What to Look for When Buying Bottled Water

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette and I'm a registered and licensed dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic and I'm going to talk to you about what to look for when buying bottled water. A lot of people when they purchase bottled water they expect it to be spring water or some type of artisan well water or something like that. Not all bottled water comes from an aquifer, it comes from an actual spring. A lot of it is just filtered tap water or municipal water so that's one of the things you want to look for on the label if that's something that's important to you. If you see on the label that it says that it comes from a municipal water source, that's essentially tap water that has been filtered. Now if you want true spring water you need to make sure that it actually does say that it is spring water and that it doesn't come from a municipal system on the label. Artisan well water indicates that it is water that has come from an aquifer that was tapped and the pressure from the aquifer is what is considered artisan pressure hence the term artisan well water. Slightly different from just plain well water, plain well water is where the actual aquifer is just tapped. Water is extracted and artisan water the way the water is extracted it is actually pushed to the top, pushed to the surface and that's what's causing the pressure. Where as with the straight well water there is no pressure it's just being tapped through a hole that has been bored through the aquifer. Another thing to keep in mind is the filtration. Some people want to make sure that the water has not been chlorinated so you would want to look for something that says that it was filtered by reverse osmosis or something like that. You also want to check for ozination that's another way to filter water without using chlorine. Another thing to keep in mind especially if you have small children is whether that water includes fluoride or not. A lot of bottled water traditionally does not have fluoride in it and in a young child who's teeth are growing it is important that they do have fluoride, otherwise they are subject to developing a lot of cavities or having problems with their tooth enamel. So if you are relying on bottled water that does not have fluoride in it and you have small children make sure you tell their dentist and he can prescribe fluoride supplement if it's needed. So those are some things to keep in mind when checking the label of bottled water."