Warm Water vs. Cold Water – Which One Should You Drink?

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Geekswipe - Hot water vs Cold water - which one should you drink - res - 1

There is a myth that drinking cold water helps you burn more calories. Note that! ‘calories’ not ‘Calories’. Indeed, it is true that ice water burn extra calories than hot water. Nevertheless, the figures are insignificant and negligible. If an average person takes in about 2 liters of cold water per day, it would take around 70000 calories approximately to heat up the 0 degree Celsius ice water that he/she drank, to the normal 37 degree Celsius. This is approximately 72 to 74 Calories per day.

\(Q = m c \Delta t\)

\(Q = 2000\ g \times4.186\ J/g^{\circ}\mathrm{C} \times 37 ^{\circ}\mathrm{C}\)

\(Q \approx \textbf{309764} \ \textbf{J} \hspace{5mm} \text{OR} \hspace{5mm} Q \approx  \textbf{74000} \ \textbf{cal}\)

\(\textbf{1 calorie} \text{ = amount of energy required to raise the temperature of } \textbf{1 gram} \text { of water by 1 degree Celsius.}\)

\(\textbf{1 Calorie} \text{ = amount of energy required to raise the temperature of } \textbf{1 kilogram} \text { of water by 1 degree Celsius.}\)

So it is clear that an average person could burn approximately 70 Calories per day by drinking ice water. Would it be the same for warm water?

When a human drinks warm water, the body doesn’t need to spend more energy to heat it up as it is already at a higher temperature closer to the temperature of the body. Drinking hot water actually helps to cool down your body. As the temperature rises, the body cools down itself by sweating. And this flushes out all the toxins in our body and contribute to the overall health improvement by purifying the bloodstream. Apparently, the calorie count is low.

Hot Water or Cold Water?

It doesn’t matter if you drink hot water or cold water, they both have a negligible change in the calories you burn. Though drinking cool water burn more calories than hot water, it is fair to call it a tie as hot water has its own traits to help the human body to maintain the temperature. So if you are planning to lose weight just by drinking water, drop that idea now and start working out daily.

This post was first published on August 17, 2014.

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Karthikeyan KC

Aeronautical engineer, dev, science fiction author, gamer, and an explorer. I am the creator of Geekswipe. I love writing about physics, aerospace, astronomy, and python. I created Swyde. Currently working on Arclind Mindspace.

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2 Responses

  1. So there IS something to do with the temperature and metabolism in our body.. Even that negligible kCals are important bro. I take cold water.

    • It IS important… On the other hand, warm water also helps you (a tiny contribution) to cool down your body by perspiring. But honestly, I’d drink a lot of water, regardless its temperature ;)

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