Guest Article: Your Bottled Water Can Be Harmful: Study - by Lean On Life Health & Fitness Team

It’s no secret that when it comes to healthy drinks, water tops the list. When nutritionists and fitness experts offer up health tips, they can’t say enough about the importance of staying hydrated.

Today, grabbing a bottle of water helps busy people on the go quench their thirst without resorting to a cup of coffee or can of soda packed with sugar or caffeine.  No one disputes the vitality of water, but many researchers make the case that bottled water is less than healthy for you or simply no better than tap water, so not worth the money.

HEALTHY DRINKS: STAY HYDRATED WITH WATER 
There’s a reason those eager to stick to healthy drinks choose water time and time again. The body consists of 60% water. These fluids help the body digest and absorb food, circulate blood, create saliva, transport nutrients and even maintain a healthy body temperature. Many dieters drink lots of water as part of their weight loss strategy. It also keeps your skin healthy, muscles energized, and kidneys functioning optimally.

THE BOTTLED WATER BLUES
A group of German researchers, whose findings were published last August in the Plos Onejournal, shed light on the potential risks of drinking bottled water. It might astonish you to learn that they found a staggering 24,500 different chemicals in just one bottle of water. Part of the problem may be toxins from the plastic that seep into the water; hence the scare over Bisphenol A, a dangerous chemical formerly found in plastic baby bottles.

In the current study, the researchers found a substance in the bottled water they tested that interfered with estrogen and androgen, two types of hormone receptors. On the other hand, the tap water they tested was clean as a whistle.

A BOTTLED WATER ENTHUSIAST?
North Americans drink a lot of water, spending billions on bottled H2O every year. Some people opt for bottled healthy drinks like water because of health concerns while others simply think it tastes better than plain old tap water. If you’re going to go for bottled water, make sure the water treatment protects against Cryptosporidium, an illness-causing parasite especially dangerous to people with weak immune systems. To be safe to drink, water needs to go through reverse osmosis, distillation and filtration with a 1 micron filter. Also make sure that you’re selecting a bottle that doesn’t contain high levels of fluoride, which can be detrimental to oral health.

While the FDA regulates bottled water, commercially bottled water has been blamed for gastrointestinal illness, reproductive problems and neurological disorders. Marketers assert bottled water is clean, clean, clean, trickling down into untouched pools of fresh spring water. However, bottled water is just…well, water! Empty bottles are landfill, for one, and, in addition to potentially having adverse health effects because of the presence of thousands of chemicals, bottled water is pricier than tap water, less sustainable and typically no healthier than tap water. 

HEALTH TIPS: WATER ALTERNATIVES
Rather than drinking bottled water, purchase a stainless steel thermos and fill it up with – you guessed it – local tap water. If you just don’t like the taste, you can buy carbon filters to transform your tap water at a lower cost than pricey bottled water.

Water is still one of the healthy drinks you should always have your hands on – just don’t buy the bottled stuff. Whether you’re at the office or on the treadmill, having a bite to eat or on the road, remember to keep sipping! The last of our H20 health tips? Remember, the tap is your friend.
 
This article Your Bottled Water Can Be Harmful: Study was originally published at lean on life.  This entry was posted in General, Healthy Eating and tagged health tip, healthy drink by Lean On Life Health & Fitness Team.