Singapore’s 10 Most Popular Bottled Waters — And What They Don’t Want You to Know

[The_King]

Feeling thirsty and forgetting to bring my bottle out, I bought a convenient bottle of Ice Moutain and was shocked to realize it tasted vastly different from my home-boiled water. To me, it tasted ‘flat’, dry like distilled water, and actually made me feel more thirsty. I assumed that it was filtered water at first but upon reading the label there is no mention of the method of preparation of the water.

Two questions came to my mind:

1. How do I really know if the bottle of water is distilled/de-mineralized?
2. What are the consequences of de-mineralized water?

Thus began my journey to find the best bottle of water.

There are tons of bottled water brands worldwide, with Fairprice (Singapore’s largest supermarket chain) alone having 26 brands. With my limited personal budget, I went to the Fairprice in VivoCity and bought 10 of the most popular, commonly seen, water bottle brands.

In this article, I explore the hidden truths of bottled water and show how to make an informed choice in choosing a bottle of water and the long-term health impacts of de-mineralized water. I do not have any affiliation with any water companies and am merely an enjoyer of water.

TL;DR

Key Takeaways

The lack of minerals in water “has a definite adverse influence on the animal and human organism” (WHO, 2004)

✔️ Look out for Mineral Water on the label and check that there is a mineral content table to guarantee that there are minerals in the water.
❌Watch out for words such as Pure Drinking Water it is highly likely that it is de-mineralized water

Image by Author

The Cheapest Source of Mineralized Water: Tap/Boiled Water ($0.003/L & $0.03/L) for 81 and 83ppm.
The Cheapest Bottle of Mineralized Water: Polar ($0.55 for 600ml) for 83ppm.
The Most Mineral Water: Evian ($1.40 for 500ml) for 271ppm.
Best Bottle of Mineral Water: Meadows ($1 for 500ml) for 270ppm. [Most surprising, Giant fans must be celebrating]

Findings

Our baseline is Life’s Distilled water which only has 1ppm meaning it contains almost no minerals. Finding out that Ice Mountain and Dasani similarly had 1ppm rocked me to my core. This not only meant that my previous favorite brands were not only de-mineralized water but I was also right about the ‘distilled’ taste of my Ice Mountain. A 2007 Study on Minerals and their Impacts on taste even found that “Water close to zero TDS has a flat taste” (Andrew J. et al. 2007) which further reinforced my suspicions that there is a distinct taste to distilled water.

I knew, contrary to the belief, that Ice Moutain’s source of water is actually Malaysia’s tap water which is found through the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA)’s regulation. However, it was surprising that it undergoes such an intense de-mineralization to create drinkable water. At least, Dasani openly stated that they use a filtration process through reverse osmosis. This is important to note as reverse osmosis removes up to 99% of minerals from the water. Since filtration and purification are used interchangeably, Ice Moutain calls its water pure drinking water and we see the similarities in mineral content between Ice Moutain and Dasani, it would be possible to hypothesize that Ice Moutain uses similar processing methods.

Additionally, Switzer Spring Drinking Water which comes from Johor also has extremely little mineral content at 3ppm despite expectations that the “spring water” would have a high mineral content. A closer inspection of the naming suggests that it is “Switzer Spring <Space> Drinking Water” instead of being water bottled from a Spring.

What does this mean?

Table by Author

Bottle company brands are not completely honest with their names as they often use broader/vague terms that mislead consumers.

Additionally, brands such as Ice Moutain, Fairprice, Water4U, Switzer Spring, and Dasani while they are drinkable water, they have a very low mineral content like distilled water.

Whereas we can objectively call brands such as Aqua, Polar, Cactus, Evian, and Meadows mineral water brands. Big shout-out to tap and boiled water as well.

Why is high mineral content important anyways?

The mineral content of the water has been found to be essential by the WHO which found through their paper on the health risk of de-mineralized water that it “has a definite adverse influence on the animal and human organism” and further stated that consuming these “low-mineral water[s] [is] responsible for an increased elimination of minerals from the body.” This suggests the leeching of essential minerals from the body through reverse osmosis

Other sources talk about the health consequences of micronutrient deficiencies from de-mineralized water. This micro-nutrient deficiency of essential minerals even leads to increased morbidity, and mortality due to reduced immune defense systems and impaired physical and mental development. (Verma, K. C. et al. 2014)

If that’s the case, why is de-mineralized water so commonly seen everywhere?

It’s cheap and profitable. The 2014 paper would also opine that previously, reverse osmosis (RO) water was mainly used for industrial, technical, and laboratory purposes.

Recently, this has become a widely practiced technique in providing new freshwater supplies. With little to no guidelines or quality control in maintaining minimum levels of TDS, this has allowed for a low cost of production, a high guarantee of safety, and high profitability. (Verma et al. 2014) Essentially, since there are no laws against it, it is easier to take all the minerals out than to keep some in.

Marketing techniques have also fuelled the rise of de-mineralized water as labels and names hide the facts from the consumer. RO is labeled as a purification or even filtration technique. Names such as pure drinking water convey a false image of the freshness of water. The usage of pictures of ice mountains and European countries’ names also tricks the consumer into thinking that it is from a natural European mountain when it comes from Johor’s tap water.

Other than AVA’s regulation, there is no way to know how each bottle of water is processed and whether what they write on their bottles is true.

Okay… So how do we buy a good bottle of water?

