Is Coffee Diuretic?

Had two conference calls from 2pm to 4pm today. As you may know, 2pm is always toughest time for me to stay awake and pretend to be productive. To avoid any potential embarrassing moments happen again (i.e., waken up by my boss in the middle of the call) , I went to the restroom twice around 1:45pm to put some cold water on my face to refresh myself. To enhance the effect, I even slapped my face, both sides, in a brutal fashion that you may think I was doing it to someone else. But, sadly it was still not enough. I have to rely on my final option. Ten minutes later, I was holding a double shot Espresso from Starbucks sitting quietly at a corner in the conference room 7D.

However, the reason why I survived that boring two hours was not because of caffeine’s magical power over our brains. Honestly, caffeine is over-rated and it just doesn’t do much for me. I was awake simply because I was constantly going to the restroom like a little monkey with a tiny ass that keeps drinking water! Coffee always has the diuretic effect on me and that’s why I always regard coffee as a final resort to stay awake. But is coffee really diuretic? Or am I just some kind of anomaly that should be studied intensively by some genetic-scientists? I’ve heard conflicting stories about the diuretic thing. As a pure coffee lover, my girlfriend swears that the coffee is harmless, at least not the diarrhea part. However, some of my colleagues believe otherwise. Hmm…… very intriguing……. But you know what, whenever I have an unanswered question, there is always that one guy to ask. He is always there for me, 24/7, and his name is Google.

Here are some of the results after I typed in “Is Coffee Diuretic?”:
www.cosic.org/caffeine/diureticeffects/
http://coffeefaq.com/caffaq.html
http://www.ific.org/foodinsight/2002/ja/caffdehydnbfi402.cfm
http://www.tipsofallsorts.com/coffee.html

OK, the fact is I am more confused than ever after reading through all these websites. Some says it is diuretic, ranging from mildly to moderate depending on the dosage. Some says it’s no more diuretic than water. Some says it depends on the person that you are asking to. So, I guess the question remains unsolved: Is Coffee Diuretic?