Okay so I’m assuming it’s a given that hard liquor (~40% ABV) would have a net negative effect on one’s hydration. But surely an alcoholic beverage with like, 3.5% ABV would still have a net positive effect on hydration, right? Or am I wrong?
Wine usually has around a 12-15% ABV. I could see that going either way.
Does anyone know of any reliable evidence that points towards a specific ABV percentage threshold? I actually don’t drink but I’ve been curious about this for a while, and there seems to be a lot of misinformation surrounding what beverages are hydrating vs. dehydrating. For example, I keep seeing people say that coffee is dehydrating, and although caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, I just can’t see that being true.
Thank you for your time.
All alcohol depending on how much you drink, honestly. It’s not that alcohol itself is dehydrating, it’s that it affects a hormone in your body that controls your fluid and electrolyte balance. Your body can’t sense that it needs to hold onto water anymore so it just kind of has a diuretic effect. That’s why you pee so much while drinking. (Nurse here btw)
Here’s a bit more on it from something I posted earlier. It goes into the mechanism of alcohol dehydration a little as well as the input/output mismatch - https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/02/28/3441707.htm
Also, rather interestingly I found this research that suggests the diuretic effect of alcohol is blunted by being already dehydrated - https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/45/4/366/155478?login=true
It also contains some references, which may be the source of the article in the first link.
I dont have any real data at the moment but water is water and will hydrate you to some amount. Many people in the past survived by drinking slightly alcoholic beverages as they did not have access to potable water.
All things in moderation.
It really depends on your body weight and the time elapsed between drinks. People can hydrate just fine drinking just beer as their only liquid. https://glacier-design.com/can-you-hydrate-yourself-with-beer/
ABV doesn’t matter because that’s alcohol by volume. Provided volume is being accounted for you can’t just compare the ABV.
Wine is 12% abv but it’s served in 5oz, not 16 oz glasses like a 5%ABV beer would be.
Bourbon is 1-1.5oz not 16oz.
How dehydrating alcohol is actually is person and situation dependent. For someone who never drinks a glass of wine is more dehydrating than for someone who drinks a glass every night.