First and foremost, purified water is not distilled water.
Distilled water is pure water without any mineral elements or impurities, and since mineral elements are essential for the human body, drinking distilled water regularly is not beneficial to health. Purified water is ordinary drinking water that has been filtered and purified through special processes. Distilled water is used in hospitals to dilute injectable medicines and is not for drinking. The difference between them is that distilled water does not contain mineral elements, while purified water does. Distilled water is water that has been boiled and evaporated, making it an "inactive" water that lacks oxygen and contains residual gases such as chlorine. It is also costly to produce and expensive, so developed countries in Europe, America, and Japan only use it for experiments. Purified water, on the other hand, is "active water," and 90% of people in developed countries drink it.
PK2: Mineral Water VS Mineralized Water
Generally speaking, there are two types of mineral water. One is spring water flowing from 1000 to 3000 meters deep in the earth's crust, and the other is mineral-dissolved water flowing from surface lava. Both are natural underground mineral water from deep, circulating, and unpolluted sources. Under normal conditions, the chemical composition, water level, water volume, and water temperature dynamics of mineral water are relatively stable. China issued the national standard for drinking natural mineral water in 1987, and in 1995, it issued a new standard for "Drinking Natural Mineral Water." The standard requires that mineral water must contain a certain amount of minerals, trace elements, or free carbon dioxide gas that is beneficial to human health to distinguish it from ordinary groundwater. The state also stipulates limit indicators and hygiene indicators for certain elements, chemical compounds, and radioactive substances to ensure the safety of drinkers. According to the water quality composition of mineral water, the beneficial elements within the limit indicators generally do not have a substantial physiological or pharmacological effect on occasional drinkers. Due to the "bromate incident," which touched the industry's bottom line, the relevant state departments are urgently revising the new standard for "Drinking Natural Mineral Water."
Mineralized water is artificially synthesized water, also known as imitation mineral water. It is made by adding appropriate artificial mineral salt reagents to purified drinking water. Currently, the state has not established a standard for mineralized water, and only corporate self-set standards are used as quality control standards. Furthermore, the artificial mineral salt additives have not been approved by the Ministry of Health and are not listed as food additives.
The content of mineral trace elements in mineral water is stable, and their form is easily absorbed by the human body. However, the content of trace elements in artificial mineralized water is unstable and greatly influenced by human factors. Moreover, some trace elements are harmful if the amount is too low or too high, as excess amounts can precipitate in the blood and cells. Therefore, it is very difficult to control the line between harmful and beneficial concentrations through artificial addition. For example: a selenium content of 0.01-0.05 mg/L can prevent and fight cancer, enhance the human immune system, but a content greater than 0.05 mg/L will cause selenium poisoning. The iodide content of 0.2-0.5 mg/L is beneficial to the human body, but a content greater than 0.5 mg/L will cause iodine poisoning, which is not good for human health.
Viewpoint:
Water is an important nutrient for the human body to maintain normal physiological activities. Besides its own nutrients, it also plays a role in dissolving and absorbing various nutrients, excreting various metabolic wastes from the body, participating in body temperature regulation, and reducing fatigue substances (lactic acid) accumulated in muscles. The main function of drinking water is to replenish the water lost in daily life. As for other mineral elements, they are mainly supplemented from daily meals.
Questions:
1. In June 2007, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China's Import and Export Food Safety Bureau announced information on unqualified food and cosmetics that entered Beijing in March 2007, among which Evian, a world-renowned mineral water brand under Danone, was also found to have excessive total bacterial count.
2. In March 2008, among the 13 key criticized enterprises announced by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Quality Supervision, 8 were water companies. The reasons for "Ba Qian Chi," "Yu Shui Yuan," "Cui Yun Gu," and other enterprises to be on the list were repeated unqualified products or failing re-inspections after rectification.
3. At the end of March 2008, the "hepatitis A infection event from barrelled water" in Guizhou attracted the attention of a large number of netizens. Especially in Guangdong, a major province for barrelled water consumption, many netizens posted on major forums expressing their concern about the matter.
4. In June 2008, professionals questioned the statement on the packaging of Master Kong mineralized water, "the water contains free potassium," which violated chemical常识 (common sense). In addition, the writing of magnesium ions and potassium ions on the label was also non-standard. Master Kong's relevant personnel explained that "free" actually had another meaning. Legal experts also bluntly pointed out that Master Kong suspected of violating regulations.
5. In July 2008, the Foshan City Health Supervision Department conducted special spot checks on barrelled drinking water in various consumption links. Nongfu Spring natural drinking water with its water base in a certain place in eastern Guangdong was found to have不合格 (unqualified) total bacterial count.