LOS ANGELES (Los Angeles Daily News) — If only the cultural equivalent to the divining rod existed - some surefire way to point consumers toward the best available drinking water for their dollar.

Go into any grocery store and there they all are: Spring water, artesian water, well water, distilled water, "drinking water" bottled from a municipal source, water purified through reverse osmosis or other filtration, sparkling water, mineral water, sparkling mineral water, flavored mineral water and flavored sparkling water, to name a few of roughly 30 types of drinking water available commercially.

Brands including Sparkletts have begun offering additive options such as fluoride, while others offer "purified water" with mineral additives such as magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and salt.

Throw home water-filtration systems into the mix, and there's no getting around it: Health-minded consumers now have to put more time into thinking before drinking.

Water, which makes up about 60 percent of the average healthy human, aids such basic body functions as digestion, bringing oxygen and nutrients to cells and regulating body temperature. According to medical experts, people can survive weeks without food but only days without water.

Experts disagree about what consumers should look for in bottled water. While some say consumers must become better informed about the varying benefits of water types and the shortcomings of others, others argue the more pressing concerns are bottling safety standards, or fluoride as an additive.

"The level of misunderstanding (about drinking water) that's out there is astounding, and actually appalling," said Stephen B. Shaw, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based physician of Chinese medicine and licensed acupuncturist. "People are living longer, but we're not living better. We're living sicker."

Shaw, who produces a locally based cable television show, "A New Vision: Holistic Health," ran a recent segment on how water from the world's oldest, purest sources - such as Fiji's artesian wells and glacial waters frozen for thousands of years - have the greatest benefits to human health for their molecular, crystalline properties known as "structured water."

Like many alternative-medicine practitioners, Shaw believes years of built-up toxins from environmental influences can contribute to a wide range of diseases, from fatigue and arthritis to cancer. Changes in diet and lifestyle - as simple as switching to better drinking water - can help purge toxins from the body, he says.

"I can't tell you how many patients tell me they drink lots of water, but still feel dehydrated. You can be drinking lots of water," Shaw said, "but if it's the wrong kind, it doesn't detoxify the body. And those toxins get stored in fatty tissue."

Heavily processed water with additives and chemicals does not pass easily through body cells to flush those microscopic toxins, Shaw says.

And he notes that although water purified through the "cleaner" processes of reverse osmosis and distillation are nearly 100 percent free of chemicals and other impurities, those waters lack natural minerals usually found in water.

Reverse osmosis (RO) - the only filtration system capable of removing salt - filters water one drop at a time, while distillation vaporizes it to separate the impurities before condensing water back into its liquid form.
BOTTLED WATER

Bottling and safety standards are also important issues to consumers, says nutritional expert Dr. Tung-Shan Chen, a professor at California State University, Northridge. And people on low-sodium diets should avoid water with high mineral content and sodium.

"There's more talk now in the industry that these water companies (retail bottlers) should be up to the same standards as our local water companies," Chen noted.

Drinking water "from a municipal source" is one bottled variety now commonly found on grocery shelves. Unlike household tap water, this water has gone through some additional bottling processes and hasn't traveled through miles of underground pipes.

Some argue municipal water is better than major brands because it's bottled under stricter health and safety standards - including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disclosure laws - while others question the simple point of paying for tap water.

Still, for the health-minded, Shaw strongly recommends buying bottled water from the purest sources, such as high mountain ranges far from urban areas, glacial waters and the deep artesian wells of Fiji.

Regarding content - which can be ascertained from most labels - he recommends water with minerals such as calcium, magnesium and silica, and pH levels above 7.35 to better match human body chemistry that is more alkaline than acidic.

Of course those brands carry significantly higher prices. A 1.5-liter brand of Fiji water that meets Shaw's criteria for excellence sells for about $1.35 at Los Angeles area grocery stores, while a one-gallon jug of filtered drinking water can run from between 56 cents and 89 cents per gallon at most stores.

The latest feature added to some bottled water is fluoride. That trend - fueled by recent studies showing a resurgence of tooth decay and other dental problems among children - has begun cropping up in areas like Los Angeles, where high numbers of families tend to drink more bottled water than tap water, for taste preference and other concerns over chemical treatments. Fluoride tablets have also become available commercially.

The additive has been present in about 50 percent of the nation's municipal water supplies for decades to help fight tooth decay. But recent focus on fluoride's topical dental benefits also has renewed debate about disputed correlations between ingested fluoride and long-term affects on health, including nervous system illnesses and fluorosis, which prematurely weakens tooth enamel.

The presence of fluoride in bottled water typically is displayed prominently on labels, along with disclaimers that advise consumers to consult physicians or dentists before using it as a dietary supplement.
FILTERING WATER

To complicate personal drinking water preferences further, consumers can filter their own tap water at home to a quality comparable to most store-bought brands.

Some home filtration experts swear by reverse osmosis (RO) systems - which can run several hundred dollars - because they remove everything including bacteria, toxins and that tap-water taste - to leave only pure water.

"It's good for your health. It's purified water, and it tastes better," said Saiful Islam, who sells reverse osmosis systems for Healthy Water & Ice of North Hollywood.

But other industry insiders argue reverse osmosis systems are last-resort solutions for severe water quality issues.

Granulated activated carbon filters typically remove chlorine and lead from water, while carbon block filters absorb additional impurities that include metals, chemicals, parasites and e-coli - as long as filters are changed regularly.

For as little as $20, consumers can buy special devices that filter tap water into serving pitchers from manufacturers including Culligan, Brita or Pur. A direct filter attached to a single faucet starts at around $30, while for less than $100 to several hundred dollars, there are single or double-filtered systems that can serve entire homes.

Regardless of how consumers choose their drinking water, Shaw emphasizes it's well worth the time to fully explore all options, including home-delivery.

"People think water is water. But when you start putting it under the microscope, you see the difference."

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