by Lyle Hurd
Water: The Essential Nutrient
 According to an overwhelming majority
of health experts, water is essential to
virtually every vital function of the
human body. Consider the following information
from the booklet “Healthy Water” by
water authority, Martin Fox, Ph.D.His booklet
summarizes the main ideas and research from
his work “Healthy Water for a Longer Life,”
which is widely regarded as “the best book on
the subject.”
We can go without food for weeks but
without water we die of dehydration in a few days. Over two-thirds of our body is water, yet
most of us probably don’t understand the
importance of drinking water, straight water.
Water is the most abundant compound in
the human body. It is necessary for the digestion
and transportation of food to the tissues,
for the elimination of body wastes, for the circulation
of body fluids (like blood and
lymph), for a lubricant in the joints and
internal organs and for the regulation of body
temperature. Water is part of the blood system,
holding dissolved minerals, like calcium and
magnesium, in solution, making them available
to body tissues where they are required for
proper health.
Some of the problems treated and alleviated
with adequate water intake are asthma, allergies,
hypertension, high cholesterol levels,
headaches, migraines, low back pain, rheumatoid
arthritic joint pain, angina pain and intermittent
claudication pains (cramps, like pain
in the legs due to insufficient blood supply).
As people age they lose their thirst sensation
and become gradually chronically dehydrated.
All too frequently we tend to confuse
thirst with hunger and instead of drinking
water we eat, leading to weight gain.
Your body needs a minimum of six to eight,
eight-ounce glasses of water each day.
Remember, alcohol, juice, sodas, coffee and
tea don’t count as water.
Thirst should be satisfied at all times with
water. The more we pay attention to the body’s
constant need for water, the healthier we will
be. Water—plain, properly filtered water—is
an overlooked and essential nutrient and may
be the missing ingredient to a healthier, more
vibrant and longer life.
According to totalhealth associate editor
Parris M. Kidd, Ph.D., “So many of the things
in our lives that we like to take for granted—
the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we
breathe—can betray our health. Personal and
societal stressors, as well as other things we
read warnings about—prescription drugs,
‘recreational drugs,’ lawn and garden chemicals
—turn out to be more toxic than we could
have guessed.”
Any toxic exposure, however slight, depletes
a portion of the antioxidants that protect all life
processes. As the antioxidant defenses are overcome,
a cascade of cell and tissue damage is set
in motion that can damage any or all of the
organ systems, draining our energy and causing
cancer and other killer diseases.
What a paradox that water, the essential
nutrient, the elixir of life, contains potentially
toxic elements that could jeopardize the
immune system, leaving us vulnerable to
organ damage and deadly disease.
Dr. Fox’s “Healthy Water” booklet states
that the amount of chemical compounds discharged
in our water, directly or indirectly, is
staggering. Over 2,100 organic and inorganic
drinking water contaminants have been identified in U.S. drinking water supplies since 1974.
Out of those 2,100, some 190 of the contaminants
have confirmed adverse health effects,
whether carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens or
toxins. Two of the major contaminants
addressed by Dr. Fox are chlorine and sodium.
CHLORINE
Like many advances in technology, the
chlorination of drinking water can be considered
a two-edged sword. On the one hand,
chlorination has freed civilization from the
constant dangers of waterborne epidemics that
once inflicted suffering, disease and premature
death on vast sections of the globe. On the
other hand, since the early 1950s, scientists
have known that the presence of free chlorine
in water is a primary cause of, and completely
linked with, the development of atherosclerosis.
It causes fats to form the cholesterol
deposits known as plaque. It is the plaque
that clogs arteries, resulting in heart attacks
and strokes. Joseph Price, M.D., wrote a
fascinating book in the late 1960s entitled,
Coronaries/Cholesterol/Chlorine, which makes
it absolutely clear that the presence of free
chlorine in water creates heart disease. His
work links the dramatic rise of heart disease in
this country to the use of chlorination to disinfect
water supplies.
In the 1970s scientists discovered that chlorination
could create possible carcinogens in
the water. In 1987, a study through the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute showed that
the drinking of chlorinated water increases
one’s risk of developing bladder cancer by up
to 80 percent; other studies link it to the development
of colon cancer as well. More recent
studies also suggest that chlorine in water supplies
may contribute to as many as a third of
breast cancers in women. Not only is drinking
chlorine dangerous but hot showers and baths
can release 50 percent of dissolved chlorine
and up to 80 percent of the trihalomethanes
(THMs) like chloroform and tetrachlorethylene,
which are then breathed into the
lungs or absorbed into the body through the
skin. This absorption through the skin and
lungs via hot showers and baths is a primary
cause of poisoning due to toxic materials in
water.
