Anton K.: How do I know which minerals are present in regional tap water and in what concentration and whether these even correspond to “healthy water”?
I have now classified your question about “healthy water” under the term “healing water”. In principle, health-related statements are not allowed to be made about water anywhere, unless it is one of the around 35 state-recognized “healing waters” in Germany that have been approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. Strangely enough, these waters, which are protected by pharmaceutical law and include healing claims, are sold in normal beverage shops without specialist advice. The doctor and pharmacist then replace the bottle label with the following information:
- Name of the healing water and address of the healing fountain company
- Official registration number
- Batch name
- Analysis extract with effective components
- Application
- Contraindications
- Side effects and interactions (if any)
- Drinking quantity recommendation
The lobby association “Deutsche Heilbrunnen” ( www.heilwasser.com ) has recently started talking about a “functional drink”. And one is amazed at the healing claims that are presented there that would probably be banned in the rest of the world in connection with water advertising:
- Magnesium can prevent depression. An overview of studies on magnesium and depression with a German summary and links to the original papers can be found at http://www.heilwasser. com/index.php?idcatside=210
- An almost brazenly manipulative table then shows the magnesium content. 1 kg (1 liter) of healing water is compared with 100 g of food!
Controlled standard parameters
Germany has its own regulation, the limit values of which are considerably more generous than those in the Drinking Water Ordinance, which applies not only to tap water, but also to “table water”.
In my opinion, the entire system needs a fundamental reorientation against the background of newer water research.
However, since there is currently not even agreement between the WHO and the EU, or between the EU and individual member states on the assessment of individual parameters, it is unlikely that the established structures can be improved.
Neither the redox potential nor the proportion of dissolved hydrogen are among the controlled standard parameters.
These parameters, which are something like the “bioparameters of water”, are not even collected when assessing the drinkability of water because they change far too quickly to be relevant to a water supplier or beverage manufacturer.
Nevertheless, you can sell “organic crystal water” and even “living water” with impunity, even though there are no bacteria or other living creatures in their biosphere.
Due to legal requirements, every drinking water supplier provides consumers with a comprehensive drinking water analysis, which also shows the mineral content. The drinking water supplier must also ensure that none of the limit values of the Drinking Water Ordinance are exceeded. This proves according to scientific criteria that drinking water does not harm your health if you drink it every day for life.
This does not mean that this water is healthy. There is no recognized scientific point of view on this, except that the water should not contain any pollutants above limit values.
Medicinal waters cannot be described as generally healthy either. Every recognized healing water only has a positive effect for certain indications. For example, in Germany it is considered a medicine and can therefore also have contraindications and side effects. The healing water of “Staatlich Fachingen” has been around since 1742. Today, advertising claims celebrate it as the “oldest functional food in the world”. (Source: Christian Skywottek https://www.brandeins.de/archiv/2005/hilfe/das-grosse- swallowen/ ). But the healing water was a stumbling block for the sales strategists. Because what young, healthy person would want to drink something like that at a party? So the fountain invented a new brand by pumping carbon dioxide into it and called the whole thing “Medium”. Now money is gushing back into the company coffers.
The question of how to deal with modern water products, which are perhaps better referred to under the generic term “designer water” rather than the technical-sounding term “functional water” that is common today, is still completely unresolved.
The best-known designer water of German origin is probably Active O ®, which the Upper Bavarian nuns from Bad Adelholzen brought onto the market. By enriching it with oxygen, they increased the sales of their mineral water by 2 million bottles within 70 years.
Most functional water ideas come from the USA, France and Great Britain, and recently also from Japan, as I have shown on page 79.
It's particularly bad in Japan. Coca Cola is working with the perfume manufacturer Shiseido and has created a “body style water” with supposedly fat-reducing aromas. You quickly reach the limits of what is still water and what is a brew. Additions of tea, herbs or vitamins and flavors increasingly dilute the concept of water.
Gerolsteiner is playing with the idea of seasonal water, St. Leonhard bottles it during the full moon. The seemingly absurd term “near water” has long been used in the industry.
Consumer behavior is also changing. The classic “sparkling water” is on the decline (Skywottek, aaO): “The strongest growth rates in sales are recorded by the non-carbonated still waters, at the expense of the traditional German waters with a lot of carbon dioxide. For years, however, still waters have been the concern of the French brands Volvic, Vittel and Evian, which belong to multinational corporations such as Nestlé and Danone. With a share of more than five percent, Volvic occupies second place in the total German water market of around 9,3 billion liters, Vittel takes fourth place with more than three percent.” When such global players get involved, regionally bound well products are left out high competitive pressure. This is also gradually leading to the extinction of traditional glass deposit bottles, as transporting water in glass bottles no longer seems to be worthwhile from a distance of 100 km.
Excerpt from the book by Karl Heinz Asenbaum: “Electro-activated water – An invention with extraordinary potential. Water ionizers from A – Z”
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