“Although everyone drinks water every day, not everyone has mastered the science of safe drinking water, and a considerable number of people have misconceptions about it.” Liu Wei, head of the Food Safety Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, introduced that there is a great deal of knowledge to safe drinking water.
Liu Wei introduced that the three types of water people often drink now are: tap water, mineral water, and purified water. However, people have misconceptions when drinking these three types of water.
Misconception one: The longer tap water is boiled, the better
Almost everyone knows that drinking boiled tap water is best, but it is not the case that the longer it is boiled, the better. When boiling tap water, it is generally not advisable to boil it for too long. If it is boiled for too long, it is easy to produce harmful substances such as chlorides. Sometimes, when boiling water, uncovering the lid before turning off the heat can easily allow some harmful substances to escape with the steam.
Misconception two: Purified water can be consumed as household drinking water for a long time
Because purified water is very clean, long-term consumption will remove some trace elements from the human body, especially easily causing the loss of calcium in the body, let alone supplementing trace elements. Therefore, purified water is not suitable for long-term consumption as household drinking water. In particular, children should not drink purified water for a long time.
Misconception three: The more minerals in mineral water, the better
Currently, the public has a high acceptance of mineral water, but some people believe that “the more minerals in mineral water, the better.” This view is not scientific. In fact, an excessive content of individual minerals in water is also harmful to the human body. In addition, not all mineral water can be used as drinking water; some mineral water needs to be scientifically treated before it can be consumed.