[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Ralgha

You need to do some reading in medical texts and find out what kidneys really do. Urea is colorless (and is, in fact, a solid), the color in your pee comes from urochrome, and the darker your pee is, the more water your body (kidneys) is holding back. Clear pee means your body has enough water in it and is excreting the excess. The pee is clear simply because the water dilutes the urochrome, it has nothing to do (in healthy people) with toxin transfer. In general, clear pee is fine, dark pee means you're dehydrated (not always). In general, if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Go get a simple pee test if you don't believe me, I get one every year, used to get one every six months.

The amount of water you have to drink to harm yourself for a normal healthy person is so far beyond ridiculous that you don't even have to worry about it. If you've been puking, having diarrhea, or have some other health issues, then yeah, you need more than just water. Normal people? Just drink water and you're fine. Most Americans are dehydrated, most need to drink more water than they do.

Coconut water? It's a fad and marketing gimmick. It can not be safely used intravenously, and is only used in emergency situations. They used it in WWII because they didn't have anything else. It is not close to human plasma, it doesn't have enough sodium to remain in the bloodstream, and it can raise potassium and calcium to dangerous levels (when used IV). Call up any doctor in the phone book and ask him/her if they'll use coconut water to re hydrate a patient, IV or oral. Some may use it orally, none would use it IV. I'll drink coconut water over a sports drink, but I'll drink plain water over coconut water.