By Alan Mozes
NEW YORK, Mar 14 (Reuters Health) -- Bottled water from around the country
and around the world is available for sale in the US. But the best bargain may
already be in your kitchen -- tap water has less bacteria and more fluoride than
much of the 4 billion gallons of bottled water currently sold annually in the
United States, according to researchers.
"The majority of bottled water basically has very little fluoride... and my
concern is if children are drinking bottled water, they are more than likely not
getting the required fluoride to protect against dental decay," said study lead
author Dr. James Lalumandier of the School of Dentistry at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lalumandier and his colleagues tested the bacterial count and fluoride
levels of samples collected from four Cleveland water plants, which serve more
than 1.5 million residents and use water purification processes similar to those
used in the majority of water plants across the US.
The researchers compared their findings with similar tests performed on 57
samples of several types of bottled water sold in the Cleveland area --
including different brands of spring water, purified drinking water, and
distilled water.
Comparing the results against a range of optimal and safe levels of fluoride
and bacteria as established by the federal government's Safe Water Drinking Act,
the researchers found that only 5% of bottled water had fluoride levels within
the recommended range for drinking water while 100% of the tap water had optimal
fluoride levels. Ohio is one of 10 states that legally require fluoridation of
public water. Research has shown that dental decay among children and adults has
been significantly reduced due to the presence of fluoride in the water they
drink.
In addition, Lalumandier and his team found that while 39 of the 57 samples
of bottled water had lower bacterial counts than the tap water samples, the 15
samples of bottled water that were not as pure as the tap water had anywhere
from 10 times to 1000 times the bacterial levels of the Cleveland water plants.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Lalumandier emphasized that the study
findings should not cause bottled water consumers to panic. "None of the water
would make one sick," he said. "A normal healthy person drinking the bottled
water with the most bacteria would not feel ill from it -- but that's not a
reason to have it less than as pure as you can manufacture it."
Also, Lalumandier pointed out that "purity" is not a clinical term and
although bottled water companies make claims of greater purity, the fact is that
currently two different federal agencies test the two different water sources --
with different guidelines for what minimum and maximum fluoride and bacterial
levels are allowable.
"The Food and Drug Administration tests the bottled water and the
Environmental Protection Agency tests the tap water, so we have two different
agencies testing the waters... (and) the testing is different. The tap water is
tested more frequently so there's more scrutiny with tap water. That's probably
the bottom line," said the researcher.
Lalumandier said that this bottom line means that tap water is not just a
bargain when compared to bottled water -- it is actually better for your health,
particularly dental health. "Tap water does have the fluoride protection to
protect against cavities and also the quality is there as far as low bacterial
counts."
