Cold water: Is it good for you?

QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News Service, July 22) – Nothing quenches the thirst like a tall glass of ice-cold water. But before reaching for that glass, have you considered that the temperature of the what you drink actually has an effect to your body.

It is important to be stay well-hydrated but you should also consider the temperature of what you are drinking.

While some studies say that there is actually no difference between drinking room temperature and cold water, most experts only extol the cool, refreshing feeling of drinking cold water and are not able to say much more about the matter. They also add that the ultimate goal is to drink the recommended amount of water needed, and if drinking it cold will help you meet the required daily intake, then drink it cold.

But there are also studies that show that drinking cold water can actually be harmful for you.

One of the major effects of drinking cold water is that the body actually expends energy to warm it up inside the body. So drinking cold water actually results in water loss as the body exerts energy to warm up the cold drink. But this is actually not a problem because when someone is drinking cold water, they usually drink more than usual so the resulting water loss is actually negligible.

The other effects are more serious. First, as mentioned earlier, the body is forced to expend energy to warm up cold water. This may have a bad effect when done during a meal because that energy lessens the effort used in digestion, so drinking cold water during a meal may result in poor digestion.

Also, cold water solidifies fats, making it harder for the body to get rid of it. Solid fats also have a greater tendency to clog the arteries.

Between solidified fat in your arteries and that cool, refreshing feeling what will you choose?

(ENS, written by Jay Paul Carlos)