Oh come on, this is a given, right? I mean when it comes to keeping yourself as hydrated as possible, haven't we heard a million times that plain, pure water is the way to go?

That's always been my understanding. So I was fascinated when I ran across this recent headline that there may be another drink that does a better job when it comes to hydrating the human body. A new study from Scotland's St. Andrews University tells a different story. When they compared different drinks to measure the efficiency of hydrating the human body, water--both still and sparkling--did a *pretty good* job. What? Stop the press.

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So what drinks did the best job? Turns out, according to their study, "beverages with a little bit of sugar, fat or protein do an even better job of keeping us hydrated for longer," reports CNN.

So, what are the most hydrating drinks according to the research? We retrieved this sourced list from CNN's article.

"The most hydrating beverages, ranked

The research team at St. Andrews University tested 13 common beverages to see how they impact hydration. Here's what they found, ranked from most hydrating over a four-hour period to least.

  • Skim milk
  • Oral re-hydration solutions (like Pedialyte or Liquid I.V.)
  • Full fat milk
  • Orange juice
  • Cola
  • Diet Cola
  • Cold tea
  • Tea
  • Sports drink
  • Still water
  • Sparkling water
  • Lager
  • Coffee

Source: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2016, Pages 717--723"

Are you as surprised as I was? Although, you'll never catch me drinking cow milk, I'll look for any excuse whatsoever to drink more orange juice or tea.

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