When Water Isn't Water But Is

I really wonder where Australians are getting their minerals from. Our soils are pathetic and by the looks of things our water is too, check out these comparisons of bottled waters:

Contents (mg/L)	Adult ~RDI	Uliveto (Pisa, Italy)	Ferrarelle (Riardo, Italy)	San Pellegrino (Milan, Italy)	San Benedetto (Scorze, Italy)	Organic Springs (NSW, Aust.)	Mount Franklin (Aust.)
Bi Carb	-	650	1415	241.9	306	5	5
Calcium	1000	169	380	186.9	48.2	0.77	1
Sulfate	-	111.4	6	476	3.8
Sodium	1500**	87	49	39	6.9	9.1	11
Chloride	2300**	75	23	61.1	1.9	17	20
Magnesium	420M/320F	32.8	21	52.2	29.4	2.6	4.7
Potassium	4700**	8.1	39	2.2	1.0	1.6	0.5
Nitrate	-	6.5	5	1.9	8.2
Silica	-	7.3		9.1	14.3
Fluoride	3	1.0	1	0.5	0.06
Strontium	-			3
Lithium	-	0.2
Iron	8M/18F					0.1
Zinc	11M/8F					0.1

*RDI's come from here (probably should have used the FSANZ data but I don't feel the need to be so politically correct). ** comes from the Institute of Medicine.

Now that we've seen these drastic differences between Italian waters and Australian waters we've started ordering the Italian waters from Body of Water. Last time we ordered (3/5/06) we got 1 case 24x330ml Ferrarelle ($25.90/case), 2 cases San Pellegrino 24x500ml ($34.40/case), 1 case 12x1L Uliveto ($23.60/case), and because we'd ordered before they gave us a $4.00 'bodyrewards' discount, so the total cost was $114.30.

While we can't afford to drink such beautiful water all the time, I tend to drink a Ferrarelle and 2 glasses of Uliveto per day (in addition to plenty of filtered tap water), and Andy drinks one or two San Pellegrino's and a few glasses of Uliveto.

I suppose you could use the knowledge of the nutrition values to your benefit. San Pellegrino contains way more magnesium, so if you have been eating a lot of cooked foods it would be the best to drink (Mg is one of the most easily lost nutrients through cooking). While if you haven't had much calcium in a day a good choice would be Ferrarelle (if you were relying on it for calcium you would need about 3 litres though, which is not too shabby really). I don't know what kind of effect 0.2mg of Lithium would have (might need a few litres), but it is supposed to even out mood swings. Maybe that's why the italian soccer team drinks Uliveto. San Benedetto has a higher amount of silica, which I learnt in Anatomy and Physiology class the other day helps to regulate where bone is deposited as well as helping your nails and hair. My favourite is Ferrarelle, but I like the other italian waters too, and since they all have their various virtues I'm happy to drink them all.

Just as something to note by the way, it's a really good idea to stay hydrated, whichever way you choose, because if you lose even only 3% of your body weight of water you lose 20-30% of your mental functioning and physical power/speed (learnt that in Introduction to Naturopathy).

I'll swear by Ferrarelle, I took two to my Anatomy and Physiology exam the other day and it seemed to do the job (yay, passed 1A, onto 1B).

!!! UPDATE: I was talking with a friend the other day and she asked, 'what about the rest of the water you are drinking, shouldn't it all be full of minerals; isn't it more optimal to drink only mineral-rich water? What about filtered water?' I am pleased to say I found a lovely solution to this ongoing water issue this morning, which turns out more affordable - Grainfields Australia sells an ionic mineral solution which you just drop a few drops into your water and bingo! just like a nice Italian water in terms of mineral contents. Maybe even more nutritious. Or as nutritious as you make it. It's listed on their website under "other" products. There are many other brands of sea minerals available too - I'm not necessarily recommending their product in particular. I remember seeing sea minerals being sold at a conference I went to in America - the source? Queensland, Australia. Funny that. Grainfields' sea minerals are from Utah. I don't know whether that is supposed to be superior or not.

I still like my Italian lightly effervescent waters though... ! Yum.