Pure Water. Regulating The Stream.

We are all aware of the recommendation to drink eight glasses of water a day to maintain healthy bodily functions and to help promote weight loss by cleansing the body of waste and toxins. During exercise and exertion we are advised to increase our liquid intake to avoid de-hydration. But what we sometimes forget is the importance of “pure water”. The body performs its cleansing much more efficiently when it does not have to first cleanse the water that we are drinking.
Believing that they are using pure water, many people have adopted bottled as their main source of water, especially during exercise. In fact, close to 20 percent of Canadians and Americans now use only bottled water for their daily hydration.

But bottled water may not be as pure as believed. In both Canada and the US, bottled water is considered to be a food product and is not even held to the same quality standards as tap water. In Canada, bottled water is regulated through the Canadian Food and Drugs Act. The fact is that in most places in Canada, drinking water from the tap is tested for quality and contaminants much more frequently than bottled water.

The National Resources Defense Council in the US reported that regulation has not guaranteed pure water in bottles. “I think that consumers are under the misguided impression that bottled water is being carefully regulated and fully tested, and that it comes from whatever place is on the picture on the label. That’s not the case,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

While insisting that bottled water is safe, Health Canada is looking into new and stricter regulations and guidelines to prevent bacterial and chemical contamination. It advises that the current regulations do not explicitly set chemical or radiological standards for bottled water and packaged ice (except in the case of arsenic and lead). Bottled water normally contains low numbers of harmless bacteria. When stored for prolonged periods at room temperatures, these bacteria can multiply rapidly.

Health Canada also recommends purchasing newly manufactured water. Reusing these plastic water bottles is not recommended due to the danger that chemicals can be leached from the plastic over time and in high temperatures.

Studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates, which are known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, can leach into bottled water over time. Although there are regulatory standards limiting phthalates in tap water, there are no legal limits for phthalates in bottled water.

One of the catalysts used in the production of the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) containers, used for bottled water, is antimony, which is a cancer causing heavy metal. A professor at the University of Heidelberg performed a study on bottled water and found that the levels of antimony increased when stored at room temperature for six months. So, before your next workout, remember that the claims for the healthiness of bottled water are not so pure. Investing in a reusable container that can be safely washed and cleaned between uses might be the better answer. These containers can be refilled over and over again from a pure water source that is NSF certified to remove contaminants and other harmful heavy metals and chemicals.