Question, anyone know the answer?

[NeptuneUK]

Everyone knows that alcohol dehydrates people, this is because during the breakdown of alcohol in the body water is used up. However, is there a threshold where a certian alcoholic percentage of a drink is countered by the water content of the drink?
If you follow me?

Basically, is there an alcoholic drink that doesn't dehydrate you?

eg a 4% lager may not dehydrate you in moderate amounts because the amount of alcohol isnt sufficient enough when compared to the hydrating effects of the water in the drink.

Or am I being a dumbass? Infact, don't answer that question, answer the former instead.

*this is Neptune's not-so-heroic return to the forums after holiday-ing and then being left internetless due to vista*






edit: For you Americans n' that, you call lager, beer... For some reason. Whatever, I like sort of like budweiser regardless of you want to call it.

 

[Adabiviak]

I think I understand the question, but don't think I know the answer. If, for example, it takes 16oz of water to handle 16oz of alcohol, would a drink that was half water, half alcohol not dehydrate you? I'll take an uneducated guess, and say that the answer is yes, but I'll also guess that the actual ratio is a little heavier on the water side (more water is needed to handle a given amount of alcohol).

 

[<RJMC>]

yes you are bumbass

 

[NeptuneUK]

Surely, if there is such a drink... one could avoid the dreaded hangover more easily.
However, hangovers are partly caused by a vitamin defficiency due to a certain vitamin being used as a coenzyme with ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase) but I forget which.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Samuel Adams calls their brews lagers, I figured it was just some fancy shmancy form of beer (more fizz?).

 

[NeptuneUK]

Lager = beer flavoured fizzy pop

 

[Laivasse]

All lager is beer, all beer is not lager.

As for Neptune's question, this is something I've wondered about too. How is it that the metabolisation of alcohol can dehydrate you when you're taking in so much water along with the alcohol (in eg. beer)?

 

[Dan]

because your body can only hold so much fluid, so you piss out all the water but the alcohol is still in your blood and your body is still using water to get rid of it.

So after you stop drinking or pass out, you aren't taking in anymore fluids, and you pissed out most of what you took earlier, and you probably puked out a bunch too, but you still need more water to break down all of the alcohol in your blood, cause you are still drunk at that point. So you get dehydrated

 

[Beerdude26]

What Dan said. If I remember correctly, alcohol is digested rather slowly and requires a lot of water (but gives you very little actual energy). The water just gets tfo while the alcoholol D) is in your liver, destroyin stuff.

lol

 

[tehsolace]

If I understand the process correctly, the reason we get dehydrated is because the alcohol is absorbed into our blood stream almost immediately after consumption, and doesn't begin to fully breakdown until much later after you have already urinated the excessive amount of water that you drank in the beverages.

So basically, while you're drinking your body is thinking "pssh I don't need all this god damn water... *piss*" and then at the end of the night while you're sleeping its thinking "omfg I need WATER... HELP"

I could be wrong though.

 

[Stigmata]

The easiest solution is to drink the drinks you already have, and just drink water between shots or whatever. Works like a charm (I've never had a hangover in my entire life), but you have to make sure you don't drink too much water too quickly, otherwise you'll throw up.