We used to know that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is enough. But now the latest “beverage hydration index” says that drinking milk may be more effective in retaining water in the body than drinking water.
It’s hot and thirsty, what would you like to drink? A cold glass of juice, tea, or soda? Ronald J. Maughan, a hydration expert at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, issued a new “beverage hydration index” and found that milk is more hydrating than water.
The experiment found 72 healthy men in their 20s and targeted 13 common beverages, including water, sparkling water, soda water, diet cola, juice, beer, sports drinks, tea, coffee, iced tea, whole milk, skim Milk, electrolyte supplement, test how long they can stay in the body, how much urine will be excreted after how long, so as to evaluate their hydration effect.
Morgan used the water remaining in the body that was not excreted in urine two hours after drinking water as a benchmark, compared other beverages with water, and adjusted the water content of the beverage itself before scoring. If there is more water in the body than plain water, the score will be higher; if the water excreted is more than plain water, the score will be lower. It was found that three beverages scored higher than water, including electrolyte supplements, whole milk, and skim milk.
This is an interesting experiment, maybe in the future we can use milk when we think about water retention. This is related to the kidney’s tubuloglomerular feedback mechanism; when we ingest fluid into the body, after being filtered by the renal tubule, it enters the urinary cavity, and the renal tubule recycles the useful substances in the fluid, and the unabsorbed Part of it will be excreted in urine. Therefore, beverages rich in electrolytes or nutrients, such as milk and electrolyte supplements, have a high content of sodium and potassium ions, which will slow down the rate of filtration and prolong the time of urination.
While sports drinks are only high in sodium ions, orange juice is only high in potassium ions, and the water retention effect is not as good as milk with high sodium and potassium ions.
Stop hydrating and quenching thirst with sugary drinks
Another interesting finding was that high sugar levels were not positively associated with hydration benefits. It can be seen that the sports drinks and carbonated drinks with high sugar content on the market do not help to replenish water. In the past, coffee, tea, and beer were thought to be diuretics, but they were more likely to cause dehydration. Morgan’s research has found that the effect of hydration is almost the same as that of water. “Caffeine does have a diuretic effect on its own, but from what we’ve seen in this experiment, the concentration of coffee in general does not cause dehydration,” Morgan explained.
Next time, if you’re going to drive a long distance, you need water and it’s not easy to find a place to go to the toilet, you might as well buy a glass of milk and drink less water on the road. During marathon training, you can also add milk to prolong the time your body needs to hydrate.
But milk may retain water, but it will not quench thirst. Thirst is due to the increase in cell osmotic pressure, which stimulates osmotic receptors, triggers the excitement of the drinking water center, and activates the body’s thirst. The osmotic pressure drops after drinking water, but not milk; so if you are thirsty and want to drink something, drinking milk is not helpful.
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