Coffee is undeniably a globally beloved beverage. A report from the National Coffee Association says that more than 64% of Americans drink coffee every single day. Most people like to have one or two cups of coffee in the morning to help them wake up, but more and more people are choosing decaf coffee instead.
It has a lot of good things about it that make coffee drinkers want to try it. One reason is that it has less caffeine, so it won’t make you feel jumpy or keep you up at night. It’s also good for your health. Some studies have found a link between it and a lower risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
But one of the most common things people want to know about decaf coffee is whether or not it makes you thirstier. Since coffee is a diuretic, it can make you go to the bathroom more often. This can make you feel thirsty if you don’t drink enough water during the day.
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Table of Contents
What is Decaf Coffee?
Decaf coffee is made from coffee beans that have caffeine taken out of them. It can be made in a number of ways, such as by processing it with water, and chemical solvents, or by extracting it with supercritical carbon dioxide. People drink it for the same reasons they drink regular coffee, but it doesn’t give them a caffeine buzz.
Still, it has a small amount of caffeine, usually between 2 and 12 mg per cup. Compared to this, a cup of regular coffee has 95–200 mg of caffeine. Decaf coffee also has antioxidants and other compounds that are good for your health.
Decaf coffee tastes and smells like regular coffee, but it is not as bitter. It’s a good choice for people who like the taste and smell of coffee but don’t want the buzz that comes from caffeine. People who are sensitive to caffeine can also choose it.
So Does Dcafe Coffee Dehydrate You?
You may worry about how caffeine affects your ability to stay hydrated, which is understandable. Since caffeine is a mild diuretic, which means it makes you urinate more often, it’s natural to wonder if that would make you lose more water and become dehydrated.
But there really isn’t any proof that coffee makes you less hydrated. Remember that you’re still drinking water in your black coffee, even if the coffee makes you go to the bathroom more.
Most of the time, the amount of water you drink will be more than what you lose, so the total amount of water in your body will actually go up.
Even better, the diuretic effect of coffee comes from the caffeine in it, and almost all of the caffeine is taken out of decaf coffee during processing, so you may not have to go to the bathroom more often if you drink decaf.
Caffeine and Hydration:
Because coffee has caffeine, it sometimes gets a bad name for making people feel thirsty. Caffeine is a mild diuretic, but it doesn’t make you lose enough urine to put you at risk of becoming dehydrated. Also, most people should limit their daily caffeine intake to 300 milligrams, which is about 2 to 3 cups of brewed coffee, depending on how strong it is, for good overall health.
Does Decaf Coffee Dry You Out Less Than Normal Coffee?
Have you noticed that drinking coffee regularly makes you need to go to the bathroom more often?
Because caffeine is a mild diuretic, it makes you go to the bathroom more often. A diuretic is a substance that makes your body get rid of more water and salts through urine.
You’ll get dehydrated if your body loses more water than you take in, right?
Here’s the thing, though:
When you drink coffee with caffeine in it, you’re getting both caffeine and water. And because caffeine is a “mild diuretic,” there isn’t much difference between how much water goes in and out of your body.
In other words, it’s not likely that regular coffee will make you lose water.
For caffeine to actually make you pee more, you’d have to drink about 40 ounces of coffee every day. That’s more than 500 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is a lot more than the recommended daily limit.
Since decaf coffee has less than 3% caffeine, even if you drink a gallon of it, you won’t feel it make you pee more. In terms of staying hydrated, you can count decaf coffee as part of your daily liquid intake.
Is Decaf as Good as Water For Drinking?
You’ll be glad to hear that coffee doesn’t make you lose a lot of water. You might even wonder if coffee can be used instead of water since it doesn’t make you lose water.
But because coffee makes you pee more, you still aren’t getting as much water as you would from plain water or tea. So, coffee isn’t “as good as” water when it comes to keeping you hydrated.
But when it comes to decaf coffee, things are different. Since decaf coffee has much less caffeine than regular coffee, it won’t make you pee as much if it makes you pee at all, and it can keep you as hydrated as a cup of water.
In short, drinking one cup of decaf coffee a day is not likely to affect how well you stay hydrated and can be used in place of water.
Keep in mind, though, that decaf coffee has some drawbacks. According to Science Daily, it could cause your cholesterol to rise, and you shouldn’t count on decaf alone to keep you hydrated.
If you’re thirsty, there’s nothing better than plain old water. Don’t count on cups of coffee to do the job.
What Symptoms Indicate Dehydration?
If you’re concerned about the dehydrating effects of coffee because you suspect you’re dehydrated, make sure you can identify the symptoms. Look for any of the following indicators of dehydration:
- severe thirst
- dark urine
- dizziness
- disorientation
- exhaustion
- less frequent urination
If you think you might be dehydrated, the best thing you can do is make sure you drink more fluids during the day, but don’t do it by switching from coffee to water. If that doesn’t help or if your symptoms seem bad, talk to your doctor right away to find out what’s wrong and how to fix it.
Is it Bad for You to Drink Decaf Coffee?
Some good things can be said about decaf coffee, but can it also be bad? So, after the last point, the question is raised of whether or not it’s even healthy or “good” for you to drink. In short, it has both good and bad things about it.
Since you’re not drinking caffeine, you can’t get some of the good things that come with a natural cup of coffee, as we’ve already said.
But it also means you won’t get some of the strange side effects that can happen when you use it. You can use whatever criteria you want to decide if decaf is better for you or not.
On top of this, though, we have to look at the problem that it is a chemically processed food item. Most people probably don’t give much thought to how their coffee got decaffeinated, but it’s not something to be overlooked.
Some health problems have been linked to solvents, but it is not clear if this is true.
