count towards my recommended daily water intake? Yes. Sparkling soft drinks, including reduced and no sugar, no calorie options, contain between 85% and 99% water, which means they can help quench thirst and count towards your recommended daily fluid intake.
Water has no calories, so it can also help with managing body weight and reducing calorie intake when substituted for drinks with calories, such as sweet tea or regular soda. Water helps your body: Keep a normal temperature. Lubricate and cushion joints.
While both diet soda and water have zero calories, water doesn't have the artificial sweeteners that have been associated with increased calorie intake. The bottom line is that water is that whether being physically active or not, consuming water will help keep the body more hydrated than diet soda.
Soda doesn't replace any of the water you lose—in fact, because it increases your body's production of urine, it makes dehydration worse. One 12 ounce soda contains 45 milligrams of caffeine—that's double the amount of caffeine in a standard cup of coffee.
Health impact
In the U.S., community water sources have added fluoride to levels designed to prevent tooth decay. Regularly rinsing with and drinking tap water helps keep your mouth clean of bacteria. Tooth decay is preventable but still one of the most common chronic diseases that affect U.S. children and adolescents.
Water has the essential nutrients that are required for a healthy body and no other drink can replace them. Water flushes out harmful substances from the body, making your internal system clean.
Juice, smoothies, iced coffee, ice tea, protein shakes, milk, and other drinks can be excellent alternatives to water. You should avoid relying too much on drinks with a high sugar content, such as soda, certain fruit juces, energy drinks and chocolate milk.
When your blood sugar levels are running high, your body will try to flush excess sugar out of your blood through the urine. As a result, your body will need more fluids to rehydrate itself. Drinking water can help the body with flushing out some of the glucose in the blood.
According to the Daily Mail, the 31-year old Monaco woman drank only soda since just after puberty. The woman had no prior family history of heart conditions, but she also admitted that in addition to exclusively drinking soda she had not consumed water since the age of 15.
A can of soda may seem to quench your thirst, but the caffeine contained in most popular drinks is a diuretic, which can cause dehydration. The high levels of sodium and sugar in soda can also contribute to dehydration.
There are 37 grams (g) of added sugar, which equates to almost 10 teaspoons (tsp), in a single can of cola. For optimal health, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend consuming no more than 6 tsp of added sugar daily. By drinking just one serving of cola a day, a person will easily exceed this amount.
An occasional diet soft drink won't kill you, but a daily — or even an every-other-day — habit may wreak havoc on your taste buds, making it harder for you to lose or maintain a healthy weight, points out Coates.
Even one or two colas a day could increase your risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 20%. Sugar intake is linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and excess fat, all of which increase the risk of heart disease. Colas and other sugary drinks have been linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
Water is the best choice for quenching your thirst. Coffee and tea, without added sweeteners, are healthy choices, too. Some beverages should be limited or consumed in moderation, including fruit juice, milk, and those made with low-calorie sweeteners, like diet drinks.
Green tea is generally considered the healthiest beverage globally due to its high levels of nutrients and antioxidants that fight off diseases and keep your organ functioning at its optimum level.
Eating one meal a day can increase your blood pressure and cholesterol. This occurred in a group of healthy adults who switched to one meal a day to participate in a study. If you already have concerns in either area, eating just once a day might not be safe. Eating one meal late can cause your blood sugar to spike.
Milk is more hydrating than water
For example, milk was found to be even more hydrating than plain water because it contains the sugar lactose, some protein and some fat, all of which help to slow the emptying of fluid from the stomach and keep hydration happening over a longer period.
People who don't drink enough water every day are at greater risk of kidney stones, problems with their heart valves and some kinds of cancer. Even minor dehydration can affect physical and mental performance. Drinking water is also essential for the health of your mouth.
The body needs lots of water to carry out many essential functions, such as balancing the internal temperature and keeping cells alive. As a general rule of thumb, a person can survive without water for about 3 days.