Besides injesting sodium or drinking an alcohol based drink, what else
can you injest that dehydrates the body?

Hi r2:

Thanks for the fascinating question. I have done some research for you
on this question and the substances that you can ingest that cause the
body to lose water can be grouped into three areas:

Drinks: 
* alcohol (make you urinate)
* coffee (make you urinate)
* black tea (make you urinate)
* other caffeinated drinks (make you urinate)
* carbonated drinks (while they don't actually dehydrate the body,
they do trick to body into thinking it has more water than it does)

Foods:
* high-protein foods (needs water to break it down)
* high-fibre fibre foods (water is excreted with the fibre)
* simple sugars (take lots of water to metabolize)

Medications/Drugs:
* antihistamines 
* decongestants 
* certain asthma medications 
* medications for attention deficit disorder (ADD) 
* diuretics (see list at http://www.tmc.edu/thi/diurmeds.html)
* stimulants (e.g., ephedrine, ma huang, caffeine)

Of course, some of these substances have a more profound effect on the
body's hydration levels than others, but this should represent a
thorough list.

Sources:

Executive Committee issues heat reminder
http://www.ncaa.org/news/2001/20011008/active/3821n21.html

Flying Tips
http://www.latours.com/body_flying_tips.html

Diuretics
http://www.tmc.edu/thi/diurmeds.html

Diuretics
http://www.e-kidneys.net/diuretics.html

Foods that can cause dehydration
http://www.ponyclub.org/regions/southwest/_not_in_use/Dehydration.htm

High Protein Diets Can Lead to Dehydration
http://www.news.uconn.edu/rel02062.htm

Fibre Facts for Pregnancy
http://www.mpshu.on.ca/Pregnancy/fibre.htm


I hope that this information has been of help to you.     
    
If you need any clarification of the information I have provided,
please ask using the Clarification feature and provide me with
additional details as to what you are looking for. As well, please
allow me to provide you with clarification(s) *before* you rate this
answer.
                   
Thank you.                    
                   
websearcher-ga                   
                   
                 
Search Strategy (on Google):            
dehydration
substances that dehydrate body
diuretics
foods cause dehydration
protein dehydration
fibre dehydration
sugar dehydration

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Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 13 Jan 2003 04:47 PST

Thank you for the comment unstable-ga. 

I believe you are right about the sugars. They do not remove water
from the body, but instead leach valuable minerals. Sorry for the
confusion rs.

websearcher-ga

websearch-ga,

you might want to d-check on the simple sugars answer, i don't think
they are that difficult to metabolize,...

I think you missed out pointing that ingesting high amount of salt
ions (aside from sodium, others like Potassium, magnesium, iron, etc.)
would cause your body to try to expel any extra ions it does not need
through the kidneys (hence loose more water).

In general, any "poison" (read substance that your body does not
want), would require the body to try to break it down and attempt to
expel out of the body, the usual route would be through the kidneys
which would then need water.

There are also a number of herbal tea products that have a diuretic
effect, such as dandelion tea.

One warning, you should consult your doctor before using any of these
to dehydrate your body, or lose weight (a common use) as there can be
very serious side effects from use, and even death.

Where needed there are mnay prescription medicines that have the
desired effect, but require careful monitoring to avoid problems.