Yahoo!Shine recently posted an article listing bottled water brands from highest to lowest qualities.  Of course, this list does come with an asterik, as filtered water from the tap in one’s home is purer than anything provided by bottled water companies.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) gave filtered tap water the best grade (an A).  Not only is filtered tap water purer than bottled water, it can save you copious amounts of money (bottled water can cost up to 1,900 times more than what flows from your tap)!

Tap water is tested regularly and consumers can easily find information on their local water online.  That’s not necessarily the case with disposable bottled water, which is not required to disclose that information to consumers.

A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition used data from a national health survey of over 12,000 Americans.  The findings were “people who drank more water tended to eat more fiber, less sugar and fewer calorie-dense foods.” The lead researcher, Dr. Ashima K. Kant, pointed out that although this does not necessarily prove that drinking more water leads to a healthier diet, the data does suggest a connection between higher water consumption, instead of soft drinks and other beverages, and improved eating habits.

 If you drink the amount of water your body needs to work at its peak efficiency, you will feel more energetic and boost your metabolic rate, too, which in effect will help you lose weight.  Studies have also shown that the sensations of hunger and thirst are triggered together. If your body is slightly dehydrated, the thirst your body is feeling might be mistaken for hunger, and you might start to eat instead of giving your body what it is really craving - water! Drinking water regularly, especially before meals, also helps to keep you feeling fuller, so you don’t eat quite as much as you would without drinking.   About 2 liters a day, or 8 glasses, is what is always recommended to hydrate your body enough, and to flush it of toxins.

Frostbite and hypothermia are not the only health hazards associated with frigid temperatures. Cold weather studies at the University of New Hampshire show increased risk for dehydration, a condition more commonly associated with hot weather.  People tend not to feel as thirsty when the weather is cold.  When they don’t feel thirsty, they don’t drink as much, and this causes dehydration.   We also lose a great deal of water from our bodies in the winter due to respiratory fluid loss through breathing.  Our bodies also are working harder under the weight of extra clothing, and sweat evaporates quickly in cold, dry air.  This is why it is extremely important to drink plenty of water, especially when exercising or working outdoors.

New information regarding the health effects of BPA never seems to stop coming.  This time, BPA has been found to be associated with increased weight and, incidentally,  serious illnesses linked to obesity.  Researchers in China found that adults over the age of 40 with high levels of BPA in urine samples tend to be obese, have more abdominal fat and are insulin resistant.  BPA is used primarily to make plastics, including disposable plastic water bottles, and at least 8 billion pounds of BPA are used by manufacturers yearly.

Many people tend to look at obesity as a cosmetic problem without considering the many related illnesses that go along with it.  Obesity-related illness results in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year in the United States and billions of dollars in health care costs.  Being obese causes an increased risk for developing a number of serious and potentially fatal health problems including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

A prior study published by The Journal of the American Medical Association reveals the same link between BPA and metabolic disorders, consistent with this new research.

Although chlorine has essentially eliminated the risks of waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery, serious health problems arise when chlorine is ingested into the human body via drinking water or through the respiratory system by breathing in the chlorine fumes created in a hot shower.  Chlorine is quite the paradox.  It kills harmful bacteria and microbes in our water yet, because its a toxic gas, irritates the human respiratory system and has been found to be linked to cancer.  

Regularly drinking water straight from the tap and taking hot showers with chlorinated water could pose a serious health risk.  Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem; home water filtration systems.  Home water filtration systems for both drinking and shower water are the most effective ways in greatly reducing, if not eliminating, your exposure to chlorine. 

Most of the talk concerning litter from plastic water bottles centers around how they are swallowing our landfill space, but there is little discussion regarding their impact on our bodies of water and marine life.  Plastic debris is largely comprised of one time use plastic water bottles and has deletorious effects on the earth’s marine environment.  A large number of marine species is known to be harmed and even killed by plastic debris, which could jeopardize their survival, especially since many are already endangered by other forms of anthropogenic activities. Marine animals are mostly affected through entanglement in and ingestion of plastic litter.  Other less known threats include the use of plastic debris by “invader” species and the absorption of polychlorinated biphenyls from ingested plastics.

Online Education has an infographic that provides strong evidence against the popular belief that bottled water is healthier for you than tap water.  In reality, bottled water is just water and may not even be as clean and pure as drinking water from the tap.  In addition, the plastic this water comes in is just oil based trash that takes a thousand years to decompose!  Below are some interesting takeaways from the infographic:

                – “People in the US drink and discard more than half a billion bottles of water each week- enough bottles to circle the Earth 5 times”

                - ”Nearly 2.5 billion bottles of water a year are sold in New York alone—stacked up end to end, they’d reach the moon.”

                - ”Single-serve bottled water is the fastest growing beverage of choice in the United States.”

Although a bit dated, a report from Applied and Environmental Microbiology pertaining to Giardia and Cryptosporidium in filtered drinking water is still very relevant to your health.  Giardia  and Cryptosporidium are parasites that exist in rivers and lakes and cause intestinal illnesses in humans and animals.  In May 1993, an epidemic of intestinal illnesses occurred in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.  It was discovered that these illnesses were caused by Cryptosporidium and, since then, nationwide attention has been brought to cryptosporidium and giardia in water supplies.  These parasites are very difficult to get rid of, especially for animals whose main sources of water are rivers and lakes.

The report details how Giardia cysts were detected in 17% of filtered drinking water samples taken from 66 surface water treatment plants in the U.S. and Canada and Cryptosporidium in 27%. Since it’s difficult to assure that your tap water is coming from a treatment plant that is in full compliance with the Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR), which was enacted primarily as a means of controlling waterborn diseases caused by parasites, then your best bet is to go with a water filter that can eliminate these parasites. 

Fortunately, New Wave Enviro’s Premium 10 Stage Drinking Water Filter removes micro-organisms such as cryptosporidium and giardia, and dozens of other lesser known organic contaminants.

Energy Times Magazine featured New Wave’s Double Wall Hot/Cold Insulated Stainless Steel Bottles in this year’s Holiday Gift Guide.  And what better time to buy these bottles!  With winter coming up, these bottles will maintain the perfect temperature for your hot chocolate and favorite soups.  These are excellent gifts for friends and loved ones too.

In case you missed New Wave at the recent Green Products Expo, here is a video of President Lee Archer spreading the green word and providing more information about New Wave’s product line at the event.  Very informative if you ask me!