This have been a very talked about topic over the past several years. Personally, I am not a coffee drinker, but I do drink a decent amount of tea. I did not think anything of it until my friends were constantly saying, “Lauren, you shouldn’t be drinking so much tea, it dehydrates you.” Or, people would say: “Don’t drink tea every day because your body will become dehydrated.” In reality, this is just a myth.

According to Huffington Post, the only way tea will dehydrate you is if you are overdoing it by consistently drinking it multiple times a day. If you have a couple cups of tea a day, this will not harm your body in any way. Caffeine is more likely to dehydrate you in contrast to tea, which actually ends up leaving you more hydrated. Katherine Zeratsky from Mayo Clinic reports that taking in three to five cups of coffee daily could potentially pose a risk for dehydration.

According to Claudia Hammond from BBC (British Broadcasting Organization), “Every day people around the globe drink 1.6 billion cups of coffee and around twice as many cups of tea.” People are satisfied with tea because it includes caffeine that helps wake them up in the mornings and during the day. We know that the recommended daily intake of water is about eight glasses a day, and usually we think that tea is not included in these eight glasses of water because they “dehydrate” you. Is there any factual evidence to prove this though?

There has not been very many or recent studies about caffeine and links to dehydration. The last known study is from the year 1928. Three men were experimented over the course of two winter seasons. Some were ordered to drink up to four cups of caffeine a day, ranging from coffee to tea to water secured with caffeine. The study found that the men who drank only the water laced with caffeine and nothing else, their urine volume went up by 50%. However, when these men began to drink coffee on a daily basis, their urine production increased. Although this study shows a correlation between caffeine and urine production, it does not show any type of direct causality that tea in particular causes dehydration.

Also, there was a rare study performed that had people consume solely tea for a twelve hour period. There was no difference at all between the people that consumed the tea and people who consumed the same amount of boiled water. So, the hydration levels between these two groups of individuals did not differ. This was a randomized control experiment.

Below is a picture showing the amount of caffeine in coffee vs tea. As you can see from the image, there is a much higher caffeine content in different types of coffee than tea. This leads to the point that tea does not have as many substances (potentially harmful) that are being put into your body.

Another study was conducted by in 2000 by Researchers at The Center for Human Nutrition in Ohama. The experiment looked at eighteen men who drank different caffeinated and decaffeinated beverages. From the results of the study, scientists determined that there was no difference (at least significant findings) in the hydration levels in the males. Due to this, there should not be a reason why we should avoid caffeinated drinks, especially tea all the time.

Overall, the theory that tea dehydrates you is a myth. There are other things to worry about when it comes to tea. According to an article from Live Strong, the more serious side effects of over-drinking tea is irritability, anxiety, a faster heartbeat, and difficulties in sleeping. These things should be more looked into rather than the myth that tea dehydrates you. Just don’t go overboard with drinking caffeine and there are no worries!

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140402-are-coffee-and-tea-dehydrating

http://www.livestrong.com/article/524680-does-tea-have-a-dehydrating-effect/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/dehydration-myths_n_3498380.html