Healthiest Hydration

When you think about nutrition, what comes to mind? Most people think of vitamins, minerals, and protein, getting enough calcium and iron, and not eating too much fat. Although it doesn’t contribute to the nutrient value of food per se, it is still important in describing food composition and energy balance. Still can’t guess what it is? Water. Yes, plain pure water.

Water in the rest of the body
Our bodies are approximately 55-65% fluid. When some of that fluid is lost through sweat, it affects our cardiovascular system and our ability to control temperature. Water helps to maintain body temperature, and allows for over 50% of all chemical reactions occurring in the body, a vital component of synovial fluid (joint Lubricant), and cerebrospinal fluid in the nervous system.

Loss of fluid may contribute to a host of metabolic disorders. So rev up your metabolism by getting into the habit of drinking more water, a glass every hour. If you exercise, your body needs more water. Fluid can be absorbed from the small intestine at a maximum rate of 8-10 ounces (240-300 milliliters) every 20 minutes.

The body’s average daily loss of fluids through excretion, respiration, chemical reactions, and perspiration varies from 1-3 quarts. At 2% dehydration, the physical and mental capacity decreases by 20%! Body temperature and heart rate increase during periods of dehydration. A high protein intake calls for a greater amount of fluids as well. The body’s prevention mechanism is osmorecepter transmission to the brain stimulating a sensation of thirst prior to the occurrence of dehydration.

How much should you drink?
Drink at least eight cups of water daily, spreading it throughout the whole day. Regular, non-carbonated water is the best. Never wait until you are thirsty--that is a sign of dehydration. Don’t like water? Try 100% juices, milk, and eating juicy fruits and vegetables. While all these things will help, nothing is as good as pure water. After a while you will crave water, and prefer it over all other drinks. Surround yourself with visual reminders to drink, such as a water bottle on your desk and in your car and a pitcher on your kitchen counter. Thirst is a poor reminder, because it doesn’t kick in until you’re already mildly dehydrated. Early symptoms of fluid deficiency include fatigue, loss of appetite, loss of body weight, and heat intolerance. Severe water shortage is marked by muscle spasms, exhaustion, excessive temperatures, heat stroke, and death.

To Tap or Not To Tap
Unfortunately, the water from nature does not come to your faucet in a perfectly clean pristine condition. After being gathered from rain, ground and surface waters, Australian water travels through the closed distribution system to prevent environmental exposure and pollution. Soon we will be getting two types of water in our homes – one for drinking and another for other household purposes, such as cleaning and toilet flushing. Even though the dual system might save the valuable resources, it may also bring a host of new problems with installation and cross-connection.

Before water leaves the supplier, it has to be cleaned of dangerous microorganisms and chemicals that make their way to the dams. Pathogens from organic matter, livestock waste, pesticides and fertilisers from farming by-products, inorganic pollutants and heavy metals such as arsenic, iron, manganese from mining, cadmium, lead and asbestos from piping degradation, can cause life-threatening ailments if not filtered and treated properly in our water. Nobody wants waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and gastroenteritis viruses to become first-hand familiar or to see our running water turn from virtually odorless and crystal clear to a foul-smelling brown liquid.

Australian water is controlled for 70 contaminants with a bouquet of different chemicals. Some experts say that these treatment solutions may be as dangerous as the indigenous contaminants. Even properly treated water may become polluted in the distribution system before reaching your house.

Pesticides and herbicides used to prevent weed growth and protect crops from insects can leach into waterways. Even low level exposure to these chemicals can cause serious health problems, especially if the contact with pesticides comes from different sources. Side effects may include suppressed immunity, hormonal and reproductive abnormalities, neurological disturbances. Contact with many herbicides and pesticides have been linked to breast and testicular cancers.

Nitrates and nitrites from sewage appear in the drinking water especially in rural areas. Excess levels of these chemicals can lower the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, particularly dangerous for young children shown to cause methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby" disease.

Heavy metals such as Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic, Chromium also find their way to your drinking water from leaching building materials, paint, fuel emissions and mining. Because your body does not excrete heavy metals in the same way as vitamins and minerals, chronic exposure may lead to a build up of these chemicals causing high blood pressure, headaches, joint pain, hormonal abnormalities, heart and digestive system problems.

Dangerous Purification
Disinfection and purification of municipal water improves its taste, smell and colour making it relatively appealing and drinkable. However, these disinfectants may also produce undesirable organic by-products potentially dangerous for your health. Some of the known chemicals added to your tap water include:

Chlorine – a very effective disinfectant that eliminates bacteria and deadly ailments such typhoid and cholera. However, some studies have shown that this highly reactive contaminant may increase the risk of cancer, irritate digestive tract, kill friendly gut bacteria, damage arteries, raise cholesterol levels, and cause various skin problems when applied externally.

Fluoride – a naturally occurring mineral that is added to water to promote mineralization of teeth and bones and prevention of tooth decay but getting more of this mineral than you need may result in dental and skeletal fluorosis contributing to mottled tooth enamel and brittle bones.

Aluminium – this mineral is used as a flocculating agent which removes particles from water and makes it translucent and crystalline and much more appealing. But some studies reveal that aluminium is a central nervous system toxin especially if you don’t have a strong immune function.

Overall, major Australian cities have a safe water supply. But if you are still concerned about the quality of filtering and chemical control system, you may check with your local municipality and get involved with DIY hydration purification.

Pristine Solution
Before you get terrified about the dangerous bugs in your water and decide to completely give up drinking tap water, there is a wonderful solution for you – purchase your own water filtering system. You can choose from a variety of filters made for household use depending on your need, budget and space.

Carbon (Cartridge) Filters – consist of activated carbon or charcoal, these remove chlorine and volatile organic compounds, pesticides, benzene and radon, improving water’s taste and smell. However, cartridge is ineffective against heavy metals or bacteria and virus.

Ion Exchange Filters – contain resins that attract heavy metals, fluoride, nitrates. Because resins do not remove organic chemicals, pesticides or chlorine, these filters usually have a built-in carbon-type filter.

Reverse Osmosis - also known a hyperfiltration, passes the water under high pressure through the membrane with very small pores that can filter out single ions. Removing most particles and dangerous chemicals, including bacteria, cysts, viruses, chlorine, fluoride, heavy metals, this is considered the most effective method of water disinfection. But it can be costly, slow and not suitable for all households due to installation mechanism. Bottled water is usually a product of Reverse Osmosis.

Distillation – boils the water, filters out the chemicals and condenses the steam removing most contaminants such as chlorine, cysts, heavy metals and bacteria, but may still miss out on volatile organic compounds. Even though it is a very good filtration system, distillation is thought to strip away important minerals from water, may be expensive and slow to run.

Prices for filters vary from $30 to $1500. Check what kind of disinfectant materials are used in the system and whether you can install it at home. Alternatively, get the filtered water delivered to your home and drink to your health!

Elena Voropay is a journalist specializing in natural health and fitness writing. She is a Certified Nutritionist, Certified Personal Trainer and studies Naturopathy. For a wealth of information about health, natural therapies, nutrition and fitness visit her websites at www.AustralianNaturopathy.com and www.AustralianFitness.com