Health Benefits of Drinking Water

Water makes up two thirds of our body’s weight. Our blood is 83% water, our muscles 75% water and our brain 74%. It is obvious then what water does – ensuring the smooth functioning of our body’s systems. Too little water and dehydration occurs and our digestive system cannot flush out the waste products from our bodies. How much water should we drink? Recommendation on the daily fluid intake consumption guideline that most experts agree on is around 2 to 2.5 litres (or about 8 glasses of water) daily for a normal adult with a typical lifestyle. Children less but the more exercise we do, the more we should drink.

Water acts as a purification system for our bodies, removing toxins and waste, it assists us with weight loss, promotes fitness in body and mind, and keeps us healthy.

Benefits of Drinking Water and Weight Loss

Drinking water boosts our metabolism rate and assists with weight loss. Hot lemon water is believed to assist the process further and increase the benefits by up to three times. Drinking plenty of water helps reduce your appetite and minimises craving for food because it helps reduce your appetite. If we are drinking the correct amounts of water then our kidneys can function correctly. Too little water in our bodies and they struggle, meaning that our livers need to step in and assist. If the liver is assisting the kidneys, it’s not fulfilling its main function which is that of breaking down our body’s fat so we don’t lose weight.

Combat ailments and disease by drinking more water

In many cases dehydration is the prime cause of fatigue, headaches and back pain. If you suffer from lethargy and low energy levels, try drinking more water. If you or your family complain of frequent headaches, the amount of water you’re drinking is likely to be responsible. And, muscle spasms are also caused by not drinking plenty of water a day, so that the body is not adequately hydrated. Excercise can make the symptoms worse as it increases the dehyration if we do not increase our water intake. Carry a bottle with you during the day, drink more and your body will benefit.

Drinking water can reduce hunger

Hunger pangs can be misinterpreted as cravings for water say the experts. Drinking water before your regular meals can help cut down on the amount of food you eat – it works as a really effective appetite suppressant. But make sure that your water intake is just that, don’t count tea, coffee, sodas and juices in your fluids intake as they either contain caffeine which removes water from the body or sugars which makes the body work harder to dilute them causing more dehydration.

Drinking water hydrates our skin and makes us look younger

When we drink plenty of water we hydrate our skin which then takes on a more radiant look and feel. Our bodies need water to flush toxins out of our system and to keep our muscles ‘full’ and strong. Without water our bodies will quickly start to suffer and you’ll be able to see the different in the mirror.

Benefits of Water as a Headache Cure

Water can treat headaches at the source, where pills and medications only mask the symptoms. In large numbers of cases, headaches are caused by dehydration. Even if it is directly related to stress, fatique or other problems, drinking water can greatly reduce the severity of the headache. A properly hydrated body will allow you to think clearly and your headache will ease.

Water Beats Stress!

When we experience stress, dehydration occurs which can lead to the shrinkage of our brains. Correct water intake is therefore vital in decreasing the stress on our bodies and our minds. It is important to feed our thirst.

Flouride and Water Health

Fluoride exists naturally in water sources and it is well known that it helps prevent and even reverse the early stages of tooth decay. Fluoride combats tooth decay by preventing the acid produced by bacteria in plaque from dissolving or demineralizing, tooth enamel, our teeth’s natural protectant. Floride is also incorporated in the structure of developing teeth when it is ingested by our bodies which also protects our teeth. Water fluoridation has proved to be a safe and cost-effective way to reduce the cost of dental care. Today, water fluoridation is estimated to reduce tooth decay by as much as 40%.

Chlorine and Cancer

People continue to use and drink unfiltered tap water even though it can be filled with carcinogenic compounds, when a simple water filter can help safeguard us against cancers. Untreated tap water is filled with dangerous contaminants like nitrate, arsenic, microorganisms, and chemicals from pesticides. When our water is treated, many contaminants are removed but the most dangerous of contaminants is actually added. Chlorine, a know poison to the body, is added as an inexpensive and effective drinking water disinfectant. At least three types of cancer are known to be caused by this chemical and research shows that we are 93% more likely to risk cancer by drinking unfiltered chlorinated water.

