I just bought some Smart Water. I wanted something with Magnesium for sore muscles.
Can anyone give me a comprehesive run down of all the bottled water brands and health benefits.
I’m not super GREEN- so can we leave out the whole bottle waste issue…
Sure - all bottled water brands have water in them, which is good for you.
The recommended daily intake of magnesium is 300-400 mg. A liter of Smart Water has 15 mg. Drink up!
Actual scientifically proven health benefits: Exactly zero for all brands.
Advertised health benefits: Check the vendor’s websites for all the lies & barely true persuasion-by-innuendo you care to read.
in the USA the bottled water source is on the label. 25% is tap water the rest comes from lakes, rivers, springs and deep wells the same places that cities get their water from.
Eh, bring a water bottle along and a vitamin pill.
Are you doing extensive sport - more than two hours a day? In that case, why don’t you buy one of those supplement powders to replenish fluids, and use tap water?
If you are doing hobby sports - an hour a day or less - the German doctors* recommend a mix of (mineral)** water with apple juice*** in roughly 3:1 as sufficient to replenish vitamins and mineral, and much cheaper, than the professional powders. Those are only recommended to people who run marathons and similar.
Health benefits are not advised willy-nilly. First you go to your doctor for a check-up, who then tells you that you have a deficiency in mineral x and should consume the following stuff which contains it. Or that you suffer from bronchitis, where sulfur thermic water is good, so you should go to Bath Y which has natural occurrences of this.
You shouldn’t chug down water with high magnesium just because your muscles are sore without asking a doctor first! It could be a different reason for soreness (micro-lacerations, milk acid) and lead to overdose of magnesium, esp. if you drink more water because you’re thirsty. If you really have a lack of a mineral, take isolated pills for that mineral so you don’t overdose.
If you want sparkly water, you can do that yourself and save money and bottles. Or do you want to be green?
** In Germany, mineral water from springs is tightly regulated and protected. I don’t know whether it’s only the protection that’s lacking in the US, or whether you don’t have mineral springs, either.
*** That refers to pure 100% apple juice with no sugar, water or anything else added, not fermented. If available, dark (with fibers) is better than clear (filtered).
In the US: Comparison of health regulations for bottled water vs tap water
And a more succinct summary: Bottled Water: Illusions of Purity
If these sources can be believed, bottled water in America is generally the same or worse for your health, compared to tap water.
If you’re really that worried about your health, neither tap nor bottled water is all that safe. Get a filter at home and process your own.
The difference I was talking about was mineral water, from a spring that contains certain minerals, that tap water (often surface water) doesn’t have.
Additionally, in certain areas, tap water may have been considerably treated (see the chloramine thread, where the USians are absolutly convinced that water needs to be treated at the plant with chlorine or other chemicals because the pipes are too unsafe, and if German water plants don’t do this, then the water must be unsafe (despite research here showing, and the law demanding, that the water at the tap is safe, not at the plant).
The rise in popularity of mineral water in Germany over the past decades is partly linked to the image of mineral water being better and more healthier than tap water (studies show that a normal balanced diet should contain all minerals in the food - but who eats a properly balanced diet?); and that in some areas, water had to be treated more, so it didn’t taste as good; and that tap water without carbonation tastes “flat” and boring, while mineral water, both because of the minerals (and yes, there’s a taste difference between some brands!) and the carbonation, tastes more interesting.