Your body doesn’t care if water arrives with bubbles or without. It just wants H2O, plain and simple. A study from 2012 even found that sparkling water kept people just as hydrated as still water after exercise.
Imagine you’re running late for work—because who isn’t?—and you chug a big glass of tap water. Then compare that to a bubbly seltzer. Both will get to your cells and do their job. The fizz is just carbon dioxide gas mixed in, and it leaves your body the same way all gas does: politely, via a burp later.
But doesn’t the fizz dehydrate you?
This is the rumor that just won’t die. Some say carbonation “leaches” water from your body, or that it’s bad for your kidneys. Let me stop you right there: That is a myth. You might pee a little more at first because the bubbles can be a diuretic for some folks, but not enough to cancel out the hydration.
Think of it like this: If you drink a can of cola (which has caffeine and sugar), you might feel a bit less hydrated. But a can of plain sparkling water? That’s just water with a party trick. Your kidneys don’t break a sweat over it.
