Last Updated on January 31, 2022
“If you’re someone who worries about the excess caffeine available in a cup of coffee, however, can’t forsake it at all, then fret no more as decaf coffee might be a lifesaver for you.”
You would be fibbing if you said that you don’t crave a cup of coffee on a bright and sunny morning in the US after waking up. A cup of coffee provides you with the necessary kick you require to go through a day productively without fatigue for a short period of time.
Although not many in the US are worried about their caffeine consumption that much, there still exists some who prefer no caffeine at all in their coffee. Ultimately that isn’t possible as a cup of coffee will have at least some caffeine content in them. That is if they choose to drink a Decaf coffee.
Reports have shown that in 2019, Us citizens drank approximately 0.23 cups of decaffeinated coffee per day. Decaf coffees have been one of the least drunk types of beverages in the US since 2011.
However, many have a common question related to coffee, and that is, “Is Decaf Coffee a Diuretic?”
The answer is plain and simple “NO”. Decaffeinated coffee is not diuretic.
People have to build a myth around coffee that coffee is an extreme source of diuretic, which promotes the formation of urine by the kidney.
However, it might be hard to swallow for some but coffee is not a strong resonance of diuretic; instead, it is a mild diuretic.
It takes about 2 cups of regular coffee to have a diuretic effect in the body, as one doesn’t have any effect at all. However, research and studies have shown that about 500 mg of caffeine is needed to be consumed per day to trigger a diuretic effect.
One regular cup of coffee(8 ounces) consists of around 85-160 mg of caffeine content, whereas a regular, decaffeinated coffee(8 ounces) has around 3-7 mg of caffeine content close to null.
In the process, it solidified the fact that decaf coffee has no diuretic effects at all.
Table of Contents
Is Decaf Coffee a Diuretic
What Is a Diuretic?
A diuretic is a kind of substance that fosters diuresis, which is an increased production of urine. This triggers a forced diuresis. This process has dynamic results, such as getting rid of excess salt and water from your body may be a little, maybe a lot. There are numerous types of diuretics. However, all diuretics have one thing in common: increasing the excretion of water from the body via the kidneys.
Furthermore, we ordinary folks in the mainland know diuretic drugs as water pills/tablets. These highly sought out pills are used to treat heart failure, high blood pressure, preventing fatigue and various other conditions. Even though most diuretics require a prescription, some actually don’t need to be prescribed at all such as alcohol, parsley and caffeine.
In addition, there are a lot of people who use diuretics for detox. This generally directs to detoxification, which is monumental in sucking up the body’s potential harmful toxins like alcohol—for example, people favouring coffee over other drinks to remove a hangover.
R.S. Vardanyan, V.J. Hruby, in Synthesis of Essential Drugs, 2006, said, “Diuretics are drugs that enhance secretion of excess water and salt that are stored in tissues and urine. An excess quantity of intracellular fluid is formed in the organism as a result of an insufficiency of the kidneys to release sodium ions fast enough to assure that a sufficient quantity of water is passed along with them. “
F.T. Delbeke, K. Deventer, in Encyclopedia of Separation Science, 2007, said, “Diuretics are therapeutically utilised for the treatment of fluid maintenance. In sports, they do not intensify performance but could mask the consumption of other drugs by reducing the urine. Diuretics are also used to quickly lose weight before competition in sports where weight limits are set, e.g., wrestling, judo, and boxing.”
Is Diuretic Harmful?
In normal circumstances, no. Diuretics are not harmful. As we speak, the most common substances we can think of are diuretics such as coffee, which is classified as mild diuretics. As a matter of fact, drinking a cup of regular coffee will store more water in your body rather than causing your body to expel it.
In addition, coffee doesn’t enhance your chances of dehydration, the sole concern related to diuretics. Instead, coffee actually has a hydrating effect going for it.
Now, having all of that in mind, it should be duly noted that coffee isn’t a primary source of hydration. Water is always number one on that particular requirement as a large amount of coffee consumption can lead to diuretic decaf or not. Furthermore, consuming a large amount of coffee can lead to many side effects such as increased urination, sodium loss, and disturbing blood potassium levels. In case if you take a thiazide diuretic, you might face a steep fall in your potassium level resulting in hypokalemia which ultimately can cause life-threatening issues with your heartbeat.
