This Unexpected Drink Might Actually Hydrate You Better Than Water

Health experts say adults should drink about eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day, but do other fluids (coffee, soda, beer, and liquid in foods) count towards this hydration goal? The short answer is yes. But which of these options is the best at hydrating us? Milk has emerged in recent years as an excellent hydration solution, especially after a workout, and some say it might be better at it than good ol' H₂O. But research is mixed... so let's dig into it and find out.

Three separate studies — one in 2007 and 2016 from the British Journal of Nutrition and a 2016 paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition — measured the urine output of different groups of people in various states of hydration to determine how much liquid remained in their bodies. In two of the studies, participants were given water, Powerade, and milk after exercise, while the third assessed how hydrated people were after four hours, comparing a wider variety of different beverages. In all three trials, the results suggested that whole and skim milks provided better hydration than water.

Understandably, milk brands were over the moon with the results and used it to encourage more people to guzzle the beverage, particularly seniors, who are more likely to be dehydrated than younger adults. They're not wrong in some respects. We know there are several foods that have more calcium than milk, but the latter is also a good source of electrolytes like potassium and sodium. Milk also contains lactose, a form of natural sugar that's better for us than soda, and let's not forget it's also primarily made of water!

American consumption of whole milk has been steadily rising since 2014, and while the hydration trial results were good news for the dairy industry, there are a few important points to note after health experts offered their insights, like those via Harvard Medical School. They flagged that the three studies involved very small numbers of people; a larger cohort could have led to significantly different results. Two of the trials took place in deliberately warm environments post-exercise, again potentially skewing the outcome. Experts have also pointed out that urine output is only one way to determine someone's overall hydration.

While some corners were clearly skeptical that cow's milk was any better at hydrating us than water, the studies did shed light on an important topic. Maintaining and even increasing our fluid intake as we get older and during increasingly warmer months is crucial. Slurping milk during the day will certainly help (likewise any plant-based alternatives to cow's milk, though they may not hydrate quite as well as their dairy counterparts). All that being said, water should still be your go-to drink for hydration, according to multiple sources. If you don't fancy drinking what comes out of the tap but you want to avoid all the marketing nonsense by bottled water brands, read up on the unconscious mistakes many people make when buying bottled water.