Sorry, but that is not true. Coffee does not count because it acts as a diuretic, I believe you are supposed to drink 2 cups of water for every cup of coffee to make up for it.
All liquids and even water-containing foods "count."
Even coffee (no matter how strong you make it) contains more water than it can push out of your body. An 8 oz cup of coffee might for example be equal to a 7 oz glass of water, definitely not a negative 24 oz (I doubt even straight grounds could do that). It most definitely does not put you in a water deficit, so no "extra" has to be taken in to "compensate." The more often you use caffeine, the less diuretic effect it has.
My mother was hospitalized with water intoxication, primarily because she believed that coffee didn't count (if she had thought she had to drink 2 glasses of water to "compensate" it would have been much worse). She was only drinking about a gallon of liquid a day. Her 10 glasses of water WW recommended, plus 2 to 3 glasses of milk, and a few cups of coffee.
She had flu-like symptoms and was a bit light-headed/confused. My dad was an EMT and still thought it was probably the flu, but if it hadn't been for the confusion scaring him they wouldn't have taken her in to the ER and she probably would have died. As it was, she was in the hospital for a week as they tried to balance her electrolytes, and has permanently damaged kidneys as a result of the water intoxication. The kidney specialist called in, told her that her blood pressure medication put her at a higher risk than the average person. She was not on an uncommon medication, and it was a very low dose. Even so, the doctor said he is seeing water intoxication more often even in healthy people not taking meds which he blames on all of the water and caffeine myths out there. As he pointed out, there are people who drink nothing but coffee, and if caffeine were as dehydrating as rumored, these people would die within a few days (they absolutely do not).
He told us "everything counts" and a person could even get all of their water requirement from food if they ate enough "wet" food. Your body has absolutely no difficulty pulling water from food and liquids. Not only is drinking "pure water" not a distinct advantage, even water isn't "just water," it all has particulate matter in it. Distilled water is the only "just water" water and it is not recommended as drinking water (besides tasting nasty it might actually leach minerals from your body). The kidney specialist told my mother and I (since I'm on the same medication) that we should consider 3 quarts of liquid (from all sources) as our maximum. He said there really isn't any need for anyone except some extreme athletes (which have to add back electrolytes or face water intoxication as well) to drink more than 3 quarts of fluids, but stresses over and over (even now at mom's checkups) that all liquids, even coffee, milk, soup and watermelon definitely do "count"
Extremely helpful! thank you so much for this very detailed answer. I think that about covers it, eh?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaplods
All liquids and even water-containing foods "count."
Even coffee (no matter how strong you make it) contains more water than it can push out of your body. An 8 oz cup of coffee might for example be equal to a 7 oz glass of water, definitely not a negative 24 oz (I doubt even straight grounds could do that). It most definitely does not put you in a water deficit, so no "extra" has to be taken in to "compensate." The more often you use caffeine, the less diuretic effect it has.
My mother was hospitalized with water intoxication, primarily because she believed that coffee didn't count (if she had thought she had to drink 2 glasses of water to "compensate" it would have been much worse). She was only drinking about a gallon of liquid a day. Her 10 glasses of water WW recommended, plus 2 to 3 glasses of milk, and a few cups of coffee.
She had flu-like symptoms and was a bit light-headed/confused. My dad was an EMT and still thought it was probably the flu, but if it hadn't been for the confusion scaring him they wouldn't have taken her in to the ER and she probably would have died. As it was, she was in the hospital for a week as they tried to balance her electrolytes, and has permanently damaged kidneys as a result of the water intoxication. The kidney specialist called in, told her that her blood pressure medication put her at a higher risk than the average person. She was not on an uncommon medication, and it was a very low dose. Even so, the doctor said he is seeing water intoxication more often even in healthy people not taking meds which he blames on all of the water and caffeine myths out there. As he pointed out, there are people who drink nothing but coffee, and if caffeine were as dehydrating as rumored, these people would die within a few days (they absolutely do not).
He told us "everything counts" and a person could even get all of their water requirement from food if they ate enough "wet" food. Your body has absolutely no difficulty pulling water from food and liquids. Not only is drinking "pure water" not a distinct advantage, even water isn't "just water," it all has particulate matter in it. Distilled water is the only "just water" water and it is not recommended as drinking water (besides tasting nasty it might actually leach minerals from your body). The kidney specialist told my mother and I (since I'm on the same medication) that we should consider 3 quarts of liquid (from all sources) as our maximum. He said there really isn't any need for anyone except some extreme athletes (which have to add back electrolytes or face water intoxication as well) to drink more than 3 quarts of fluids, but stresses over and over (even now at mom's checkups) that all liquids, even coffee, milk, soup and watermelon definitely do "count"
water question
Any liquid counts 