1st: The magic word is mineral water or spring water as bottled natural mineral water must disclose the “analytical composition giving characteristics to the natural mineral water.” (AVA 2011) as regulated by the AVA. AKA the label of mineral water is regulated and the mineral content table also verifies the presence of minerals in the bottle.

Polar Mineral content table. Image from Amazon. https://www.amazon.sg/Polar-Natural-Mineral-Water-1-5l/dp/B06XT5LVBF.

2nd: Watch out for marketing ploys such as Switzer’s Spring <Space> Drinking Water or F&N’s Ice Moutain which attempts to mislead customers with its naming conventions and imagery if you are planning to buy mineralized water.

Is mineralized water expensive?

You don’t need to break your bank to get access to mineral water. Notably, tap and boiled water are the cheapest costing only $0.003/L and $0.03/L for 81ppm and 83ppm.

Fun Fact: it costs 11.5x more to boil water but it is a common trend in Singapore due to safety concerns. (Reference A below for equations)

Do note that these are the prices at Fairprice at Vivo and might differ from location to location.

If you are outside and forgetful like me, the most cost-effective bottle of mineral water is Polar which comes in at $0.92 ($0.55 for 600ml) for 83ppm.

Which mineral water has the most minerals?

^ Hover your mouse over the graph!

If we are looking purely for the greatest source of minerals, Evian takes the cake with the highest percentage of Calcium and Magnesium at 80mg/l and 26mg/l at $1.40.

We can see that in our breakdown of minerals per brand, there is higher calcium and magnesium content than Nitrate. Which minerals are good for me and which are bad for me? This will be explained more later!

What’s the best bottle of water?

However, if we want the most bang for our buck, we see that Meadows takes 1st place as the best mineral bottle of water at $1 for 270 ppm. This is done by calculating the amount of mineral content over price, the higher the value, the more mineral content we are getting for our dollar. As such, we are getting 135ppm of minerals per dollar for 1L of Meadows, while polar only gets 90.55ppm of minerals per dollar for 1L.

Where is this data from?

Image by Author

I would first crowdsource ideas on how to tell if water is distilled. Thanks u/KamaKairade!

I would use a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter to test the amount of mineral content in 12 different water sources including tap water, boiling water, and distilled water as a control. The results are astonishing.

Image by Author.

Image by Author

Each water source is poured into a labeled bone-dry cup. The TDS meter is inserted into the cup where the prongs are fully submerged in the water and stirred lightly to dislodge air bubbles, after 5 seconds, once the reading stabilizes the reading is read.

Why do we want to measure TDS?

TDS quantifies the minerals, salt, or metals dissolved in water. 21 Essential minerals have been identified for good health. Some of these are Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium which support our bone and membrane structure. Sodium, Potassium, and Chlorides aid in our electrolyte balance and much more! Many of these minerals are dissolved into water as it flows down mineral-rich rocks in natural mountain bottled water or seeps into spring bottled waters.

The chart above finds that many of these essential minerals for good health also exist in mineral bottled water such as Calcium containing 37mg/l and Magnesium at 13.48mg/l. Knowing that the daily required intake of Calcium is 1000mg daily, drinking water alone is not an adequate source of Calcium or Magnesium, however, there is actually health significance of supplemental intake with mineral bottled water than de-mineralized water.

To quote a 2014 paper,

consumption of hard water is associated with a some-what lowered risk of cardiovascular disease was probably valid, and that magnesium was the more likely contributor of that benefits. (Verma, K. C. 2014)

Food that is cooked with de-mineralized water also loses up to 60% of magnesium and calcium or even more for some other microelements. Cooking with mineralized water was also reported to increase the calcium content in food.

De-mineralized water which is in low calcium and magnesium is associated with a higher risk of fracture in children, certain neurodegenerative diseases, pre-term birth and low weight at birth, and some types of cancer.

What minerals are bad for me?

Units in mg/l. Image by Author.

Sodium can be a double-edged sword, especially for those who require low-sodium diets (<500mg/l). In 2019, the average sodium intake in Singapore was 3,600mg/l while the WHO recommended intake was 2,000mg.

Image from The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cutting-sporeans-salt-intake-by-15-in-5-years

Looking at common local dishes, these are already high in sodium, as such the consumption of additional sodium through bottled water might pose a greater threat to our health. To combat this, we might want to look for water bottles with less sodium such as meadows, if we are consuming bottled water on a daily basis.

It is worth pointing out that this is not for all situations, as there are times when we would want more sodium in our water such as replenishing our salts after vigorous exercise.

How much mineral is enough then?

There is still an ongoing debate. However, it is widely excepted to avoid the extreme ends of having no minerals or too many minerals. As the saying goes, everything in moderation. The palatability with TDS levels up to 600 mg/L is considered good, as such, it can be simply used as an upper marker of a good amount of mineral intake.

Conclusion

The best bottle of water is really one that suits the water drinker’s needs and preferences as taste is also a huge factor in the choice of water. If it is just a source of hydration, you like the taste without minerals and you don’t mind the long-term effects, it is your choice!

However, for those who do mind, then I am here to bring about a more informed decision to choose which mineral bottle you think you would need. If you want a cheap bottle of mineral water, try Polar. If you have some extra cash, then go for Meadows. If really have more cash and you want more calcium in your diet then get Evians.

Just don’t be like me and go around religiously talking about water, have fun water drinkers!

 

 

 

https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-choose-the-right-bottle-of-water-3835a9f98f51