Why you should say no to bottled water!

I recently attended a healer who specialises in Thai healing massage. I had great things about him and being unfamiliar with this form of healing I was curious to try it out. We discussed briefly that I have recently had an unsuccessful round of IVF and will be starting another round soon.

One of the first things he advised me was to stop drinking bottled water ad explained that bottled water lacks the essential minerals for our body that tap water provides and also that the plastic is not good for our bodies. I remembered hearing something about this before but had never taken much notice. Anyway I decided to look into this a bit more myself and was shocked by some of the reports I can across.

We have been given the impression that bottled water is a healthier option compared to tap water in most cases this is simply not true. Some bottle water contains the same contamination as tap water. Plus the plastic bottles leaches chemicals into the water especially if it has been exposed to heat. Here is some of the information I came across.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is mainly used in combination with other chemicals to manufacture plastics and resins. For example, BPA is used in polycarbonate plastics, a high-performance transparent, rigid plastic. Polycarbonate is used to make food containers, such as reusable beverage bottles, tableware (plates and mugs) and storage containers. BPA is also used to produce epoxy resins found in protective coatings and linings for food and beverage cans and vats. BPA can migrate in small amounts to food and beverages stored in materials containing the substance. EFSA published a comprehensive re-evaluation of BPA exposure and toxicity in January 2015 and reduced the tolerable daily intake (TDI) from 50 to 4 µg/kg bw. Based on animal studies, high doses of BPA (hundreds of times above the TDI) are likely to cause adverse effects in the kidney and liver. BPA is also likely to have effects on the mammary glands of rodents. How these effects are caused (the ‘mechanism of action’) is not clear.

Possible effects of BPA on the reproductive, nervous, immune, metabolic and cardiovascular systems, as well as in the development of cancer are not considered likely at present but they could not be excluded. They add to the overall uncertainty about BPA-related hazards and therefore have been considered in the assessment.

In 2018 the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water after a new analysis of some of the world’s most popular bottled water brands found that more than 90% contained tiny pieces of plastic. A previous study also found high levels of microplastics in tap water.

In the new study, analysis of 259 bottles from 19 locations in nine countries across 11 different brands found an average of 325 plastic particles for every litre of water being sold.

In one bottle of Nestlé Pure Life, concentrations were as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per litre of water. Of the 259 bottles tested, only 17 were free of plastics, according to the study. A World Health Organisation spokesman told the Guardian that although there was not yet any evidence on impacts on human health, it was aware it was an emerging area of concern. I don't know about you but I would rather not be drinking plastic particles in my water.

One of the biggest concerns for me personally was a link to possible infertility issues.

In laboratory experiments, they exposed 352 eggs from 121 consenting patients at a fertility clinic to varying levels of BPA.

"Exposure of eggs to BPA decreased the percentage of eggs that matured and increased the percentage of eggs that degenerated," said lead researcher Catherine Racowsky, director of the assisted reproductive technologies laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

BPA also increased the number of eggs that underwent an abnormal process called "spontaneous activation" that makes eggs act as if they have been fertilized when in fact they haven't been, Racowsky said.

I have only carried out a small amount of research but given what I have read I will be opting for tap water in glass bottle or glasses from now on, I will leave it up you to decide for yourself. but if you think about it 40 years ago there was very little plastic in use milk came in glass bottles, food was grown or bought fresh, water was from a tap and was rarely bought in bottles. Maybe be should revert to simpler times before everything became more bout convenience and less about how it effects our bodies long term because the truth is no-one really knows the answer.