I can't bring myself to drink 8 glasses of water a day as reconmended. I drink alot of tea about 6-8mugs a day. Can this count as drinking 8 glasses of water? Tea is mostly made of water anyway & I do have as huge mug!!
2007-02-01 06:30:17 · 22 answers · asked by Dannie 5 in Food & Drink ➔ Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Hi Dannie, sometimes I find water just too plain myself, but if you're really thirsty, nothing can beat it. I've had a lot of trouble with this fluid issue myself, but I can tell you this much.
1. As you're used to drinking that much tea, any diuretic effect it has on you will likely be negligible, so strictly speaking yes, it should count to your fluid intake. I think though that medical folk just like us to get more variety in our fluid sources, perhaps to increase the range of nutrients we get.
2. If your urine is clear, you're almost certainly drinking enough fluids, but as it goes yellow or darker, you are less hydrated.
3. You'll hear this a lot from alternative therapy folk: tea can stop you getting nutrients from your meals. Well, having checked with the Food Standards Agency, I discovered this one claim is actually true. You're advised not to drink tea till at least 30 mins. before or after a meal, or vitamin & mineral supplements. Iron particularly is affected by this, whereas Vitamin C as in Orange juice increases your absorption of Iron.
4. Just a wee aside (I'm educating all my inquisitors tonight) the substance that aborbs the iron in your tea is tannin, or tannic acid. Apparently it's useful for absorbing poisons if you've accidentally eaten any. See John Wiseman's "SAS Survival Handbook".
If you're really still confused, badger your doctor the next time you see them. Oh, and ask them for me, does my Mum's home-made soup count, or the milk in my serial?
2007-02-01 07:22:31 · answer #1 · answered by andrew m 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
'Fraid not as the experts say that you have to process the tea to get the water and tea is a diuretic.
Personally I can't understand why a creature that supposedly evolved in jungles and then moved on to savanna should have such a high water requirement as a litre a day. Do apes and other primates need as much as this (proportion to their body weight) or has some boffin come up with this in a lab somewhere? In which case the 8 glasses a day may be completely wrong. Drinking is a dangerous business for creatures as they visit the same waterholes as predators, and lets face it, the early hominids must have been easy targets.
There is also a theory that we went back to the sea for a bit which explains why we are alone in the primates for our body fat, salt tears and our webbed fingers and toes (in comparison to other primates).
I have up on this one too, but strangely drink a lot of water when in office buildings.
Anyway, tea rules. Tea power. Black tea stops you getting cancer, so there.
2007-02-01 07:08:47 · answer #2 · answered by tagette 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No of course not ,8 mugs of tea is equal to 8 mugs of water ,
tea is just flavored water ,so is coffee ,and almost anything else that is liquid
the doctor says drink liquids ,not nesscarily water
2007-02-01 06:40:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it contains caffeine, it can actually have the opposite effect. In other words, for every cup of tea you drink, you have to drink 2 glasses of water just to make up for it.
If no caffeine, yes. However, be careful of the other ingredients in tea that can be harmful in quantity.
2007-02-01 06:38:52 · answer #4 · answered by Jay 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is counted towards the recommended daily intake of fluids. Water is good for flushing out your system, the body takes various nutrients etc out of tea (and most other drinks). It is a diuretic, therefore you'll probably find yourself going to the toilet alot. This is not detrimental to your health aslong as you keep to your 2 - 3 litres of fluids a day.
2007-02-01 06:46:04 · answer #5 · answered by l0bster_quadrille 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Are you drinking decaf tea? If so, You're probably ok. If your tea has caffeine in it, remember this: caffeine is a diuretic. It'll cause you to lose alot (most) of the benefits of the water. So cut out the caffeine.
2007-02-01 06:40:08 · answer #6 · answered by diannegoodwin@sbcglobal.net 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sadly no because tea isn't as pure as water and tea can't be absorbed by the body in the same way water can. Besides you'll still burn off calories running back and for to the loo! LOL
Would be great though, cause I drink about 8 cups of coffee.....
2007-02-01 06:35:43 · answer #7 · answered by Minky 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
As far as liquid volume is concerned, it is pretty much the same. The drawback is that the caffeine that is in the tea makes you pass even more water, so that yiur kidneys are overworking. In short, instead of maintaining a healthy moisture and fluid balance, you are focing your self to dehydrate.
2007-02-01 06:42:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
This was discussed a couple of weeks back in TV news and the experts say tea/coffee is equivalent to drinking water but that just water is much better for you.
2007-02-01 06:41:06 · answer #9 · answered by Angelfish 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That is alot of tea! I drink alot of iced tea my self. I wish that would count as water, unfortunally not. We can pretend it does,lol.
2007-02-01 07:12:53 · answer #10 · answered by Brandy 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