The value of natural mineral water lies in the "mineral" it contains. Are you drinking it right?

With the arrival of World Water Day on March 22, "water" has once again become a hot topic among the public. In our daily lives, we are encouraged to love and save water, and experts recommend drinking more water for our health. On the other hand, water safety issues are frequent, and healthy water has become an urgent need at the social level. At the same time, the public knows very little about water, and "water blindness" is everywhere. On this special day of World Water Day on March 22, we need to have a good chat about "water".

Water is more scarce and precious than we think

As we all know, freshwater resources account for 2.5% of the world's total water, and freshwater resources available to humans only account for about 0.3% of the world's total water resources. Figuratively speaking, there is only a small spoonful of water to drink in a large water tank. Water is far more scarce and precious than we think. In my country, the per capita freshwater resources are only one-fourth of the world's per capita level, and the regional distribution is uneven, making it a country with serious water shortages.

Are you drinking water or "chronic poison"?

Water shortage is a problem, but water pollution is a more serious problem. Is every sip of water you drink really healthy and safe? According to relevant data, about 90% of cities in my country face varying degrees of water pollution. According to the Xinhua News Agency's Outlook News Weekly in April 2020: Due to water pollution, 80% of children in the Yangtze River Basin have been found to have multiple antibiotics in their bodies. In fact, this situation exists not only in the Yangtze River Basin, but also in many rivers across the country. Water pollution is so close to our daily lives!

Faced with such a water pollution dilemma, some people choose to boil water to deal with it. Boiling tap water can only kill bacteria and other microorganisms in the water. This treatment method may be applicable in the past, but in the current industrialized world, water bodies are affected by a variety of modern pollutants such as heavy metals and antibiotics, which are difficult to completely eliminate through high temperatures. Water pollution is like a chronic poison that erodes people's bodies.

With water pollution becoming increasingly serious, how can we ensure the safety of our drinking water?

The answer is to drink truly pollution-free healthy water! Professor Shu Weiqun, director of the Environmental Health Teaching and Research Section and doctoral supervisor at the Army Medical University, once proposed three requirements that healthy drinking water should meet: first, safety and harmlessness; second, mineral balance; and third, sufficient drinking water.

Safe and harmless: Water pollution exists in surface water such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs. At present, when surface water is seriously polluted, groundwater is a better choice. After multiple filtration and purification in the soil layer, gravel layer, rock layer, etc., the groundwater located more than 100 meters underground is completely isolated from pollution. After mining, it can be directly drunk after simple physical treatment without the need for heavy chemical processing.

Mineral balance: that is, the water contains the mineral elements necessary for the human body and the content is moderate, which is what we often call natural mineral water. The groundwater we mentioned above is divided into natural mineral water and spring water, and the fundamental difference between the two lies in the "mineral".

The national food safety standard for drinking natural mineral water (GB 8537-2018) defines drinking natural mineral water as follows: water that naturally emerges from deep underground or is collected through drilling, contains a certain amount of minerals, trace elements or other ingredients. Water that is uncontaminated within a certain area and prevents contamination. The content of various minerals should meet the corresponding limit index regulations. Therefore, only water that meets the national GB8537 index standards is truly natural mineral water.

Professor Shu Weiqun also pointed out in the "World Water Day·Popular Science Lecture on Healthy Drinking Water for Youth": Although the natural minerals in water are few, the absorption rate is much higher than that of solid food. It is an important way for the human body to supplement mineral elements. Some high-quality natural mineral waters can even account for 25%-40% of the daily needs of the human body.

Drink enough water: The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016) recommends that adults drink at least 1500-1700 ml of water per day, which is equivalent to three bottles of natural mineral water per day. Once the body is dehydrated, it will cause various discomfort symptoms, so don't wait until you are thirsty to think of drinking water, and don't drink too much water at one time. It is good for your health to develop a healthy habit of drinking more water.

Don’t be a “water blind” when drinking water. Do you know what real natural mineral water is?

Healthy water = natural mineral water. But in real life, most people think that all bottled water and barreled water are natural mineral water, which is a serious common sense mistake. Common water on the market includes: purified water, natural water, and natural mineral water. The water you bought in the past may not be real natural mineral water.

It is also very simple to identify genuine natural mineral water: 1. The words "Natural Mineral Water" are printed on the bottle; 2. The product standard code on the bottle label is GB 8537. These two points are equivalent to the "anti-counterfeiting mark" of natural mineral water, and the real and fake mineral water can be identified at a glance.

Water is closely related to our lives. The premise of loving and saving water is to better understand water knowledge. The theme of World Water Day 2022 is "Cherish groundwater, cherish hidden resources". As a liquid mineral resource that has been nurtured underground for more than a hundred years, the health benefits of natural mineral water cannot be ignored. In daily life, we wash our hands with tap water and drink mineral water, so that every drop of water can play the greatest value.