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Bottled Water: Lots of Bucks, Little Bang
Auburn, April 11, 2002 --- We see the image flashed on television screens and
billboards wherever we go: cool, clear water, bottled from a pristine mountain stream in
Colorado or Vermont.
What’s wrong with this image? Absolutely nothing. But if you are one of countless
Americans who are drinking bottled water purely to stay healthy, you’re probably getting very
little bang for the buck, says one expert.
While bottled water won’t hurt you, there is nothing special about it either, says Dr.
Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University
professor of nutrition and foods.
“I think this whole cultural phenomenon of drinking bottled water caught on when
researchers discovered that people on average lose about 2 quarts of water every day in the
course of daily living,” Keith says. “That probably explains why so many people are going to
such pains to drink more water.”
But from a nutritional standpoint, people could do better, Keith says, because water,
compared with other products such as fruit juice and even iced tea, simply doesn’t carry the
same nutritional punch. That’s precisely why he advises health-conscious consumers that
they would be better off drinking fruit juice and tea instead.
“Plain old water is simply way down the list compared with fruit juices and tea,” he
says. “While it contains a few minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, this doesn’t
compare with the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals found in fruit juices and tea.”
“And while calcium and magnesium are important components of a healthy diet,
these are widely available in dairy products and green leafy vegetables.”
This raises another issue: namely, the fact that most fruits and vegetables are made
up largely of water.
“Peaches and apples, for example, are made up of about 90 percent water,” Keith
says. “and the same holds true for pasta and spaghetti.”
“What this means is that even when people fail to consume eight glasses a day of
water or some other beverage, they can still get their water intake from other foods,” Keith
says. “By the time these foods are eaten and reach the intestinal tract, the water has been
extracted and absorbed into the body just as if it had been derived from drinking water.”
Bottled water enthusiasts would argue that their product still holds one advantage
over other products: They are free of calories. But even this claim is a dubious one at best,
Keith says, since unsweetened tea, a far better nutritional choice, is also free of calories.
Even so, if you are still determined to drink eight glasses of water a day, Keith offers
this advice: Drink tap water instead.
Tap water, contrary to widespread opinion, is generally just as safe as bottled water
and, in some cases, even safer.
In fact, bottled water may be nothing more than municipal drinking water drawn from
a tap, packaged in a clean plastic bottle, and marketed as a clean, safe product, Keith says.
Even if bottled water has been drawn from a mountain stream or aquifer, there’s no
guarantee it is any safer that plain treated municipal drinking water. That’s because, bottled
water is not subject to the same rigorous safety standards as treated drinking water.
If you’re really serious about securing the safest drinking water available, Keith says
your best bet would be buying a water filter for your tap.
“Granted, all municipal drinking water systems treat their water for biological agents
and contaminants,” Keith says, “and from that standpoint, the water will be just fine.”
“But if you’re determined to remove the chlorine and any minute traces of these
substances that may still be lingering, a water filter attached to your tap would be just the
ticket.”
While water filters cost about 100 dollars to install, this will still be less expensive
than depending on bottled water as your sole source of drinking water, he says.
“With a filter, you can get safe drinking water for pennies a day, whereas relying on
bottled water will cost you much more.”
In fact, studies show Americans are shelling out huge amounts of money for bottled
water products: roughly $10,000 every minute of every day for at least 30 different brands of
commercial water. That adds up to $5.2 billion annually.
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(Source: Dr. Robert Keith, Extension Nutritionist, 844-3273)