Want To Live Longer? Drink Water!

A big reason to drink fresh, clean water is that over the past 100 years our life expectancy has increased by more than 30 years. Cleaner public water is one of the biggest contributing factors according to research evidence. We now take more steps to clean our water supply and have improved our waste water treatment processes which all add up to a longer, healthier life. Water can even help with the fight against diabetes.

Spring water is defined as water which naturally flows from an underground source to our planet’s surface, traveling through cracks and underground caves in the rock formation.

Artesian spring water wells are those where the water is forced to the surface because the sources are higher than the outlet or at least the groundwater which recharges the source is at a higher level and creates the pressure. Non-artesian spring are usually where water falls at a high level, soaks into the ground and then flows down through underground channels to emerge at a lower level as a stream. Hot springs are created where volcanic or other underground pressure is exerted on the water.

As the water travels through the underground rock formations, it picks up minerals in the form of dissolved mineral solids which can add to the flavor of the water and in some cases add bubbles or effervescence in the form of dissolved carbon dioxide to produce natural sparkling water.

Bottled spring water is often described as mineral water which can in a lot of cases be deceptive. Those springs that produce water which is high in dissolve minerals, ‘mineral springs’ are fine, but a good deal of springs known as ’soda springs’ actually contain dissolved sodium rather than minerals. Mineral springs are those where ‘resorts’ or ’spa towns’ have grown around the site, for example Bath in England, Saratoga Springs in New York and Fontaine de Vaucluse in France.

Is bottled Spring Water safe to drink?

A bottle of quality spring water containing various dissolved minerals can indeed be extremely safe and even healthy for our bodies. Drinking beverages rich in dissolved minerals can help our bodies maintain their natural balance. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has strict guidelines and regulations as to what constitutes ‘bottled spring water’ to safeguard the public. It is water which is naturally occurring and flows from its underground source to the surface where it is bottled. If it is collected by sinking boreholes or by the use of additional force then the composition of the water should be exactly the same as that which flows naturally.

There are countless brands of spring water available through retail outlets and even for delivery to home and office. It’s therfore difficult to recommend one over another as it will invariably come down to personal taste. Other considerations other than taste are the bottler/manufacturers reputation for eco-friendly processes and what effect the plastic they use for bottling has on the environment and our health. This sort of information is usually freely available and if not, we should ask ourselves why and perhaps look to a different beverage bottler.

Mineral water, as the name suggests is any water which contains dissolved minerals, either naturally occurring at source or added during the processing stage of production. This includes sparkling, carbonated or effervescent water which again occurs naturally as well as being processed.

Historically, mineral waters were considered a therapeutic ‘cure’ which you could not only drink but bathe in to receive the health benefits. The historic City of Bath in England is a prime example and other towns harboring spas, baths and wells, have basically built themselves around these natural mineral water sources. Pilgrimages to these spas were commonplace.

Nowadays our mineral water tends to be bottled at source and shipped around the world, which is far more convenient than traveling to the source – many of which are now not open to the public but have been turned into big bottling businesses. The number of commercially available brands of mineral water total some 3,000 products across the globe and so there is no real shortage of choice.

The amount of dissolved minerals contained within the water determines whether it is classified as hard or soft. The more minerals, the harder the water. The United States ‘Food & Drug Administration’ (FDA) defines mineral water as having over 250 parts per million of dissolved solids and having to be naturally sourced from bore holes, springs or other underground sources. Mineral water as far as the US FDA are concerned can not be processed to add more minerals although this is not stipulated elsewhere in the world where processed waters are also considered or classified as mineral water.

So, where a great deal of our water today is processed to remove dissolved solids such as minerals, chemicals, gas and other ‘impurities’, often our natural mineral water tends to be bottled at source, retaining all of it’s mineral content which the majority see as being beneficial to our health and well-being. Magnesium and calcium are the most common naturally occurring minerals with various others including iron, potassium and fluoride to name but a few. The tap (faucet) water in some cities and countries for example Zurich in Switzerland also contains large amounts of dissolved minerals and can also be classified as mineral water.

