Marketing of Bottled Water Exploits People’s Worries

Sunset in Medicine Hat, Alberta. (Dr. Noorali Bharwani)
Sunset in Medicine Hat, Alberta. (Dr. Noorali Bharwani)

“Thousands Have Lived Without Love, Not One Without Water.”
W.H. Auden, American-English poet, author and playwright.

Bottled water is drinking water from various sources (well water, distilled water, mineral water, spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles.

It is important to remember, bottled water labelled as “mineral” or “spring” water, is potable water (fit for human consumption) that comes from an underground source. It cannot come from a public water supply.

In Canada, bottled water is regulated as a food and therefore it must comply with the Food and Drugs Act. Under the Act and its regulations, all bottled water offered for sale in Canada must be safe for people to drink.

According to Health Canada website, illness caused by bottled water is very rare, because the water is treated, disinfected, and monitored to make sure it does not contain harmful microorganisms or chemicals.

To maintain the safety of bottled water, we must also handle and store it properly.

Other types of bottled water may be manufactured from public sources, including tap water and well water, says Health Canada website.

Consumers should remember, no matter what source water comes from, all bottled water sold in Canada is inspected and treated during the manufacturing process to ensure that it meets Canada’s requirements for safety and quality.

Bottled water is a handy and convenient way to store large amounts of water for emergency purposes. Most Canadian manufacturers of bottled water indicate that the product has a shelf-life of one to two years. Some people prefer to choose bottled water because they prefer the taste when compared with water from other sources (tap water, well water).

Some people think that bottled water is safer than tap water, but there is no evidence to support this, says Health Canada website. The quality standards for bottled and municipal waters in Canada are similar. All bottled and municipal waters that meet or exceed the required health and safety standards are considered to be safe.

Bottled water gets contaminated with germs if not handled or stored properly. Keep in mind that the plastic containers holding single-serve bottled water were designed to be used only once. Avoid refilling them. Where possible, recycle these bottles.

As concerns about the safety of the nation’s municipal tap water have increased, so have sales of bottled water. It’s now the top-selling bottled beverage.

According to Consumer Reports (May 9, 2019), in the U.S. there are more than 120 brands of bottled waters. Getting information about the quality of the bottled water you drink is hard. Unlike tap water, there is no public information for consumers to look up the quality of their favorite bottled water brand and see whether it is free of contaminants.

According to British Medical Journal (Getting well from water, BMJ December 16, 2004), bottled water exploits our worries about what affects health in the modern world. Bottled water is seen as natural, clean, fat-free, and with traces of health-giving minerals. In fact, tap water is as safe as bottled water and about 1000 times cheaper. The marketing of bottled water exploits people’s worries about what affects their health in the modern world. There is a message in that bottle.

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Extreme Heat Takes a Toll on Our Health and Life

A woman drinking water on a warm day. (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)
A woman drinking water on a warm day. (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

There are two kinds of people. People who like heat in moderation and those who like heat in extreme. Then there is a third group of people who like extreme cold weather. Nature took care of this group by turning them into polar bears.

I am a person who likes heat in moderation. My friends say I should be the last person on earth (that is little far fetched, isn’t it?) to complain about heat.

I was born and raised in Musoma and Mwanza on Lake Victoria. I would call the weather in those two places is not bad. Nice and warm all year round. Then I went to a boarding school in Dar-es-salaam, on the shores of Indian Ocean. Wow, the weather is hot and humid. White shorts and shirts were the norm on weekends. On school days, khaki shorts and white shirt.

Those were the days. I was young and healthy. Heat wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t have hairy legs or varicose veins sticking out of my ugly legs. I didn’t have all the scars from childhood injuries showing off from my multi coloured legs. Wearing shorts was cool.

Now things are different. Once you get to male or female menopause, your tolerance for heat is not the same. Your kidneys start to pack-in if you do not drink enough water. And among the aging population, extreme heat causes a substantial number of deaths.

For example, the European heatwave of 2003 resulted in more than 70,000 deaths, About 30 per cent of which were attributed to heatstroke, hyperthermia or dehydration. Canadians too die of extreme heat. Reports indicate that extreme heat recently contributed to 106 deaths in Montréal, Quebec, and 156 deaths in Vancouver, British Columbia.

