There Must Be Something in the Water…

A common element of good health is drinking water. Drinking water is vital to your health, with 75% of your body and 85% of your brain being made up of water. But what happens if you are making the correct effort to drink water but don’t experience the benefits you expected?

You may have heard of the various problems with water. I will go over a few of the common problems experienced.

Drinking tap water

Tap water can have the wrong pH balance, contain toxins and taste bad.

pH stands for “potential of hydrogen.” It is a measure of how acidic (or non acidic) a substance is. The lower the number, the more acidic the substance is. It is a scale of 1 to 14. Pure water has a pH of 7.0, directly in the middle of the pH scale, which is considered neutral. However, due to pollution, tap water with a low pH (less than 6.5) is more common. Such water is acidic and corrosive. Therefore, the water will corrode metal particles from plumbing fixtures and pipes such as iron, manganese, copper, lead and zinc in toxic levels and have associated problems such as a metallic or sour taste. Additionally, tap water has Chlorine and Fluoride added with questionable health benefits. Go to www.mercola.com to learn more about these dangerous water additives.

So when you drink or are considering drinking tap water, know that too much of this water could affect the pH balance of your body, leading to many health risks such as parasites or yeast infections. Or even dehydration!

Drinking water from plastic bottles

Plastic has certain chemicals which disrupt the body’s hormone system. Tiny amounts of the plastic chemicals can be absorbed into the water. Ingesting these tiny amounts daily for a long period of time can lead to long-term effects such as incorrect hormonal balances, low birth weight, miscarriage, infertility and cancer.

Distilled water – only for the short term

Drinking distilled water has its place when detoxifying the body but can only be used for the short-term. In the long-run it can pose health risks. To quote Dr. Zoltan Rona:

“Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the vapour condensed. Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time). Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value.”

So are there any solutions?

Of course. If you suspect that your water is wrong for you here are some tips:

Drink filtered water, or spring water bottled in glass or polyethylene. Polyethylene bottles can be located at health focused stores such as Wild Oats or Whole Foods. Glass-bottled water is available for use with water coolers by delivery in some areas.

By Mattingly Chiropractic, July 14, 2013