Tap water vs. Mineral water - what should we drink?
To put the conclusion in front of you: Drinking water is important, good and healthy? no matter what water. Especially in Germany we are in the fortunate position to have more than enough clean, harmless water. Let us use that!
Drinking is healthy
The body needs around 40ml of fluid a day per kilogram of body weight, which is 2.4 liters for a 60kg person. We take a small part of us through the food, the rest we have to drink. Best water. Away from undiluted fruit juices, soft drinks or alcohol for thirst quenching? These are calorie bombs, which also damage the teeth partly due to the high acidity.
Who neglects his fluid budget, pays the price with a headache, decreasing concentration and performance, circulatory problems. Alas and possibly with weight gain: Often we misinterpret this strange feeling in the epigastrium as hunger, although it actually? Only? Thirsty.
Is not water the same as water?
The German thoroughness in the form of the mineral and table water regulation distinguishes in natural mineral water, spring water and table water. These are the water that you can buy in bottles. In short, a spring water may be considered as such when it is bottled directly from an underground source, and mineral water must also be of "original purity". be and have a certain content of minerals. Bottled water against it? and now it's coming? is an industrial mixed water that can be combined from drinking water (yes, from the line) or water from different sources, also with the addition of seawater and minerals.
Tap water, on the other hand, is usually extracted from groundwater or lakes and rivers and is subject to the strict drinking water ordinance.
Which water can / should / should one drink now? This is a purely personal decision? depending on what you value the most: mineral content, price, ecological conscience, taste.
The mineral content? which water is healthier?
Clearly, mineral water has a higher content of minerals and trace elements than table and especially tap water. However, even this comparatively high salary is not necessarily relevant to our health. The minerals that we need, we record about our food? Calcium over dairy products, magnesium over whole grains or bananas. On the contrary, with particularly sodium-containing water should be careful, because of our high salt intake (sodium chloride) we are already over-supplied.
Another argument: Mineral water comes from specially protected sources and is therefore not contaminated with pesticides, nitrate or drug residues as the groundwater in parts of Germany. But since our drinking water is subject to particularly strict guidelines and constant controls, it is also safe to drink tap water. Incidentally, tap water does not come directly from the sewage treatment plant, as many think. The clarified wastewater (which is really clean, who has ever done a nasal mucus-destroying tour of a sewage treatment plant, will confirm that) are returned to the water cycle, where they then undergo natural purification - evaporation, rain, seepage, filtering strata? run through.
Disadvantage for bottled water in plastic bottles: hormone-active substances have been detected in this water by the University of Frankfurt.
The price ? what do we pay for water?
The price clearly speaks for the consumption of tap water. Mineral water is subject to a large price range? from 19 cents per liter at the discounter up to several euros for the designer bottle with trendy water. The costs of transport and advertising have to be paid. On average, one liter of mineral water costs around € 0.50, one liter of tap water costs € 0.002. Even if we invest in a jacuzzi, because we prefer to drink tap water with carbonic acid, tap water is still much cheaper than bottled mineral water. And for bottled water as aufgehübschtes and bottled tap water is anyway every penny too much.
The ecological conscience
A plus for tap water, very clear. No transport, no time-consuming glass or PET bottle return, no cleaning, no recycling. Anyone who still decides for bottled water should drink regionally. This shortens the transport routes. And in the old question, glass or plastic: it does not matter. The life cycle assessment is balanced. Plastic is more expensive to recycle, but a bottle of glass can be used more often, but it takes more energy to clean it.
The taste decides
Ecology and price are clearly in favor of tap water, but taste can not be argued. Mineral waters also taste very different due to their different minerals content? There you have to try out what suits you.However, in a blind test also different mineral waters were tested with aufgesprudeltem tap water? and none of the subjects recognized the tap water. So it may be worthwhile testing the tap water without any prejudice. But who? Mineral water has not forgotten: 2-3 liters per day!
A little tip at the end
Mineral water is the insider tip in the kitchen: The carbonic acid can act as a stimulant. Many swear by the shot of soda in scrambled eggs or mashed potatoes. The mineral content, for example, when blanching vegetables ensures that the color lights up better and it tastes better. A dash of soda in the mousse au chocolat makes them fluffier and sorbets succeed with mineral water also better.
