It’s not earth-shattering news that drinking water is a healthy choice, but a study suggesting coffee and tea can count toward some of your daily water consumption caught our attention.

The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that including coffee and tea in your water consumption is associated with a lower risk of death from nearly all causes.

Researchers found that people who had seven or eight drinks per day, combining coffee, tea and plain water, showed a 28% lower risk of death from any cause than those who drank fewer than four drinks a day.

The research followed more than 180,000 adults for 13 years, during which time they filled out dietary questionnaires and recorded any occurrences of disease.

Plain Talk about Drinking Water says, “Your body is about 60% water, which it uses to regulate its temperature, digest food, carry nutrients throughout the body, and flush waste out of the body…

“Because 60% of your body is water, it is essential to replenish what water you lose through your breath, perspiration, urine, and bowel movements, which for most people is about 8 cups (1.9 liters) a day.”

Plain Talk also points out that, “Juice, milk, and soft drinks are almost all water, so they do count toward the required total daily fluid intake. Nutritionists often recommend tap water, however, because some other beverages contain chemicals, such as caffeine and alcohol, that act as a diuretic and do not help maintain fluid balance as well as other drinks. Vegetables and fruits also contain water that can help replenish your system and can account for about 20% of your fluid intake.”

Ultimately, we can all agree that it is important drinking water to keep us hydrated for our bodies to perform their natural functions. Consuming a balanced variety of water, juices, milk and water-dense solid foods all contribute to this cause. So, drink up!