What Qualifies as Healthy Drinking Water?

Water is the source of life, and we consume it every day. Today, there is a wide variety of drinking water available, such as mineral water, purified water, and the most common option—boiled water. But which type of water is the healthiest to drink? Faced with so many choices, which one should we pick for daily consumption? What exactly is mineralized water? In simple terms, mineralized water is purified water with a small amount of added minerals. It is produced by purifying tap water (drinking water for daily use), adding minerals to it, and then subjecting it to sterilization and canning. The purpose of adding minerals is not that these minerals are incredibly nutritious or indispensable to the human body; rather, it is to meet consumers’ taste preferences. Adding mineral salts can make the taste of mineralized water similar to that of the boiled water or natural mineral water we drink daily.

• What is Natural Mineral Water?

Natural mineral water is water that flows naturally from underground deep sources or is extracted via drilling. It has strict requirements for its water source: the source must be surveyed and evaluated by geological and mineral resources authorities, and protective measures must be implemented for the water source area. It can be regarded as a type of mineral resource. The relatively high price of natural mineral water is mainly due to the high cost of sourcing the water, not because the trace minerals it contains have any magical health benefits. Since natural mineral water comes from deep underground, its composition is greatly influenced by the rock formations it passes through. Therefore, compared with tap water, it has more elements that need to be monitored—for example, antimony, barium, boron, nickel, and silver are only classified as non-routine monitoring indicators in tap water standards. Natural mineral water is often touted as being rich in beneficial trace elements such as strontium and selenium. In reality, my colleagues have tested several brands of natural mineral water, and the content of these elements is no higher than that in tap water; in some cases, it is even lower.

• What is Purified Water?

Purified water is produced using tap water that meets drinking water hygiene standards as the raw material, processed through technologies such as ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and distillation. It has low ion content and low hardness, containing almost no minerals. Boiling purified water will not cause limescale buildup. Purified water has a high penetration rate in developed countries and regions, reaching over 80%. Residents in the Middle East drink almost nothing but purified water.

• Is Drinking Natural Mineral Water Healthier?

A family hailed as "expert water drinkers" claims that they have not drunk tap water for 20 years—not because they consider tap water unsafe, but because they believe drinking natural mineral water is healthier. This statement has faced a lot of criticism, with many questioning it as a publicity stunt for a certain mineral water brand. The so-called expert behind this family based his theory on a published research paper. However, the same paper also mentioned that people who drink natural mineral water have larger chest circumferences and are taller, making the water sound like some sort of magical elixir! In fact, when a large number of indicators seem to one-sidedly favor natural mineral water, we need to consider whether other confounding factors are at play, such as nutritional status and socioeconomic conditions. As a matter of fact, the claim that natural mineral water is superior to other types of water has never been recognized by the scientific community.

• Do the Minerals in Water Benefit Health?

Minerals generally refer to inorganic salts. Common types found in water include carbonates and metasilicates of sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Water also contains other elements such as iron, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, and vanadium. There is no denying that these elements are essential for the human body, but our primary source of these nutrients is our daily diet—three meals a day. Overall, if you are not deficient in these minerals, drinking natural mineral water will not lead to excessive intake; if you are deficient, drinking natural mineral water will not be sufficient to make up for the deficiency. Claims about the amazing benefits of mineral elements in water are usually made by people selling natural mineral water, mineralized water, and other water-related products.