When the thermometer climbs, you quickly tend to look for cold and tasty drinks to quench your thirst. Among the summer stars: icy coffee, which has become essential on the terrace as on social networks. However, behind its apparent freshness, this drink is far from being an ideal choice for hydration.
GLACE coffee: a more diuretic than hydrating drink
This is explained by Alexandra Murcier, dietician-nutritionist, who advises against consuming coffee-even iced or struck-to fight against dehydration.
Coffee, like tea, is a so -called diuretic drink. In other words, it accentuates the elimination of water by the urine. “”It is a drink that makes us lose more water than it brings “explains the specialist. An effect all the more problematic during the hot weather, where the body is already dehydrated more quickly. “Result: even if the coffee is cold, it does not contribute to good hydration.”
A break often too sweet
Another problem pointed out by Alexandra Murcier: the composition of iced coffee. Rarely consumed natural, it is often embellished with whipped cream, vegetable milk, syrup, or even sweet crushed ice. So many additives that transform this “refreshment” into a calorie drink, rich in sugars, far removed from a real health ally.
“It’s very rare people who drink their iced coffee without sugar or without addition. And so it makes a much more sweet and less interesting drink.” specifies the nutritionist.
Obviously, an occasional iced coffee is no problem. But you shouldn’t be mistaken by its temperature. “”You can consume it from time to time, it does not matter. But you shouldn’t think that drinking iced coffee is hydrating. “
Alternative drinks when it’s hot
If you really want to vary the pleasures without falling into the industrial or diuretic drinks trap, the nutritionist Raphaël Gruman suggested in a previous article some simple ideas to prepare at home:
- Homemade flavored waters : a few mint leaves, lemon or cucumber slices, red fruits … We let infuse in a cool carafe, for a naturally scented drink;
- Homemade iced tea : prepare the day before by letting a tea sachet infuse in a bottle of water in the fridge. Zero added sugar, and a delicate taste that encourages to drink more;
- A Virgin Mojito : sparkling water, lemon, mint and a touch of cane sugar. Festive, light, and much more quenchild than a soda;
- A recovery drink House: In a bottle of water, 20 cl replaced with grape juice, with two pinches of salt to compensate for mineral losses linked to perspiration.
Water, always in the center of hydration
However, even if other alternatives can occasionally help vary the pleasures, none replaces water in terms of hydration. It alone makes it possible to maintain a good water balance without excessive diuresis, without hidden sugar or side effectss.
“The only essential drink, really, is water”insistently recall Alexandra Murcier.
So if the iced coffee pleases you, nothing prevents you from tasting one from time to time. But to hydrate yourself effectively under the sun, always keep a bottle of water at hand.