Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Water = H2O or does it?

Hope you all had a wonderful mothers day weekend! This past weekend we went up to the Jersey for a bit and we left right after work on Friday night.  I had only had an apple for lunch, thinking we were going to go out or at least have time at home before we left to make something. Time flew by, and we had to leave before it got really late so I was starving! We stopped at a little Mexican takeout place, ordered some food and I realized I didn't have my Siggy bottle, I had two options a water bottle or soda. I really don't like soda so I went for the Dasani water bottle. At least I could recycle the bottle. As we were sitting talking and eating, I noticed the label on the Dasani, it looked like this:
(I had to bring it home and show you)
Here is a closer look:

I'm not sure if you can completely see the label but it says:
"Purified Water, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Salt. *Adds a negligable amount of sodium and minerals added for taste. Purified by Reverse Osmosis"
Why in the world would I want a taste to my water other than its natural taste? We have a reverse osmosis water purifier at home and the taste isn't any taste specific, isn't that what water is supposed to "taste" like? I looked up what Magnesium Sulfate and Potassium Chloride are and here is what I learned-
(from Wikipedia about Potassium Chloride)
"The majority of the potassium chloride produced is used for making fertilizer, since the growth of many plants is limited by their potassium intake. As a chemical feedstock it is used for the manufacture of potassium hydroxide and potassium metal. It is also used in medicine, scientific applications, food processing, and as a sodium-free substitute for table salt (sodium chloride).

Potassium chloride is used as the third of a three-drug combination in lethal injection. Additionally, KCl is used (albeit rarely) in fetal intracardiac injections in second- and third-trimester induced abortions."

And Magnesium Sulfate "Magnesium sulfate (or magnesium sulphate) is a chemical compound containing magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, with the formula MgSO4. In its hydrated form, the pH is 6.0 (5.5 to 6.5). It is often encountered as the heptahydrate, MgSO4·7H2O, commonly called Epsom salt. Anhydrous magnesium sulfate is used as a drying agent. Since the anhydrous form is hygroscopic (readily absorbs water from the air) and is therefore difficult to weigh accurately, the hydrate is often preferred when preparing solutions, for example in medical preparations. Epsom salt has been traditionally used as a component of bath salts."

I understand that Magnesium Sulfate is also "commonly used in bottled water" and I wouldn't normally have a problem with all these minerals in the water, as long as the water was labeled Mineral Water so that my choice could be a true one, but in this case it wasn't. It just said Purified Water. Afterwards when we got to the lakehouse, where we don't have a filter (yet),  we checked a large bottle we had in the fridge, and just as it says on the Dasani bottle, it was labeled, minerals added for taste. I just don't like that water isn't water anymore, and I don't really understand why it can't be. I want my water to be the old fashioned H20, 2 hydrogens, 1 oxygen.
 I guess from now on, I will have to always keep my Siggy with me, even on the weekends, and no more Dasani for us!

Have you ever seen the label, ingredients added for taste, on your bottled water?

-Nikki

7 comments:

  1. My husband doesn't like Dasani. He says it tastes funny. We just recently got a filtering system for our house. It's great. And you are right, water is NOT supposed to taste. And because ours doesn't, right now it tastes weird to me. Haha. But I can tell it's a good thing.

    I have something over at my blog for you.

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  2. The bottled water industry is totally out of control. I cannot believe that their are still people who ONLY drink bottled water because they think it is better for them. I drink tap water, filtered through a Brita water filter and I love it. And it's cheap and I am not littering the environment with bottles. Whenever I leave my stainless steal water bottle at home, I feel totally lost.

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  3. This is such a great post!!! I'm not a fan of Dasani! Filtered tap water for this girl!

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  4. This is areally helpful post. I already refrain from using bottled water.

    Another trivia about bottled water is that if you drink water from plastic bottles, while in the sun, it increases the risk of BREAST CANCER.

    Wish more people would post like you do!

    Love your site! Is there a follow? If so, I am following you !

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  5. Well, that was interesting. I just picked up the water bottle next to me and read it. Sure enough, yep, Nestle Purelife does the same. Sigh.

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  6. oh my god,,
    i never care about that,,
    hhmm let me check, yeah let me check,,,

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  7. The word "negligible" is the key here. There are trace amounts of those things in the water, and that's mostly for the purpose of preservation. If they just put water in a bottle, it would have mold in it by the time it got to you.

    If those chemicals freak you out, you should look at the ingredients in the processed food we eat, not to mention the meal you were served at that Mexican place! Unless you're totally chemical-free in your diet, I'd be willing to bet a bottle of water is the least of your worries.

    ReplyDelete

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