The ‘common wisdom’ I have heard most of my life is that regular water is more healthy than other beverages. There is almost an assumption that water will help remove toxins from your body and help your body function well, which I don’t get because why wouldn’t any liquid have that effect? Why would water be different from Hi-C?
Does it really make a difference what you drink as long as you are hydrated? Does water have any properties that makes it a superior beverage for health reasons?
Not only that, but teas and coffee supposedly have a variety of health benefits that I don’t see ascribed to water.
Even small amounts of wine and alcohol have health benefits.
Whey protein in milk also has health benefits. Fruit juices like orange juice have benefits.
Water if anything seems like one of the most inferior beverages to drink for health purposes. So why is it touted as the best? My impression is that aside from excess alcohol, artificial fruit juices and soda, water is pretty much worse than everything else you can drink for your health.
I presume because it has no calories and no sodium and no sugar? Plus all of those other things really don’t quench thirst like water does; at least not for me.
The strongest drinks are well over 100 proof, which is the 50% point. Certainly, many rums are 151 proof, and if you want to stretch the definition of “beverage”, Everclear is something like 190.
Diet soda doesn’t have calories or sugar, and they have very low sodium. Plus water lacks the potassium you’d find in protein drinks or fruit/vegetable juices.
The only time people drink 151 or Everclear without diluting them with something is on a dare. Some whiskeys might be a tad over 100 proof with people drinking them neat.
Most liquids that you drink will make you feel full, so you won’t be able to drink as much of them as you would water. With water you can drink large amounts at one sitting, hence you can get enough that various unwanted chemicals will go into the water by osmosis and then out of the body.
Because for most Americans, the biggest dietary problem isn’t a lack of calories or lack of specific nutrients, but over-eating. And too much of certain nutrients (salt, fat, sugar, etc). For someone in that situation, drinking water is “more healthy” than drinking something with nutrients.
Obviously, for starving children in Ethiopia, something with high calories would be more “healthy” than water. And for someone suffering from scurvy, fresh orange juice would be “healthier” than water. Etc.
The downsides to all the things you mention is way greater than the upsides. If the upside of orange juice over water (vitamin C and such) represents +1 value, and the downsides (lots of sugar) represent -2, then water, at 0, beats orange juice at -1. You’re essentially saying “OJ has +1, so it beats water at 0!” ignoring the -2 that comes with it.
You can point out random upsides to the various liquids you can drink, but aside from perhaps milk they’re all bad for you overall. Water at neutral beats sugary liquids at bad.
Hi-C is water with a bunch of sugar and vitamin C, if you check the label you’ll see a single serving is something like 200% of your vitamin C requirements, along with an additional 120 calories from sugar.
So, as mentioned, if you were diabetic and needed simple sugars. Or suffering from scurvy and needed 200% of your daily v-c, then yes, Hi-C would be better than just plane water.
But as mentioned, Americans already get too many calories, way too much salt, and plenty of vitamins. So what is Hi-C doing for you?
Since your body can’t store ascorbic acid it’s pissed out unused. Drinking the many simple sugars causes your blood sugar to spike and messes with insulin levels.
Under their current diet what Americans are lacking is enough water. For some they need to get more calcium (perhaps from dairy), and for others they need a few more vitamins that could be from fruit/vegetable juices.
One thing that has messed up the American diet most is the ease with which we can drink high amounts of calories. The invention of beer saved Western Europe. And in most of Africa stores sell a variation of Guinness that’s like drinking bread.
Those are all good things in moderation. As long as the sodium levels are low no one is going to suggest that you never drink vegetable juice.
No, you’re body needs water to function. Water with some nutrients, fiber, protein, and calcium is also good, on the condition that you actually need those things. Too much milk can be harmful.
There is no benefit in a healthy person drinking more of any liquid than necessary to slake their thirst. Extra fluids are just urinated out. Kidneys and liver filter the blood very nicely without excess water. No significant “unwanted chemical” removal occurs due to forcing more water, save in some particular overdose situations, where extra fluid along with activated charcoal may absorb certain toxins.
Having said that, potable water is the standard replacement fluid for a healthy individual, beneficial in the majority of situations and harmful in very few rare circumstances.
If you want nutrition, other beverages can provide that, along with hydration. If you need to battle dehydration due to a secretory diarrhea, water with electrolytes and a little simple sugar is superior.
Most other beverages are just varied dining options, with pluses and minuses associated with them.
My impression is that caloric intake is fairly homeostatic, so if you drink more calories you will just consume fewer via other routes. A person who eats 2500 calories a day of food and drinks nothing but water who switches over to milk, tea, coffee, alcohol, fruit juice, etc isn’t going to still eat 2500 calories in food plus the 1000+ calories in beverages. People’s bodies regulate caloric intake fairly well, and too many or too few calories to maintain homeostasis seem to cause the body to adapt.
OJ has sugar but it also has flavonoids, phytochemicals, potassium, can reduce the risk of alzheimers and cvd, etc. Water does none of that.
Consuming 1000 ‘empty’ calories isn’t as good for you as consuming 1000 calories composed of complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and complete proteins.
Other than the sugar and the potassium, the human body gets no demonstrated benefits from flavonoids and phytochemicals. Credible evidence that it reduces alzheimers and CVD is lacking.
The sugar load is such that it could promote diabetes. Orange juice has a very high glycemic index. Potassium is readily available from other foods that don’t spike the blood sugar so high.
Why are you debating this? You asked a question and got several answers.
You’re wrong about calorie consumption, your body does not regulate caloric intake. Eating simple sugars will increase your appetite, the exact opposite of feeling satiated. Solid foods containing fiber, fats, and protein will make you feel satiated and get your brain to tell you you’re full. As an example, consider two people chowing down on a BigMac and fries. One has a coke, the other diet, their bodies will happily consume it all, and then demand they drink more to compensate for the salt intake.
If you need flavonoids, phytochemicals, potassium then yes, have some OJ as part of a balanced diet, no one is saying not to. No one is telling you not to have OJ. But once you’ve satisfied your daily requirements for those chemicals why waste your money making expensive pee?
Tea, coffee, and red wine all provide added benefits particularly of anti-oxidants, but only in moderation.
You are always free to consume your meals in liquid form if you so desire. Getting enough water just happens to be part of that.
This part of the original OP makes me nervous.
In fact, any time I see the word toxins relating to body and health, I begin to wonder about woo-woo science and unproven health ‘cures’. You almost never see actual MD’s talk about ‘toxins’, or any way to remove them from the body. In general, the liver & kidneys do just fine at this, without needing any helpful ‘dietary supplements’ of cures, or even extra water.
