Dr. Squat - Dr. Fred Hatfield

In a recent review article, “Caffeine, Body Fluid-Electrolyte Balance, and Exercise Performance,” published in the June 2002 issue of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, researcher Lawrence E. Armstrong, a professor of exercise and environmental physiology at the University of Connecticut, found that caffeine is not the dehydrating demon some people believe. In fact, he concluded that caffeine is no more a diuretic than water.

For years, health and exercise experts have cautioned that consuming caffeine and caffeinated beverages can lead to dehydration. But Armstrong, an avid runner and a well-respected scientist in the field of thermoregulation and human performance, observed evidence to the contrary, so he reviewed the scientific literature to determine whether abstaining from caffeinated beverages was scientifically and physiologically justifiable.

“While there have been several studies done that show caffeine is a mild diuretic, there is no evidence that exercise, when combined with the consumption of caffeine or caffeinated beverages, will result in chronic dehydration, and this is contrary to the advice of most exercise physiologists, physicians and dietitians,” explains Armstrong, who has conducted fluid balance research since 1980.

Supporting Armstrong’s findings is an American Journal of Physiology August 2002 review of the literature on hydration by Dr. Heinz Valtin that cites a University of Nebraska study, which found that caffeinated beverages may be counted toward the daily fluid total.

Armstrong’s analysis of the scientific literature that was focused on moderate amounts of caffeine (equivalent to one to four cups of coffee a day) indicates:

When consuming a caffeinated beverage, the body retains some of the fluid.
Moderate caffeine consumption causes a mild diuresis very similar to that of water (water, when consumed in large volume, increases urine output).
A person who regularly consumes caffeine has a higher tolerance to the diuretic effect.
There is no evidence that consumption of caffeinated beverages causes a fluid-electrolyte imbalance that is detrimental to health or exercise performance.
Although additional research could help confirm these findings, Armstrong’s analysis of the literature is encouraging for regular consumers of caffeinated beverages. The article can be accessed at http://www.humankinetics.com/products/journals/.

The last line for that article was really bad form. That's like trying to placate a crack head into staying on the pipe because rock cocain doesn't shrink your testicles; no amount of research into the dehydrating effects of coffee can be ethically presented to people as a reassurence when caffeine has so many well-documented detrimental effects.

*steps off soap box, resumes eating sandwich*

Hey Dano. I switched to tea and still have a cup of coffee in the morning. I'm a crack head, i know.

On the other hand, I was dehydrated without question. The day I switched to tea, I gained and have since retained 5 pounds of water weight. When i switched to tea, I was taking in, initially, somehthing like a gallon of fluids a day and something around 400mg of caffein. S I'm more hydrated, more level headed, and immediately started to sleep better.

Coffee is bad for you.

*lights up Marlboro filterless cigarette, downs three tequilla shooters*

Yeah green tea isn't....that bad. I could probably get used to it. Yerba Mate seems to have some weird effect, it's kind of nice though. Like the caffeine is somewhere between tea and coffee. The thing with coffee is that there is a net hydration effect. No question that the caffeine dehydrates you to some degree, but the overall intake of liquid does hydrate you. I think it is something like 2 steps forward one step back. I don"t have the research in front of me right now, but it's there.

Basically if you're wandering in the desert and the only thing to drink is coffee, you'll survive. It might not be optimal, but you'll live.

I do a 20oz in morning and another after embryology than I pretty much stay clean until I get home. I may have another small one before neurophysiology, but not always. I do switch to decaff in the afternoon if I feel like having another one.

Some friends of mine went to Tijuana and brought back some party-size tequila bottles. I made the mistake of drinking them. Never doing that again.

*whips out glass pipe and high-powered propane lighter*

Read "Caffeine Blues" by Stephen Cherniske. It'll blow your mind.

And don't even get me started on the Secret Government...