If you think nothing of taking a few sips from the hallway water bubbler or pouring yourself a glass of water from the kitchen sink or maybe even drinking the water served on the table of your favorite restaurant, then you might not be aware of the fact that you’re putting a lot more into your body than just H2O!
Foundation of Health
As one of the fundamental requirements of our bodies, drinking pure, unadulterated, mineral-rich water is an absolutely vital component of establishing a baseline of good health and function.
Yet many of us do not realize what in fact, we are actually putting into our bodies when we mindlessly drink water from the most common, everyday sources.
To Tap or Not to Tap?
I’d like to share with you several critical, fundamental differences between municipal drinking water and water that is either from a pure, natural and pristine source and has been bottled off-site or water that has been properly filtered. Tap water is municipal water that has been treated, processed and disinfected.
Many man-made additives and chemicals are intentionally added to the public water supply in an attempt to render it safe for consumption. Although specific treatment methodologies vary among states, the majority of treatment processes involve the addition of chlorine to disinfect and kill bacteria; the addition of fluoride, to prevent tooth decay (the validity of which is highly controversial) and the addition of potassium hydroxide to restore the pH. As reported by CNN.com, June 17, 1997, and substantiated by numerous other scientific studies, one of the main byproducts of chlorine in the drinking water is strongly linked to cancer.
Chlorine kills any existing minerals in the water and competes with iodine in
the body which is vital to proper thyroid function.
Drinking chlorinated water also is detrimental because once ingested, it kills all the bacteria in the gut; both good and bad. There are over 400 strains of good bacteria in a healthy digestive system and these bacteria are of vital importance for the production of lactic acid, which stimulates peristalsis (regularity), the production of B vitamins (vital for energy and proper nervous system function) and protect us from pathogenetic organisms like fungus, parasites and foodborne illnesses.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study on tap water in 1997 and concluded that up to one-third of gastrointestinal illness may be related to drinking water that meets current federal standards. The researches concluded that the addition of chlorine to the drinking water was the likely cause of the disturbance. Remember, this study was back in 1997. With over 10,000 new artificial chemicals and toxins introduced into the environment every year, think of what the effects could be now!
What Are Your Standards?
Did you know that the national standards for drinking water were set back in 1974? That’s over 30 years ago! Again, considering the thousands and thousands of foreign, man-made chemicals, additives, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and pharmaceutical drugs have been introduced into the
environment over the past 33 years, is it reasonable to expect municipal treatment plants, which are often decades old, to be able to properly filter and purify our water supplies?
The adequacy of current treatment systems entrusted to filter and purify all these contaminants is highly questionable. A large volume of research, including the 2003 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and an ongoing groundwater and drinking water study by the Environmental Health Sciences Institute, supports the position that the majority of operating treatment systems fail to filter out a myriad of foreign chemicals. Outdated treatment plants and aging pipes are the top culprits for producing unhealthful tap water which all too often contains carcinogens, manufacturing byproducts, agricultural run-off, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, microbial contaminants sewage and pollution remnants, lead and other toxic chemicals.
As reported in the April 15, 2006 International Journal of Cancer and on Yahoo News on May 5, 2006, six studies that examined a combined total of almost 8,000 people indicated that higher consumption of tap water can increase the risk of bladder cancer in men. The studies showed that the men who drank more than 2 liters of tap water a day ran a 50 percent higher risk of bladder cancer than those who drank half a liter or less.
Nature-Made
A final concern with drinking tap water relates to not what municipal water does contain but shouldn’t, but rather what it doesn’t contain but should. One of the fundamental rules of thumb of holistic health applies here: any food or beverage is only as healthy as its source.
Water the way nature intended it is from a pure, natural source and void of manmade chemicals, toxins, industrial run-off and sewage. Nature-made water is from soil and rocks rich in minerals and organic compounds which are then passed onto the water itself. In contrast, tap water is from a local water shed and is completely void of these vital, health-promoting minerals and trace elements.
Unlike municipal tap water, a quality Artesian, mineral or spring water is high in these inorganic compounds which are vital to good health. Brands of bottled water I recommend are Evian, Vital, Fiji, Pellegrino and Volvic. These brands are processed from a pristine, natural source, bottled off-site and then purified. If you’re looking for the best home filtration system, the gold standard and the one I use myself is the Kangen Ionized Water Filtration System. Please contact me if you’d like more information.
Conclusion
The need for pure, clean, mineral-rich water is one of the most fundamental needs of the body. Being properly hydrated, while avoiding the inconspicuous ingestion of artificial toxins, bacteria, pharmaceuticals and various other harmful chemicals is vital to feeling and looking your best. So please think twice about the source of your fluids and remember: What you can’t see can’t hurt you!
If you would like more information about the affects and benefits or water, you can read the articles: Bloating, Belching and Belly Fat; Tips for Digestive Health or Water and Your Weight: How Staying Hydrated Keeps You Healthy & Slim!, or listen to my audio clip: Are Energy Drinks Better than Water, all of which you can find her on my website.