Although our municipal systems have mandatory checks and tests in place to ensure that water safety regulations are adhered to for our safety, there are no such questions asked or testing procedures carried out for spring and mineral waters. We have to place our faith in the bottlers and producers. However, it is generally accepted that the dissolved minerals in this water do not harm us but do actually contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Other chemicals and bacteria present are hopefully treated during the bottling process before we consume the water!

It is also generally accepted that drinking water high in minerals is the best way for us to achieve the correct mineral levels within our bodies so that the mineral content of our bodies isn’t leached away, leaving our cells deficient, which in turn can quickly lead to illness.

Tap water also contains minerals and a simple answer would be to install a carbon filter system or similar, which can ensure that you have mineral water on tap, but with other contaminents and impurities removed. This is quite obviously a much more cost effective solution to buying bottled mineral water from the supermarkets.

Removal of contaminants from our water by filtering can be done in a variety of ways in our own homes but tends only to be used on cold water. It enables us to drink more water safely without having to turn to bottled water products and offers a cost effective and healthy alternative to the shop bought bottle. There are lots of top brand product out there such as Brita, Culligan and Pur – brands with good reputations for quality.

Jug, pitcher or carafe filters are great for small amounts of water and are extremely cost effective. The only drawbacks other than that they provide just small amounts of filtered water, are that they tend to be quite slow and the filters need replacement regularly because they get clogged with the contaminants that they are removing. Unless used regularly, they can also become home to bacteria growing within the filter element. Another cheap alternative to plumbed in systems is the tap (faucet) filter purifier, but again these can be very slow and won’t fit all applications.

Under sink filter units and reverse osmosis systems are great in that they are kept out of the way, but both can take valuable cupboard space. Both need special modifications to the plumbing system and while the reverse osmosis systems produce some of the purest water available, they are also very slow and create huge amounts of waste water – roughly 4 or 5 gallons for every gallon of purified and filtered water that they produce.

Whole house systems use long life cartridges and will require installation by a qualified plumber but offer a cost effective solution on a large scale. These systems can filter out a lot of contaminant and even chlorine, but struggle with some of the nastier bugs and chemicals.

Types of effective filtration

Carbon – charcoal medium carbon is a well used and cost effective solution to our water filtration needs. The filters absorb contaminants and impurities as water flows through the cartridge. The micron rating of these filters is important as anything at 1 micron or below will remove some of the worst contaminants such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Most of the carbon cartridge systems have a simple timer system to keep track on the age and viability of the filter. The do need changing quite often.

Ceramic filters utilize Diatomaceous earth which is a chalky rock made from years of compacted sediment which crumbles easily. It’s use in water filtration is widespread, not only in drinking water treatment but for filtering swimming pools, fish tanks and even wine and beer. The only drawback really is that they have a very slow flow rate.

Mixed media water filtration can provide great tasting water and is an extremely popular filter system removing not only toxins and contaminants such as chlorine from your water, but also treating hard water.

Water distillation is a highly effective method of producing exceptionally pure water. However, this water is stripped of all mineral content and is therefore considered inappropriate and harmful to our bodies in and significant amount or period of time. Reverse osmosis is similar to distillation in that it strips the filtered water of valuable minerals which can then cause an imbalance within our bodies.

UV and Infra Red systems are quite different to each other although sounding quite similar. UV sterilizes water by subjecting it to an ultra violet light which kills the bacteria, while Infra Red utilizes natural silicate minerals such as Tourmaline which can soften the water and negatively charge it which some claim enhances the body’s hydration.

Magnetic filtration basically rearranges the water’s ions, ionizing the minerals and creating softer, smaller molecules which again can help with the hydration of the body but the effects are normally short-lived. A water ionizer creates alkaline water which is great for our bodies.

Water softeners are used in hard water areas to rid our water of calcium and magnesium ions which causes blocked pipework and appliances and which stops our detergents from forming suds. These ions are replaced with sodium (salt) which reverses the hard water problem. This is why our dishwashers as extreme users of water, rely so heavily on salt.

