So the Associated Press breaks the news this week that we're gulping down a veritable liquid pharmacy, albeit in miniscule amounts, with each glass of drinking water.
(Crystal) clearly, this is not good news. But is it time to swear off drinking all liquids? After all, water is the main ingredient in anything potable to people. It also composes nearly two-thirds of our bodies by weight.
I'm not sure what the desired outcome of the investigation was for the journalists who conducted it. Are we citizens supposed to demand from our legislators more stringent testing laws, or more effective filtration systems at water treatment plants? (I do plan on doing both, by the way). Or was it simply conducted for sensationalism's sake?
While the fallout from this discovery is still being sorted out, I'm gonna live a little dangerously: And continue drinking my eight-plus, 8-oz. glasses per day. So far, that habit, along with exercise and a sensible diet, has kept me from falling seriously ill for years (ok, so I may have taken the occasional "mental health" day off from the J-O-B, but note that my immune system was not compromised).
If there is an everyday manna available to us mortals, it is water.
Purifier, Disease-busterWater is responsible for transporting cellular wastes out of your body. Without enough water, your blood coagulates and stagnates, and cells go into a fermenting state instead of their normal, healthy, oxidative state of transferring waste and nutrients via osmosis. The practical effect is of suffocating your body's cells.
Thus, without adequate hydration, your imbalanced body becomes a breeding ground for all manner of harmful micro-organisms. Some research even goes so far as to say that this is one root cause of cancer.
So what did that investigation say? This from the AP story:
"To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe."
More Harm From Drugs Than Good?Don't get me wrong, clues from our ecosystem - from so-called "sentinel" species farther down the food chain - are certainly disturbing, as outlined in the story. Research showed that earth worms are being affected in the wild and in many fish species, males were being feminized and females masculinized, depending on which sex hormone drugs were present in the waterways.
Furthermore, research suggests that human embryos are particularly vulnerable to small concentrations of prescription meds. So children, who are still developing, and pregnant women face higher risks than the rest of the population.
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READ the explosive Associated Press story Here's a novel, if somewhat naïve idea. How about we all start eating fruits, vegetables and non-hormonally altered protein sources; start exercising more and bring back recess and physically rigorous gym classes for kids; and wean ourselves off of the prescription drugs which are merely a response to our increasingly health-hostile lifestyles?
That's naïve, of course, because we'd be talking about stepping on the toes of a number of mighty corporate-political entities. Agribusiness. Big Pharma. The Fast Food Industrial Complex. The Personal Training-Industrial Complex. Just kidding about that last one (Um, I think).
But there are powerful forces arrayed with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo - keeping Americans uncomfortable with ourselves, keeping us desirous of food purely for its pleasures of the palate, not for its nutrional value and keeping us just all-around dis-eased.
VerdictOk, so back to water. In light of recent evidence, then, should you cut back? Should you perhaps start drinking soda instead, because "you can't win either way?" Keep in mind, I'm not a medical professional, but I do a vast amount of research on the opinions and findings of doctors. So based on all the books, studies and articles I've read on this topic… my answers to these questions are No and No - in that order.
For my money - and more importantly - health, the proven advantages of drinking copious amounts of H2O vastly outweigh the unproven risks, as of yet.
If I were forced to do the math, I'd guess the kidney disease, bone and joint problems, skin issues, high blood pressure, digestive problems and chronic fatigue stemming from inadequate water intake would put a crimp on one's quality of life much sooner than the cumulative effects of a few molecules of Xanax. But I am biased (wink). And truth be told, if I had a pregnant wife, I probably would seek out a way to get household drinking water that was not from one of the many cities listed as having pharma-fouled drinking supplies.
Bottom line - I want Big Pharma OUT of my water supply as much as the next guy, probably even more. But in the meantime, I plan to keep knocking back the clear stuff - maybe with an extra activated charcoal filter or two. You can do a lot worse things to your body.