People who have chronic physical conditions (cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal and neurologic disease, diabetes and obesity) and those with mental illness are vulnerable to extreme heat. Older people, children and people who are very physically active in the heat are also at higher risk for heat-related illness.

Common drugs such as antipsychotic agents, antidepressant medications (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, lithium), diuretic agents, antihistamines, anticholinergic agents and anti-Parkinson agents can increase risk by interfering with thermoregulatory mechanisms, says an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ July 10, 2012).

What is heat exhaustion?

Heat exhaustion is the most common heat illness, says the CMAJ article. Although the patient may have hot skin and be flushed and sweating, his or her core temperature is below 40°C.

What is heatstroke?

In heatstroke, the core temperature is above 40°C, the patient’s mental status may change, and he or she may become incoherent or unconscious, says the article. In classic heatstroke, the skin is usually hot, red and dry. In exertional heatstroke, there is profuse sweating after high-intensity physical activity.

Heatstroke is a medical emergency. It can progress rapidly to multiorgan dysfunction and death. Treatment must be immediate and consists of rapid cooling (evaporative cooling for classic heatstroke; ice-water baths for young adults and people with exertional heat stroke). Careful attention should be paid to the patient’s hydration and electrolyte balance to restore blood pressure and tissue perfusion.

Death from heat exposure is preventable by increasing fluid intake and reducing activity levels during hot weather. Cool or air-conditioned environments for people most vulnerable to heat also helps. Some communities have heat alert and response systems that include issuing public health messages, opening cooling centres and extending hours for public swimming pools.

Enjoy the summer but be careful.

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Bottled Water

Over one billion people around the world have no access to clean water and 2.4 billion have inadequate sanitation. Two million people world wide die every year from water related diarrheal illnesses. . The latest tsunami disaster has magnified the problem immensely.

In developed countries there is so much clean water running through our taps that we can afford to use our drinking water to flush toilets, wash ourselves, our clothes and our cars. On top of that we can afford to spend millions of dollars on bottled water.

Like cell phones, bottled water is everywhere.

Bottled water is the world’s fastest selling drink. In the last 10 to 20 years there has been 70-fold increase in the sale of bottled water in North America and Europe. We are talking in terms of billions of gallons of bottled water.

Why has bottled water become so popular in developed countries?

“Bottled water exploits our worries about what affects health in the modern world,” says an editorial in the British Medical Journal. Bottled water is seen as a natural antidote to what the consumer sees wrong with modernity.

Health Canada website says that drinking bottled water is a matter of personal taste and preference over municipal tap water. Some people think bottled water is safer than municipal tap water, but Health Canada says that there is no evidence to support this.

Bottled water is not sterile. Bacteria are found in most bottled waters sold for drinking purposes. Bottled water is usually disinfected to remove harmful organisms, but is not intended to sterilize the water. Usually, sterile water is reserved for pharmaceuticals.
In Canada, bottled water is considered to be a food and is regulated under the Food and Drug Regulations. Health Canada website has excellent information on bottled water. Here are some points of interest:
-Bottled water labeled mineral or spring water is fit for human consumption that comes from an underground source. It cannot come from a public water supply.

-Mineral and spring waters must not have their composition modified through the use of chemicals, but carbon dioxide and ozone can be added during the bottling process to protect the freshness.

-Bottled water not represented as mineral or spring water, is water from any source (municipal water, well water, etc) that can be treated to make it fit for human consumption or to modify its composition.

-Do not buy bottles that have a broken seal.

-Do not refill old bottles. It is preferable to buy newly manufactured bottled water.

-While traveling, avoid bottled water unless it is carbonated or disinfected. Buy only sealed products. Wipe off the bottle or can top before drinking or pouring from them.

-Water coolers should be cleaned regularly.

Less than one percent of earth’s total water is fresh water. There isn’t unlimited supply available to waste water. Our municipalities should do a better job of informing and educating the public that tap water is clean, pure, fat-free and about thousand times cheaper than bottled water. And water should be used carefully. There is no need to spend millions of dollars on bottled water.

Joke for the week:

Doctor: How’s that little boy?…The one who swallowed all those quarters.
Nurse: No change yet!
-Edgar Argo cartoon

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!