eli5, why isn’t drinking a liter of coffee, a liter of beer, and a liter of water as good as 3 liters of water?
In: Biology
Depends a little on the context, of course, but coffee and beer have a diuretic effect, along with everything else; in short, you’re going to rid yourself of more water faster after the combo than you would with drinking just water.
3 liters of anything is a bit much in one go, though.
No idea, really. Maybe _because_ your body has to process different liquids differently?
Alcohol and caffeine make you lose more water through sweat and urine than regular water does.
Alcohol and Caffeine are both diuretics. Meaning, you’ll urinate more often, the more is in your system. However, when combined (say, drinking a caffeinated beer), the caffeine not only accelerates the inebriation, but it also ramps up your urination frequency.
Two of those contain impurities that the body will want to flush out. In other words, they’re diuretics.
That said, the effects of caffeine are dramatically overstated. While the coffee may not be as hydrating as water, it isn’t the desiccant many seem to think. If you ingest enough caffeine to lose more water than you take in, odds are Tachycardia will be a bigger issue than dehydration.
Beer: we need 20 water units to expel 1 of alcohol. Beer will just make you pee a lot without hydrating you.
Coffee: forces your body to be awake, you don’t rest and get too tired and then you need more coffee to be active, in a loop. While this happens, your liver is working to remove the caffeine from your blood.
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