Many articles today extol the virtues of most any fluid to hydrate the body. This includes designer waters, coffee, tea, sodas, and sports drinks. However, there is only one true universal solvent and that is water. The purer the water and the more closely it resembles pure natural water, the greater will be the hydration benefits. All other products, even though they may contain water, because of the mixture with other products, do not allow it to hydrate the body as effectively.
For example, most sodas are quite acid while the body cells have a more alkaline environment. Thus, the soda fluid would have a hard time entering the cell, and as a result, not be very effective for rehydrating the body. However, nutritionists maintain that the most important thing to remember about hydrating, is to drink a minimum of 8 cups of fluids daily, primarily from non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic sources and not just water. They maintain that if your workout is not long or intense, hydrating with your choice of a healthy liquid, a sports drink or flavored water will work fine, but it is not “fine” and can leave your body deficient in water to be able to carry on it’s various key functions. For this you need pure natural water.
Some waters such as OxyWater, can have other benefits because of the added oxygen. The oxygen helps the body to recover while the water can hydrate the body. Beware of caffeinated, carbonated and other waters that contain products that change the ability of the water to do its job. This includes tap water in some areas of the country that are loaded with various chemicals
See Explosive Golf and Explosive Running for more information on this topic.