SODIUM
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| The body absorbs salt from the salt-softened water
in which we take a shower or bath. |
Most of us already know that excessive salt
consumption contributes to the development
of high blood pressure but recent research
shows that it is also associated with strokes,
calcium deficiency and osteoporosis, fluid
retention, weight gain, stomach ulcers and
stomach cancer.
We unknowingly absorb excessive salt not
only from the food we consume, but also from
an unsuspected source, the salt-softened water
in which we bathe. Since the American Heart
Association now warns that salt-softened water
can cause an elevated sodium level, many
health-conscious Americans no longer drink
salt-softened water. Few of us, however, realize
that we receive a lot of unwanted sodium every
time we take a shower or a bath or wash
clothes in salt-softened water. Sodium is very
efficiently absorbed through the skin and topically
ingested salt has become a common
culprit of excess sodium.
Water softeners may also cause additional
problems. According to a new report by The
National Academies’ National Research
Council, “Most copper contamination in
drinking water is the result of corrosion of
copper pipes or fittings. Corrosion can occur
from water that is high in acidity and high in
temperature. Corrosion also can be caused by
water that is ‘soft,’ or free of magnesium or calcium
minerals that create a protective coating
inside the pipe.”
The economics of the water treatment and
bottled water industry are significant. Water
softening is a multi-billion dollar business.
Estimates made by studies conducted by the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California and the Sanitation Districts of Los
Angeles County are that households with
home water softeners will use about 720
pounds of salt and pay about $350 each year to
avoid the effects of hard water. The Beverage
Marketing Corporation reports; “Bottled
water sales were $7.7 billion in 2002. In 2003,
bottled water is poised to surpass its competitors
to become the second most popular commercial
beverage in the U.S.” Water filters are
also a multi-billion dollar business. According
to Dr. Fox’s booklet, “One of the problems
with water filters is understanding whether
they are really doing a good job.
“Paying attention to the quality of our
drinking water is not enough. And trying to
evaluate a lab report from a water filter company
can be very difficult, if not impossible.
“For the most part, the major problems in
our drinking water are chlorine, volatile
organic compounds, THMs and sediment. The
optimum filter is one that has been tested and
proven effective in the reduction of these
major pollutants and still leaves in the beneficial minerals, like calcium and magnesium.”
Dr. Fox states, “Ideally, one should consider
a whole house filtration system to remove the
volatile chemicals from bathing water. In
many cases a whole house system will solve
your drinking water problems too. Another
option is to use shower filters for bathing and
tap water filters for drinking.
A second excellent book, How to Eat Right
and Live Longer, by noted natural health expert
Dr. Cass Ingram, suggests the following: “Due
to the importance of skin absorption, the ideal
alternative for water filtration systems is a
whole house water system. There are significant
differences among systems marketed as
‘whole house.’ An effective, sophisticated
system is manufactured by LifeSource Water
Systems in Pasadena, California. This system is
filled with high-grade granular-activated
carbon, an effective medium for removing the
chlorine, bad odors and bad tastes often found
in tap water.”
We contacted the factory for LifeSource
Water Systems as well as the Water Quality
Association to verify the capabilities of the
LifeSource whole house high-grade granularactivated
carbon filtration system. We confirmed that their systems are tested and certified
by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF),
and had the highest rated capacity (1.6 million
gallons), of any whole house water system available
in the world today.
Certification indicates that a production
model of a drinking water treatment unit was
tested at a laboratory recognized by the Water
Quality Association, such as the NSF. It also
means the materials and components used in
these certified drinking water treatment units
have met the rigorous safety and structural
integrity and strength requirements set by
industry Standard ANSI/NSF-42.
The obvious conclusion is we should be
seriously concerned by and educated about the
quality of the water we drink and use for
bathing and cooking. By making sure the
water you use is the cleanest, healthiest water available, you are contributing to and protecting
the health and well being of everyone
in your home. The most efficient and effective
solution is a granular-activated carbon whole
house filtration system which will not only
filter your water but also make it taste like
bottled water and save you money in the process.
However, before you purchase any filtration
system, do your research. Make sure it has
been tested and certified to deliver the quality
your whole family deserves.
Other suggested reading
Healthy Water For A Longer Life by Martin Fox, Ph.D.
Available at Amazon.com
How to Eat Right and Live Longer by Dr. Cass Ingram.
Available at Amazon.com and www.sciencebooknet.com
Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by Feereydoon
Batmanghelidj. Available at Amazon.com
“Soft Water, It’s Not For Drinking.” Available online
at http://nashville.gov/water/
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