2

After reading this article about if we even get our minerals from water, it ends with a feeling that drinking mineral water is actually unhealthy for you because it contains inorganic minerals that the body cannot process and can be deposited for quite some time.

Keep in mind that water contains only inorganic minerals which can actually be detrimental to human health. Our bodies have a hard time processing inorganic minerals and what we cannot absorb may be stored in our tissues and organs and eventually become toxic to the body.

As a result, it claims that things like arthritis (from calcium) and cancer (from radioactive or 'opposite spinning' electrons) can happen.

Is there any evidence to show that inorganic materials in mineral water can be harmful to humans?

Sklivvz
  • 78,578
  • 29
  • 321
  • 428
Vigrond
  • 131
  • 5
  • 3
    I'd love to see the source which says electrons "spinning the wrong way" are carcinogenic, if only for comedy value. – Chel Feb 29 '12 at 17:40
  • I have done research on that concept before (for proving that a product called Lifewave may not be quite healthy for you), and it all seems to come down to a very little understood area of science called Magnetobiology and another area called Biomagnetics. A scientist by the name of Albert Roy Davis has done extensive research on the subject and many interesting articles are available for free on his website (magnetage.com). – Vigrond Feb 29 '12 at 20:48
  • They're no more harmful if you find them in water than if you get them somewhere else; some minerals are essential, and some you'd rather avoid. (Details matter _tremendously_ here; you do not want arsenic ions, and potassium is perfectly fine, for instance.) I don't have time to write a referenced response, unfortunately, so this is just a comment. (You might also be interested in the question on this site regarding distilled water.) – Rex Kerr Mar 01 '12 at 18:31
  • 1
    lead fits this description - less the spinning. – David LeBauer Mar 02 '12 at 02:46
  • Depends on the water: the content of mineral waters varies widely. Some emerge from the ground with toxic and radioactive constituents. I'd be surprised if anything approved for sale is problematic, though. – matt_black Mar 02 '12 at 21:39
  • @matt not all water is 'approved for sale' before it is consumed; many people drink contaminated water from the pipes in the home or out of the ground, or from a truck, even in streams! – David LeBauer Mar 03 '12 at 07:21
  • 1
    Minerals are inorganic by definition. Everything is toxic in high enough concentrations. – Tacroy Jul 14 '12 at 19:03

1 Answers1

3

Epidemiological evidence suggests there is a slight benefit from the usual inorganic minerals

The most common inorganic minerals in drinking water are salts of calcium and magnesium (which are what cause "hard" water.

A full answer is given here: Is water calcification bad for your health? .

The key conclusion (based on statistical comparisons of death rates from specific cause that attempted to remove other confounders) is:

After adjustment for other factors cardiovascular mortality in areas with very soft water, around 0 25 mmol/l (calcium carbonate equivalent 25 mg/l), was estimated to be 10-15% higher than that in areas with medium-hard water, around 1-7 mmol/l (170 mg/l), while any further increase in hardness beyond 1-7 mmol/l did not additionally lower cardiovascular mortality.

So there appears to be a small effect that suggest lower inorganic mineral content is worse.

Of course, some mineral waters can and do contain nasties such as lead or radioactive radon, but the source of the claim isn't talking about those and doesn't show any understanding of chemistry, nutrition or epidemiology.

Community
  • 1
matt_black
  • 56,186
  • 16
  • 175
  • 373