The solvent, which is mostly known as methylene chloride, is not mild in any way. People think that when you breathe it in, it will hurt your nose and throat.
Also, it can have a bad effect on your central nervous system, slowing it down after you’ve had a drink.
What’s Good About Drinking Decaf Coffee?
But decaf coffee isn’t all bad news. There are also good things to think about that would have gone wrong otherwise.
The first and most obvious is that you don’t have to deal with caffeine’s crazy side effects when you drink it.
Not everyone drinks coffee to get high or wake up, and some people have such bad reactions to the caffeine that they’d rather not drink it at all.
One of the most obvious side effects of caffeine is headaches, which are easy to avoid if you choose the decaf option.
Also, don’t forget that caffeine is considered a drug. Even though it is a mild drug, it is still a drug. Being a drug means that if you’re not careful, you could become addicted to it.
This fear is completely taken away by decaf coffee, which lets the drinker enjoy the refreshing taste of coffee without being scared that one of the strongest effects of an addiction might show up. In short, there are many good things about drinking decaf coffee. Here are some of them:
Benefits Of Decaf Coffee:
According to Healthline, the antioxidants in decaf coffee are linked to a number of health benefits. Here is a list of more things that will help you if you drink decaf coffee instead of regular coffee with caffeine.
- Cuts down on Type 2 diabetes and may cut it by as much as 7%! The same can be said about regular coffee, except that it doesn’t have the caffeine that can make you feel jittery.
- It has good effects that can stop your mind from getting worse as you age.
- There is a lower chance of getting rectal cancer, and it also helps with heartburn (reflux), which is a big plus if you get it after every cup of coffee.
- Since decaf coffee doesn’t have caffeine, it’s fine for pregnant women to drink it. It won’t make them thirsty and it doesn’t have 99% caffeine either.
This is How Your Body Reacts to Decaf Coffee:
As we’ve already said, just because you’re thirsty doesn’t mean you’re dehydrated.
Your mouth is not literally dry. The rough feeling in your mouth is caused by the tannins in the coffee, not by the coffee itself. Even though this feeling can be pretty unpleasant, you don’t need to worry about how much water you’re getting.
But drinking decaf coffee affects your body in more ways than just making your mouth feel dry.
Decaf coffee is often made with stronger types of coffee beans than regular coffee. That’s an easy and inexpensive way for coffee companies to make sure their products don’t taste bland.
Robusta varieties are often used to make decaf, and these beans have more fat than Arabica beans. And these fats in decaffeinated coffee can make your bad cholesterol level go up.
One thing that decaf coffee doesn’t do is get your nerves going. If you don’t drink caffeine, it won’t mess up your circadian clock, so you can sleep at the same time every night.
When we are awake, our bodies make a chemical called adenosine, which slows down the nervous system. As the day goes on, the amount slowly goes up, making us feel more and more tired.
In other words, adenosine makes the body run out of energy, which helps us fall asleep.
Caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors when you drink regular coffee. But there’s nothing that can mess up your 24-hour sleep-wake schedule when you drink decaf. As the day goes on, you’ll feel your energy level drop.
Coffee with caffeine has more acidity than coffee without caffeine. This means that it will be easier on your stomach and digest. This is important for people with acid reflux in particular.
Coffee that has been decaffeinated with methylene chloride can sometimes make people feel tired and give them headaches. When you breathe in this chemical, your central nervous system slows down.
FDA makes sure that doesn’t happen by putting a limit of 0.001% on the amount of methylene chloride in the product. But brands aren’t required to write on the label how the coffee was made decaffeinated. This means that the real product could have more than what’s allowed.
If you switch from regular coffee to decaf, you might feel like you need coffee. If you don’t get enough caffeine, you might feel tired, anxious, or even sad.
But don’t worry, that won’t last long if you drink decaf coffee. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal usually last between 2 and 7 days. After that, your body will get used to decaf.
Bottom Line:
The bottom line is that regular coffee does make you pee a little bit, but the amount you pee doesn’t go over the amount you drink. This is especially true of decaf coffee, which doesn’t make you pee as regular coffee does.
So, you shouldn’t rely on coffee (caffeinated or decaf) as your main source of water every day, but it is more likely to keep you hydrated than to make you thirsty.
You can drink your daily cup of coffee after dinner without worrying that it will make you dehydrated. But when you’re not drinking coffee, make sure you’re getting enough water from other drinks, like water and tea.
And if you’re having trouble staying hydrated, it’s probably not the coffee. You should talk to your doctor so you can figure out what’s going on and get back on track.
Have fun drinking coffee!
FAQ’s
Is Decaf Coffee Unhealthy?
There’s no evidence to suggest that decaf is bad for a person’s health. When it comes to decaf coffee, the use of solvent chemicals in some decaffeination processes is one of the things people worry about the most. Even though, according to this article on the BBC website, the amount of solvent left over after the process is done is “vanishingly small” and is safe according to European regulations.
But while decaf isn’t bad for you and is a perfectly healthy option, caffeinated coffee has a few small health and wellness benefits. Some of these are a better mood and ability to focus, a better memory, and a small increase in the body’s metabolic rate.
Does Decaf Coffee Dehydrate You?
The question of whether or not caffeinated drinks make you less hydrated goes all the way back to 1928 when a study found that caffeine is a diuretic, which means it makes you pee more.
Since then, though, a lot of scientific research has shown that it has a very small effect on the amount of water in the body. Even though it may seem obvious by now, decaf coffee won’t make you thirsty. But why does it make my mouth feel dry?
This is because the tannins in tea and coffee stick to your saliva and stop it from making saliva for a short time. This feeling of being dry is sometimes called “astringency” by baristas and others in the coffee business. To lessen the effects of this, we suggest drinking water along with your coffee.
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