2023-04-21 16:30:00
CHRONIC. Chlorine, pesticides, drug residues… Could tap water be toxic? Should I switch to bottled water? Not so sure.
By Boris Hansel, with Guillaume Paret (Video)
Published on
Subscriber-only audio playback
Every Friday, find, on Le Point.fr, the nutrition chronicle of Pr Boris Hansel, endocrinologist and nutritionist at Bichat Hospital in Paris. He is also the host of the health channel PuMS on YouTube.
L’Mineral water tastes better than tap water. This is the opinion of many of us. And some even say that tap water has become toxic. So, what water to drink daily for better health? We will see this together.
One thing is certain: tap water contains chlorine, which is what gives it a particular smell and taste. But there are ways to alleviate this inconvenience!
The presence of chlorine is to disinfect the water and guarantee its quality during its transport in the pipes. Because this tap water, to protect our health, must be treated. She is also closely monitored. More than 50 parameters are regularly measured. For example, the content of nitrates, iron, lead or the presence of bacteria such as the famous Escherichia coli are sought to verify that their concentration does not exceed certain thresholds.
READ ALSOShould we become vegetarian for better health? We hear that, despite this, tap water is full of pesticides and drug residues. What is true is that we can find such substances. And we can even add that we don’t know everything because everything is not measured!
But, if we take the example of drugs, when we find them, it is in very small quantities. For example, you would have to drink hundreds of millions of liters to swallow the equivalent of an aspirin or paracetamol tablet!
We can always imagine that we are risking our lives by drinking tap water and a cocktail of very dangerous micropollutants. But, honestly, the risk is probably lower than drinking mineral water from plastic bottles. Again, don’t panic, but we know that this water is contaminated by microplastics, particles 70 times finer than a hair and whose effect on health is under close surveillance. Measurements have shown that most water contains twice as many microplastics as tap water.
READ ALSOCoffee: how many cups can you drink per day?
There remains an advantage of mineral waters, it is that of providing minerals: magnesium, calcium or even sodium bicarbonate. If you do not consume dairy products, for example, calcium water can be useful.
In practice
1. Tap water can be consumed, in the current state of knowledge, without major fear. Provided of course that it is drinkable where you live!
2. To remove the chlorinated taste: leave it 30 minutes in a carafe before consuming it. Better yet, put it in an uncapped carafe in the fridge for a few hours.
3. If you drink mineral water, unless you have a specific recommendation from your doctor, vary the waters to diversify the mineral intake.
1682195076
#tap #water #good #health