Does Decaf Coffee Make You Pee?
Well, of course, decaf coffee will definitely make you pee. As we previously stated, decaf coffee doesn’t have any diuretic effect. Therefore, you can use it as an alternative to water to hydrate your body whenever you want.
In addition, it will work like water and help you to urinate. If you are a constant drinker of decaf coffee, the chances of you urinating on a consistent basis is a given. However, you will not get the side effects of caffeine in the process of drinking decaf coffee. (If you don’t drink 20 cups of decaf coffee per day, then you are fine)
Unlike decaf coffee, with regular coffee, you don’t have that luxury of drinking to your heart’s content, as too much regular coffee will lead you to develop heightened symptoms. As a result, you might find yourself experiencing a higher level of urgency and boosted incontinence.
So if you have the above problems switch to decaf coffee as soon as possible. Because by drinking decaf coffee, you won’t face urgent urination and will have the same impact as the liquid “water”. You can reap the benefits of hydration without stressing your kidney and bladder.
Benefits of Decaf Coffee
Type-2 Diabetes
Decaf or regular coffee have been proved to be connected with the massive reduction of type 2 diabetes. As each cup of daily coffee might reduce the risk of diabetes up to 7%. In the process, caffeine isn’t the only element responsible for such protective effects.
Liver Function
Although there hasn’t been an extensive study on decaf coffees’ effectiveness on liver function like regular coffee, one observational study connected decaf coffee with reduced liver enzyme levels, suggesting a protective effect.
Dodging Premature Death
There have been some excellent results found after continuous studies that by drinking decaf coffee, one might reduce the possibility of premature death a bit less along with death from stroke or heart disease.
All Aging Diseases
Both regular and decaf coffee resemble to have positive impacts on the age-related mental decline in general.
Heartburn
Decaf coffee causes significantly less acid reflux than regular coffee.
Rectal Cancer
If one drinks more than two cups of decaf coffee per day, it has a 48% chance of lowering the risk of developing rectal cancer.
What Makes Coffee Diuretics?
The single presence of the one called “Caffeine” is the root cause of coffee’s diuretic effect, including any caffeinated food or beverage such as chocolate, tea, energy drinks, etc.
Available Caffeine Content in Decaf Coffee?
An average cup of decaf coffee contains much less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee. Now one might wonder how much difference it is?
Well, buckle up as it is enormous.
As we know, a regular cup of coffee (8 ounces) contains 85-160 mg caffeine content, give or take, depending on the brewing of the coffee.
In the case of decaf coffee, it is 3 mg caffeine per cup (8 ounces). In general, it is from 3-7mg caffeine as even decaf isn’t caffeine-free.
In short, a decaf coffee consists of 0.10% caffeine in contrast to a regular cup of coffee.
What’s the Difference Between Regular Coffee and Decaf Coffee?
Caffeine
Let’s get the obvious one straight out of the caffeine content. As we stated earlier, a regular cup of coffee consists of 80 to 160 mg caffeine whereas a decaf coffee consists of close to 3-7 mg caffeine.
Hence, decaf coffee has significantly less caffeine than regular coffee.
Antioxidants
Both decaf and regular coffee have a hefty amount of antioxidants. However, decaf has 15% lower antioxidants than regular coffee.
Hence, decaf coffee has slightly fewer antioxidants than regular coffee.
Acidity
Thanks to the lack of caffeine, decaf coffee tends to have a lot of acidities where the balanced pH five is observed, whereas, for a regular, it is way less acidic with an average pH level of 5.
Hence, decaf coffee has significantly higher acidity than regular coffee.
Side Effects
Even though both regular coffee and decaf are a delight to have, they have their fair share of side effects. For decaf, it has higher acidity levels and enhanced terrible cholesterol, whereas, for a regular coffee, anxiety, restlessness, fatigue, palpitations and many more.
Taste
An average cup of regular coffee has a strong and bitter taste, whereas a decaf coffee has a bland and watery taste in comparison.
