Coffee isn't diuretic

Woot, another myth laid to rest!

Of course, I'm quite a lot behind on this news, cos this was all over the place back in August:
"Black tea – helpful or harmful? A review of the evidence". E J Gardner, C H S Ruxton and A R Leeds, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 19 July 2006.
It's not indexed in PubMed, dunno why not.

BBC (among others) picked up the story and ran with it:
"Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found."
and
"Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid."

This bit: "Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor," made me snigger. Older people, eh? How the world changes. 20 years ago I, too, thought that 40 plus people were old ...

Anyway, it's nice to get some Tea Council -sponsored proof that yep, tea is good for you.

Aye. Coffee will also turn

Aye. Coffee will also turn on the defecation urge ... while making the stools harder.

Thanks for that, Sherri.

Thanks for that, Sherri.

You're having an extreme

You're having an extreme reaction to coffee; perhaps your kidneys (or urinary tract) doesn't agree with it?

I think you missed the irony

I think you missed the irony in my "tea council" remark ...