Bottled Mineral Water

Submitted by Stella Morgan on December 7, 2009

Mineral water refers to water that has a variety of specific naturally-occurring chemicals. These typically dissolve and are then soaked up by the regular groundwater. The craze over mineral water may puzzle some of the older generations of people who have never had to deal with packaged drinking water. At one point, “regular water” wasn’t optional at restaurants. It was the only version of water available.

Suddenly, waiters cropped up offering people a choice of drinking water. Before this, the idea of paying for drinking water seemed ludicrous. These days, branded mineral or packaged water is the norm.

Suddenly you have companies offering high-end water from proprietary sources everywhere from the Alps to the Himalayas. The allure might lie in the health benefits and the fact that it’s considered quite fashionable to be seen with expensive varieties of mineral water. Sparkling mineral water is one of the later crazes.

In addition to drinking such mineral water some also have faith in the advantages of taking a dip in various hot mineral springs. These offer various cures ranging from digestive issues to arthritis.

If that water bottle claims to be a mineral water bottle, it should have specific chemicals as well as trace elements in certain levels, which are naturally occurring. This is supposed to occur at source and should not be later added.

Examples include magnesium, potassium and iron. The test for such bottled water involves the stuff that remains after the water has fully evaporated. Usually, brands offer more than just one particular mineral. The best part about mineral water is it’s availability in destinations where you know that the water isn’t safe to consume. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to prove that the levels of minerals justify the charges for such mineral bottled water.

Also, a lot of companies that are supposed to sell purified bottled water add some minerals in order to enhance the flavor. This cannot be classified as true mineral water. The ever popular hot springs too have not shown much scientific evidence of benefits. Hot spring therapy however has shown to be good when it comes to relieving stress. Using such water as your primary means of drinking water means that you could lose out on essential minerals like fluoride.

The bottom line is that, while advantages of mineral water are still uncertain, in places like Mexico, you are better off drinking bottled or mineral water. There are still various controversies raging around mineral water, not the least of which is the ecological effects of such industries.