Thirsty? Water is your best bet.

Virtually any drink a person might want to ingest these days has come under fire - coffee and soft drinks for their caffeine and sodium, tap water for taste and safety, and wine and beer for the dangers of alcohol. Even milk, once billed as "nature's most nearly perfect food," has taken heat for being high in fat and cholesterol.

If all the warnings have left you a bit confused, the best advice is simply to look to the basics. Plain tap water still is number-one from a health standpoint, maintains Rachel Barkley, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutritional sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Strict enforcement of Federal regulations make virtually all municipal water safe to drink. Nevertheless, 'although people complain about the price, there's a mystique that says bottled water and mineral water are healthier than tap water. That's a false image - nutritionally there's no real difference between the two. It's mainly a question of taste."

Of all the leading beverages, milk is still the clear winner, nutritionally speaking. Milk is necessary as a primary source of calcium. It's easy enough to obtain the needed calcium and avoid fat simply by drinking low-fat or skim milk." Fruit juices also have significant nutritional value, although they can be high in sugar and can cause a problem for people with ulcers or acid intolerance.

Coffee, tea, and soft drinks, in contrast, have virtually no nutritional value. "Coffee has a few minerals, but nothing that would make a significant contribution to a person's diet. People drink coffee and some drink soft drinks simply for the caffeine buzz.' These beverages also can act as a diuretic, which promotes water excretion and can be dehydrating." Caffeine reactions may include headaches, stomach upset, irritability, and an increase in blood pressure. "Tea and soft drinks, however, have a much lower level of caffeine and can be consumed by some people who have trouble with coffee. With the wide range of no-sugar, no-caffeine drinks now on the market, people have many more choices and should be able to find something that is relatively harmless."

Not so harmless are beverages with alcohol, which rank at the bottom of Barkley's list. "Many...