Reprinted with permission from Fitness Plus Magazine, December 2002

The importance of “healthy water” and where to get it may very well be the most beneficial health information any of us can learn. The simple fact that our body is over 70% water, tells us how extremely important its quality is.

Without an abundant intake of healthy, chemical free water… every other wellness effort is to a large degree in vain.

While every health and wellness expert will agree on the importance of “healthy water”, most have different opinions on its definition and source. The fact is that it’s no longer a matter of opinion. There’s now enough credible scientific data on the subject for a logical and reasonable conclusion.

The healthiest water doesn’t come from your tap, doesn’t come in a bottle, it doesn’t come from distillation or reverse osmosis… it comes from “selective filtration”.

All tap water in America contains trace levels of synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, parasites and/or chlorination by-products that pose significant health risks. We can either filter out these poisons prior to consumption, or we force our body to become the filter. Many have switched to bottled water under the false assumption that its’ purity is assured to be better than tap.

The truth is that bottled water is only required to be “as good as” tap… not better.

And the Federal guidelines that govern bottled water quality only apply if it is transported across state lines. Most bottled water is bottled and sold within the same state in order to avoid regulation. It’s an industry built on deception. Bottled water is currently the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the entire beverage industry. “Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.” U.S. FDA

The old school of thought was that distilled and reverse osmosis water were the healthiest, also now known to be untrue. Both of these methods were designed over 40 years ago for industrial purposes as they are “demineralizing” processes. Once you strip the trace minerals from water, the pH drops and the water becomes aggressive or acidic. Water by nature will always seek to balance its pH. If we consume de-mineralized water, it will pull minerals from our body, primarily calcium, to seek that balance. There are several very credible research reports and books that stress the more recent opinion that long term consumption of de-mineralized water can in fact be dangerous.

Dr. Zolton Rona‚ author of The Joy of Health‚ states that "the longer one consumes distilled water‚ the more likely the development of mineral deficiencies and an acid state."

Dr. Paavo Airola‚ cancer expert and author of "How to Get Well" and "Cancer... Causes‚ Prevention and Healing" also reports that "long term consumption of distilled wa er eventually results in multiple mineral deficiencies." Two very negative things happen when we consume water that has been stripped of its natural minerals.

First‚ because demineralized water contains more hydrogen it is an acid with a pH below seven. Any time we consume an acid substance our body will pull minerals from our teeth and bones to produce bicarbonate in order to neutralize the acid.

Second‚ it has been proven that when our body fluids become more acid than alkaline the production of free radicals increases‚ causing increased cancer risks.

Many studies suggest that cancer cells can only grow in an acid environment. This theory seems to be supported by the fact that around the world the areas where people live the longest most disease free lives are the areas that have the most alkaline water‚ water with the highest mineral content. Neither of these processes are very effective at removing synthetic organic chemicals since all SOCs and VOCs are molecularly smaller and vaporize at lower temperatures than water.

The most recent and most effective technologies for truly healthy water are “selective filtration” systems that can distinguish between contaminants and trace minerals. They are also the most convenient, the most economical and produce the best tasting water.

Home water filtration is no longer a luxury… it’s a necessity!

Written by Charles Strand, author of the book “All About Water”, recipient of 17 U.S. patents for water purification technologies and President of Sun Water Systems, Inc.