Love an icy cold soft drink? Then choose a root beer. Of all types of soft drinks and canned teas, this one does the least damage to your teeth.

Researchers from the dental school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore determined that non-cola soft drinks, including ginger ale, Mountain Dew, and Sprite, as well as canned iced tea are much harder on teeth enamel than any other kind of canned drink, due in large part to acidic flavor additives, such as such as malic acid or tartaric acid, reports Medical News Today. Root beer has the least additives, making it the best soft drink for your teeth. The study: For 14 days the researchers exposed healthy dental enamel to a variety of popular soft drinks, including Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Canada Dry ginger ale, and canned Arizona Iced Tea.

The results:

• All of them weakened and permanently destroyed the tooth enamel.
• Diet sodas had the same bad effect as the sugared versions since the main culprit is the acidic additives.
• The most harmful were non-cola drinks, which caused two to five times the damage as darker cola drinks.
• Root beer, which contains the least amount of flavor additives, was found to be the "safest soft drink to safeguard dental enamel."
• Canned iced tea caused 30 times the damage to tooth enamel as brewed tea or coffee.
• Brewed black tea, root beer, coffee, and water had a minimal effect.

Adding to the problem is our own mouth acidity. If that increases, the chemical reaction with the soft drink hurts our teeth even more, according to lead study author J. Anthony von Fraunhofer. The end result: tooth decay. One thing you can do to protect your teeth is to rinse your mouth with water after drinking a soda.We love soft drinks in this country. A whopping 95 percent of Americans drink soda. Soft drinks account for about 27 percent of the beverages consumed in the United States. The average 12- to 19-year-old drinks about 28 ounces of soft drinks every day.

The study results were published in the General Dentistry, the newsletter of the Academy of General Dentistry.

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How much water should you drink every day? The latest study from researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City concludes that the old standby of eight glasses a day still holds. Here's the surprising gotcha: If you don't drink enough water, the greatest effect may not be physical--it's mental and emotional.

Drink just half the recommended amount of water, and you'll likely suffer from mild dehydration. You'll also have less energy, and you won't be able to concentrate and focus as you normally would.

"For people who aren't exercising a lot or living in a very warm climate, eight glasses of water a day may be a good rule of thumb," lead researcher Dr. Wayne Askew told Reuters. If you do exercise and sweat a lot, then you need more than eight glasses to properly hydrate your body.

Our bodies need water, primarily because water makes up more than 70 percent of solid body tissue. It helps regulate body temperature, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, removes waste, cushions joints, and protects organs and tissues, explains Reuters. Too little water can cause headaches, grogginess, and dry, itchy skin. When we become severely dehydrated, it can affect our blood pressure, circulation, digestion, kidney function, and nearly all body processes.

The experiment: For 12 weeks, 10 thirsty college students each drank four, eight, or 12 eight-ounce glasses of water per day in four-day test cycles. Between the test cycles the students consumed the amount of water they normally would, as well as during one other week during the study period. The students' hydration status was measured at the end of each four-day water consumption cycle. They also answered questions about their general well being.

The results: Drinking four glasses of water caused the students' blood plasma volume to fall five percent below those who drank eight glasses of water. Four glasses of water also produced more highly concentrated urine. Still, these physical symptoms of dehydration are considered mild--a suboptimal hydration level. What surprised the researchers was the effect this mild dehydration had on the students' well being. Reuters reports that when students drank the least amount of water, they reported feeling less energetic and less focused than when they drank more water.

If eight glasses of water a day is good, is more than that even better? Probably not, although it won't hurt you. Those who drank 12 glasses had blood plasma volumes that were 10 percent higher, but their well being was not impacted positively or negatively.

The findings were presented at the annual Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, California.

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We should consume no more than one teaspoon of salt a day. Guess what? Chances are you're getting almost twice that--and don't even know it--because so much sodium is "hidden" in processed foods from spaghetti sauce to canned soup to frozen dinners, reports The Associated Press. If you want to cut down on salt, a known risk factor for high blood pressure, it's hard to do.

How can you find the hidden salt? Like any good puzzle, you need to know the code words. Obviously, if you see the word "salt" on a food label, you know salt is in the product. But baking soda and MSG contain sodium, too. On restaurant menus, the words "pickled," "cured," "broth," and "soy sauce" all indicate high sodium

That is why the American Public Health Association, backed by dozens of other health and medical groups, has issued a challenge to the food industry: Cut in half the "hidden" sodium in food over the next 10 years.

The problem: Salt makes food taste good. It's really hard to change the recipe by eliminating the salt and still retain the product's taste. When manufacturers have created low-sodium products, they haven't sold well. And other spices, which would make the food taste good, are more expensive than salt. Restaurant food is also loaded with salt.

The solution: We consumers have to demand low-salt alternatives. Until we make a fuss--as we're doing now with high-fat foods--manufacturers probably won't reduce the sodium.

"There's only so much people can worry about when it comes to food," nutritionist Bonnie Liebman of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest acknowledged to AP. "But the fact is high blood pressure rates are going up, the evidence that salt raises blood pressure has only gotten stronger, and people need to hear that message."

High blood pressure--or hypertension--is bad for your heart, brain, and kidneys. While being overweight and sedentary are the primary causes of high blood pressure, too much salt is also a contributor. Dr. Stephen Havas of the University of Maryland told AP that just reducing by 20 percent the number of people who suffer from hypertension could save 150,000 lives a year.

How can you take personal control and reduce the hidden salt in your diet? AP reports these suggestions from the National Institutes of Health and the American Public Health Association:

• When you cook, eliminate all salt. Instead, sprinkle a smidgen of salt on your food at the table. Do use other spices in cooking, such as lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt-free seasoning blends. Don't spice up your food with MSG, soy sauce, and catsup as they are loaded with sodium.
• Avoid canned vegetables. Stick with fresh or plain frozen veggies. Beware! Frozen vegetables with sauces have added sodium.
• Look for convenience foods that have "reduced sodium" on the labels.
• Cut back on frozen dinners and packaged mixes.
• Limit the amount of food you eat that is cured, including bacon.
• When you do eat canned foods, rinse them with water to remove some of the sodium. This works especially well with canned tuna fish.
• When you eat in a restaurant, request that your food be prepared without salt. Most restaurants will try to accommodate this.