Bottled mineral water -- healthy or hype?

Bottled mineral water -- healthy or hype?

By Clare E. Urwin

SURABAYA (JP): Drinking bottled mineral water is fashionable
and smart, and the recent increase in worldwide consumption has
been dramatic and is still growing.

Bottled water appears to be an attractive and trendy
alternative to alcohol, coffee and colas. Manufacturers, through
advertising and clever marketing, specify the purity and mineral
content of their products, inferring that their water is somehow
more healthy than ordinary water. But is it?

Water is indispensable to the human body. We can go without
food for months and live, but without water we would die within
days. This colorless, calorie-free liquid plays a vital role in
nearly every bodily function. Digestion, absorption, circulation,
transporting nutrients, removing toxins, building tissue and
maintaining temperature. It accounts for approximately three
quarters of our body weight and even bone, which appears dry, is
more than one fifth water.

Under normal circumstances, the body's water balance is
carefully regulated and adjusted by the combined workings of the
kidneys and the "thirst center" in the brain. This means that the
amount lost each day through perspiration, water vapor from the
lungs and the elimination of water in urine, will be replaced by
consumption. Fine-tuning is continually taking place. This is
just as well, because any loss of water will result in varying
degrees of dehydration, with symptoms ranging from tiredness and
fatigue to heatstroke and death.

Sometimes our liquid control mechanisms crash into fault mode,
especially when large amounts of fluids are lost. For instance,
with kidney malfunction or during severe vomiting, diarrhea,
blood loss, high fever or excessive sweating. Water must be
replaced immediately. Unfortunately, many victims of diseases
such as cholera die primarily through dehydration, not from the
disease itself.

Dehydrating conditions can be particularly dangerous for
babies. Infants cannot communicate that they are thirsty and,
having a large body surface area compared to their fluid volume,
can become seriously dehydrated in a very short time.

Older people and athletes are also particularly prone to water
deprivation.

Thirst mechanisms are not perfect and sometimes they cannot
keep up with the body's demand. Individual water requirements can
vary greatly, depending on weight, climate and exercise, but
people often only consume enough to quench a parched mouth and
not enough to cover their losses.

Therefore, the well-known rule that we should all drink about
eight glasses (two liters) of fluid every day, thirsty or not,
does seem sensible.

Water is best. Tea, coffee, colas and other tannin and
caffeine-containing drinks are diuretics which reduce, rather
than improve our body's liquid balance. Sugary drinks and diet
drinks containing aspartame steal water from the body, as well as
having other negative side effects. Even fruit and vegetable
juices, or in fact milk, require water to be properly digested.

Fortunately, drinking beverages is not the only way to satisfy
the body's fluid needs. In reality, few of us adhere to the eight
glass rule, well-known or not! Clever chemical reactions also
release water from the solid foods that we eat. For instance,
most fruits and vegetables contain 80 percent to 90 percent
water, and even roasted chicken is 65 percent water.

Although extremely rare, it is possible to drink enough water
in a short period of time to develop water intoxication. This
extraordinary water overload is usually caused because of a
psychiatric disorder, although it has been reported in people
following fad diets that call for excessive amounts of water for
weight loss. In such exceptional cases, the kidneys cannot keep
pace with the amount of liquid being ingested. Water intoxication
can be fatal or cause convulsions and coma.

Nevertheless, in normal circumstances drinking more water is
good for us and we are being encouraged from all sides to do
exactly that. Now the dilemma is what type of water? Should we
drink mineral or filtered water; spring or purified water; fizzy
or still water?

Many groups (often the manufacturers), extol the curative and
restorative value of mineral waters which contain small amounts
of inorganic essential minerals such as sodium, potassium,
calcium and magnesium, as well as trace elements such as iodine,
zinc, fluoride, copper and iron. It can be bottled straight from
a natural mineral spring supply, or manufactured by adding or
subtracting minerals to source water during processing for extra
flavor.

Mineral water can be still or sparkling; the "fizz" being
produced by carbon dioxide which occurs naturally, as in some
spring waters, or added by the manufacturer.

Filtered water removes impurities ranging from microorganisms
to nitrates, while keeping some beneficial contaminates, and is
used worldwide to make water safe for human consumption.
Ironically, certain disinfectants such as chlorine, which is used
to "purify" local water for municipal use, are now regarded as a
health risk in some quarters.

Purified, or reverse osmosis water must be distilled by a
process in which the water is boiled, evaporated and the vapor
condensed. This leaves a liquid totally devoid of any dissolved
minerals, making it "soft" but very acidic.

Mineral water has enjoyed a long-standing reputation for its
therapeutic effects. Supporters state that the ideal water for
the human body should be slightly alkaline, requiring the
presence of minerals which give the water a slight "hardness". It
is suggested that drinking hard water may offer certain
protective qualities against diseases, especially cardiovascular
problems. Followers insist that when these beneficial minerals
are available in drinking water, they are more easily and better
absorbed than the same minerals found in food or supplements.

Conversely, and to be expected, advocates of purified and
filtered water disclaim such mineral magic. Some contend that
highly mineralized water is associated with the formation of
kidney stones in the urinary tract.

Also, because the average diet is already quite high in
sodium, consuming extra through drinking water is undesirable.
Furthermore, the champions of pure water add that because the
minerals in high-priced mineral waters merely come from the soil
and rocks through which the water passes, if you want mineral
water just drink the ordinary stuff and suck on a piece of lime
(sodium bicarbonate) at the same time!

Bottled water is big business. The controversy over the
benefits of one type of water compared to another will continue.
However, the somewhat bewildered consumer can still make a
sensible choice. We should all drink more water, but, put in
perspective, the advantages of one variety and category over
another are relatively minuscule, no matter what the so-called
experts say. Let your common sense prevail and make a selection
based on personal preference, the product's availability,
reliability, price and, most importantly, taste. Cheers!
(clareu@attglobal.net)