"Here are some facts which might be influential:

• The human body is roughly 2/3 water.
• The human brain is close to 3/4 water.• About 85% of our blood is water.• The average adult human loses from 2.5 to 3 liters of water every day (via urine, sweat/evaporation, stool, breathing)• Water is a perfect conductor of electricity, and both our brain neural activity and cardiovascular activity require a fixed electrical circuit, based on stable concentration of electrolytes.• Targeted levels of water are required in the body to allow toxins to leave our tens of trillions of cells and be excreted in our urine/stool. Otherwise, we suffer from toxic build-up, which leads to cellular dysfunction and eventually chronic disease, especially cancer.

I think that broths and herbal teas are both therapeutic contributors to general hydration during a day because both will contain minerals, and neither will be acidic or function as a diuretic (unlike coffee, tea, alcohol, soda).

On the other hand, all carbonated beverages (including seltzer) include dissolved carbon dioxide, creating carbonic acid, which usually features a pH between 3 and 4 (more acidic than most coffee, actually). Clean, pure spring water would have a pH closer to 7 or 7.5. So indeed, they are not the same, and carbonated water puts a pH-balancing burden on the body (and the average American's diet is already metabolically very acidic). I recommend my clients only consume 1 glass of seltzer at most per day and that it is not a substitute for plain water."