Water – it's a simple concept, yet there are so many different kinds available for purchase. There’s purified water (tap water that’s been stripped of nutrients and may be added back in later), enhanced waters with minerals and electrolytes, alkaline water and spring or natural water. There’s your run-of-the-mill bottled water, but there’s also a load of health buzzwords to parse through.
“We have the luxury of talking about the benefits of water where some folks (don’t) have any water,” says Caroline West Passerrello, registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
When it comes to hydration, the hard and fast answer is that water is water, West Passerrello says: “As long as it's a safe-to-drink choice, and it's one that you can afford and access, that's going to be what your (body needs).”
More than the type of water you’re consuming, it’s important you’re drinking enough of it.
That’s about 100 ounces a day for adults, West Passerrello says, or between nine and 13 cups per day. You’ll get a bit of water from other fruits and beverages you consume throughout the day, but between a third to a half of your daily water intake should come from plain ‘ol water.
“If you’re not intentionally adding water to your day, there’s a good chance you’re dehydrated,” West Passerrello says.
Dehydration can cause fatigue, chills, constipation, dizziness, muscle cramps, confusion, headaches and other health issues. Drinking adequate water helps keep your body at a normal temperature, cushions your joints, protects your spinal cord and tissues and has even been linked to developing fewer chronic conditions.
But if you have specific nutrition goals, enhanced water like mineral water can aid in a small part of that goal. For example, many mineral waters contain added sodium, potassium or calcium. Water with added electrolytes can be good for athletes or after recovering from illnesses, West Passerrello says.
Not all enhanced waters are created equal – you’ll have to pay attention to the nutrition fact panel to see the quantity of added minerals.
“If it's something that you want in your diet, you want to look for around 20% daily value,” West Passerrello says. “If it's something you don't want so much of, you want it to be lower than 5%.”
You’ll typically find only about a mineral’s daily value of 1% or 2% in bottled water, but it’s a good standpoint to compare from while you’re shopping around different brands.
In general, however, West Passerrello recommends getting the bulk of your vitamins and minerals from food, not water. Food will contain larger amounts and make a bigger impact on your overall diet.
Dive deeper:Guidelines for water intake, plus how much is too much
Alkaline water has a higher pH than normal water, which some believe helps to keep our bodies in balance or hydrates us more. Good news – your body is already good at keeping itself in check and goes to great lengths to maintain homeostasis without the addition of alkaline water.
“I recommend just leaving the pH balance to the liver and the kidneys and look to your water for your hydration,” West Passerrello says.
While bottled water is regulated by the FDA, tap water is regulated by the EPA. The EPA has guidelines for contaminants in the water we drink based on the Safe Drinking Water Act. These standards also vary by municipality.
In general, yes, the EPA says tap water is safe to drink. If there are contaminants in the water, municipalities will often alert residents to boil tap water or refrain from drinking it at all.
“What should happen is that the municipality should be saying what’s in it, and if it was unsafe there’d be an alert and you would know that something is happening,” she says.
But it’s still a tricky question as scientists learn more about PFAS, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances known as “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the environment and potential toxicity. They’ve been linked to health effects including cancers, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pregnancy-induced hypertension and low birthweights, among others.
Nearly half of the tap water in the U.S. is estimated to have at least one type of PFAS, a study from the U.S. Geological Survey shared in July. Americans living in urban areas are most at risk. The EPA has stated that any detectable amount oisFAS are unsafe to consume.
And in other areas of the U.S., millions lack access to safe drinking water, particularly in rural communities of color.
Drinking enough daily basis is important and something West Passerrello says you have to develop as a habit.
Years ago, she started using a carabiner to attach her house keys to her water bottle so that she’d have to take it with her every time she left the house.
“Find something that you do habitually every day and see how you can add water into that,” she says. “Just adding a new habit is very difficult, but adding a habit onto an existing routine is less challenging.”
For you, this could mean always keeping a reusable water bottle in your car cup holder in the side pocket of your backpack. It could mean you drink a glass of water before mindlessly scrolling on social media. Maybe you could keep a full glass of water by your work-from-home desk setup.
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