Monday, March 10, 2008

Findings on water

For the most part, I'm a pretty big water drinker. Back in 2004, I changed my habit and attitude about water. I used to think it was incredibly boring, just couldn't stand drinking the stuff. Since then, however, water is the most abundant liquid I drink in a day. I do think it has valuable effects on both the body and mind as long as the consumption is safe and you do not develop hyponatremia.

Over the years, however, there have been various articles on water. For a long time, it was said to drink bottled water, not tap. Then an PepsicCO, Inc. came out that their Aquafina bottled water was really just tap water. On top of that, used bottles of water have been piling up in landfills. Some thought an alternative would be polycarbonate reuseable bottles. But then studies on that began showing chemicals that leeched from the bottle, primarily Bisphenol A, and especially increased at high temperatures. Some studies have shown that BPA has adverse effects in the human body.

The latest article looks at an analysis of water and various medications found. Although these amounts are measures in parts per billion and trillion, anti-convulsants, antibiotics, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones were found in water from across the country, according to AP probe investigators.

I find this pretty disturbing. We really don't have the details of long term studies and whether there are adverse effects on health. I think this is an important issue to look at since water comprises so much of our body. It seems like even if you do the "right" thing, you're still going to be exposed to some other unwanted thing. Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to stop drinking water, I'll just probably think about it a little more carefully. Maybe we all should in the long run.

2 comments:

Dr. Deb said...

It is very disturbing. We need to purify our own water now.

Tiptoe said...

I definitely agree with you. It's the least we can do for now.