Filters are popular not only in the home but by many companies who want to give their employees the best quality water to aid better health. It can be a confusing process to research and select the best and most effective filtration system for your needs but having done so, you will have a valuable asset for you and your family, and even you and your employees.

Alkaline water is produced by water ionizers which use electrolysis to separate or filter the water into alkaline and acid. Many claim that this alkaline water is an antioxidant that can make us more healthy, cure all manner of disease and ailment and even make us live longer. There is quite obviously no scientific evidence to support these claims or any comprehensive test done, but they continue to be made.

Most of the claims revolve around the benefits of drinking alkaline water to neutralize the acidic wastes in our blood stream which will promote revitalized energy and healthy bodies. As our bodies are made up of mostly water, this mineral and antioxidant rich water can help to remove unwanted toxins from our systems.

The theory is that everything we eat creates acid, as does stress, drink and other contaminants that we invariably take in, and so drinking alkaline water not only neutralizes this acid, but creates a healthy pH balance in the body. This pH level, according to supporters of alkaline water affects every cell in our system and can have an adverse effect on our major organs, our brain and generally how we feel.

So by drinking ionized alkaline water which is rich in minerals and antioxidants, we keep our bodies properly hydrated. Added to this it keeps toxin levels down and an optimum pH balance, creating a healthy lifestyle and a general well-being which is lacking with poor hydration supplied by other waters (?).

The theory is great but what about the function of the kidney in our bodies, which itself neutralizes acid and keeps our pH balance in check. The kidneys remove high levels of toxins from the blood and regulate its pH, They also remove other contaminants and return substances such as sodium, potassium and chloride ions plus glucose, amino acids and of course water.

Although there are many views and much debate, as well as huge numbers of product on the market to ionize your water, it seems that pH alone cannot guarantee water quality which we feel is of much more importance, along with good nutrition and exercise.

Bottled water is predominantly available in plastic bottles, usually PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) while the water cooler companies tend to use high density polyethelene containers. This tends to be the biggest public criticism of bottled water – that it creates so much waste plastic and that chemical contaminant leaching from the plastics can do us harm in the form of cancer and other undesirable complaints.

However, recent studies have shown that the level of recycling of used, plastic water bottles has risen by over 20% since 2006 in the United States to a rate of over 23%. When you consider that globally, our consumption of bottled water is forecast to rise by over 50% from 2006 until the end of the decade, where we will be drinking nearly 175,000 million liters, you can see that that is a huge amount of recycled plastic.

Bottling companies led by the big beverage brands are also doing their bit for the environment by reducing the amount of plastic they put into each bottle, creating a more eco-friendly product. With an estimated 200 million bottles of water consumed throughout the world every year 50 billion of those within the United States), whatever we can do to conserve energy and reduce waste is going to help the environment substantially.

OK, so what processes are used to produce our bottled water and what effect does the water really have on our health?

Apart from natural mineral and spring waters which are bottled at source, the vast majority of our bottled water is processed and created using reverse osmosis and distillation processes. (A lot of the big brand water products are taken from our own municipal supplies). These create an extremely pure water, probably the purest with the least risk of contaminants, but most of the natural minerals which our bodies need are also filtered out. Fluoride is also filtered out which some blame for an increase in tooth decay.

Much research has been done and many test reports have been commissioned and written on the subject of the bottled water market, the standards and the quality of our bottled water with the general concensus of opinion being that they are generally free of bacteria and that levels of harmful chemicals are well below the standards set making them safe for consumer consumption.

Bottled mineral waters, while containing the minerals and dissolved solids which help our bodies, can also contain high levels of calcium which if consumed excessively could increase the risk of conditions such as gallstones and kidney stones.

So, tap (faucet) water or bottled water drinks?

Much of the argument comes down to the environmental effects of producing the plastic bottles and the other associates packaging. Globally, we drink more bottled water than tap but we also pay a huge amount more for it. Arguments for and against one or the other will rage for eternity. Mostly it is down to personal preference, price and taste. Tap water in certain areas can be of just as good a standard as the purest distilled or filtered water.