Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been concerned with my health lately. Is perrier water good for your health? I need some water with a little taste that will keep your system slean. Any suggestions?
Any water with a high concentration of magnesium is good for your system. I'm not sure what else to look for though. I haven't looked at the additives in Perrier but the fact that it comes in a glass bottle (as opposed to chemically laden plastic) is a good thing.
If you are prone to kidney stones, Perrier (or any other mineral water) may not be a good idea. I drank it for years and ended up with a severe case of kidney stones. Analysis showed that they were composed mainly of calcium but with high levels of other minerals as well. I have a lactose intolerance, so the excess calcium was not coming from dairy foods; it was coming from the Perrier. I immediately stopped drinking Perrier and have never had a kidney stone episode since (and that was a good 12 years ago). The only change I made to my diet was to eliminate the Perrier.
Perrier in moderation, say a bottle a week, is probably okay (though I personally wouldn't risk it!) but for any sort of real health effect I'd assume a person would need to drink at least a bottle a DAY (like I did). And at that level of consumption there's probably as much risk of negative as of positive effects. I definitely wouldn't recommend it at all for anyone with urinary system issues of any kind.
If you are prone to kidney stones, Perrier (or any other mineral water) may not be a good idea. I drank it for years and ended up with a severe case of kidney stones. Analysis showed that they were composed mainly of calcium but with high levels of other minerals as well. I have a lactose intolerance, so the excess calcium was not coming from dairy foods; it was coming from the Perrier. I immediately stopped drinking Perrier and have never had a kidney stone episode since (and that was a good 12 years ago). The only change I made to my diet was to eliminate the Perrier.
Perrier in moderation, say a bottle a week, is probably okay (though I personally wouldn't risk it!) but for any sort of real health effect I'd assume a person would need to drink at least a bottle a DAY (like I did). And at that level of consumption there's probably as much risk of negative as of positive effects. I definitely wouldn't recommend it at all for anyone with urinary system issues of any kind.
Unine issue, that's what I'm trying to get rid of.
If you have ANY urinary tract issues, be very careful with mineral water!
I can verify everything the previous poster stated. I don't often post on message boards, but my experience was so unnerving I had to share and hopefully spare others.
About a year and a half ago, my European husband persuaded me to seriously give Perrier/San Pellegrino a chance. I never liked the taste but was trying to ween myself off sodas, plus in my part of the US it just looks more classy to drink mineral waters than soda, which is viewed as very unhealthy (which it is!)
Anyway, I started by mixing fruit juice with the mineral water, or even diluting soda with it. It worked! Soon I was guzzling Perrier or any other sparkling mineral water I could get my hands on.
I worked my way up to about a six-pack of the medium-sized plastic bottles PER DAY. But before I even reached that level, I started to have serial UTI's (urinary tract infections). Being female, I almost expect to have those from time to time, but I had not had one for about 12 years!
I would go to the doctor, get on antibiotics, it would clear up and I'd be fine for a little while, then sure enough, it would happen again, especially if I had to hold my urine for more than about 10 minutes (a tad unrealistic for me, I was always known as a champion "I can hold it" person)
After I had had about three infections, my doctor insisted something else was wrong, and over a 12 month period I went through a battery of tests. My gyn imagined I might have ovarian cancer (bladder infections may accompany that dread disease). For two weeks I was freaked out waiting for test results. Negative. Ditto the liver/gall bladder scan. I even was given an echocardiogram. Oddly enough I never made it to a kidney specialist...
My husband and I were baffled. My mother, however, suspected the Perrier. I asked several doctors if there might be a connection. Every one of them said NO. They looked at me rather strangely when I asked!
This summer I was overseas traveling for a month, with many bus trips and change of hotels. I asked my doctor to put me on a daily antibiotic just in case. I did not want to have to go to the doctor/hospital overseas. He put me on Cipro, which did the job. *However,* during that month I did not have easy access to Perrier. Probably consumed about five bottles the entire time. Due to the extreme heat, I drank a great deal of still water, and felt fine.
When I returned home, the Cipro ran out, I continued to drink massive amounts of Perrier, Pellegrino, whatever I could get. In about three weeks time I started having UTI trouble again. I fought it for a week (I used to live on cranberry capsules and iodine tablets), then finally had to go see the doctor...again. She still had no clue, but referred me to a bladder/kidney specialist.
A few days later I left for a week's vacation with my daughter and her family. I was embarrassed to report to her that once again I had a bladder infection. She has a background in biology and chemistry, though has no medical background. But, she asked me some questions, and offhandedly I said, well, your grandmother thinks it's the Perrier but the doctors say this is impossible.
Hmmmm, she said. And she got one of my bottles out of the fridge and looked at the back. "Did you know that this bottle has 30 mg of calcium?" Um, no, I did not. I never bothered to read the label. But I DID know that some kidney stones are made of calcium. And this is what I brought up to the doctor so many times -- is it not possible that a drink with high mineral content might cause a buildup in sensitive individuals and create stones? Nahhh, they all said.
My daughter then asked me, 'how many of these do you drink in a day?' As many as I can get, I answered, usually between four and six - not the little glass bottles and not the big bottles, generally the ones inbetween, probably a 12 oz.
Ohhhh, we collectively said. So, she suggested I try not drinking it for a while and see what happens. I finished off my sixpack that week at the beach, averaging about one bottle per day. I finished my antibiotics.
Now I've been back for about a week, and have had only one small glass bottle of my addiction. My UT feels like it is cleaning itself out. I do still feel a few twinges and need to go frequently, but it really does physically feel like the tract is relaxing and cleansing itself.
I always heard that as much as we all hate to scrub toilets, it is a GOOD thing to have hardened areas in the bowl, because that is the very stuff that creates kidney stones, and if your bowl never has even a hint of it, you may be headed for trouble. I keep a clean house, but I cannot help but notice that this week the toilet rings are more frequent and intense, if that makes any sense. I figure it must be connected to the "cleansing" sensation. I don't know...
I also want to point out that regular soda can have similar effects if you consume massive quantities. When I was a teenager, I went through a phase where all I drank was diet sodas, and I spent a good deal of time that year at the kidney specialist.
Finally, while on the trip this summer, I met a young, male college student who said he had had a similar experience and nearly lost his kidney. His doctor told him that perrier and allied products, tea, and any type of soda severely dehydrate the kidneys. If you're going to indulge, consider drinking four glasses of still water to one sparkling water or tea.
Hopefully my UT troubles are now at an end. And anyone having such occurences should try eliminating the above beverages and see what happens!
Wow, I DO love the Perrier and San Pellegrino... I will exercise more caution when drinking it though. For me, the price was one thing that kept me from overdrinking it.
One suggestion/question is, have you considered (or does anybody know risks assiated with) something like "club soda" or "sparking water" from like the supermarket or walmart? Not classified as mineral water... and a lot cheaper.
I heat kidney stones are NOT fun! I heard drinking cranberry juice is good for you, but that is a different thing that water altogether.
I used to drink club soda all the time instead of sodas. It was so refreshing in the heat! But I burped a lot and farted more than usual, so I stopped. Don't know about the mineral properties, sorry.
Perrier, because of it's calcium and magnesium content, is great for any stress or anxiety disorders. It also has an added bonus. there is a small amount of bromide which at one time was used as a mild sedative.
I drank it for a long time and saved the glass bottles to store water in case of a hurricane. Glass is much better than plastic (another thread).
I stopped because it was making me a little to relaxed and I started gaining weight.
(I have read the kidney stone thing before, scary stuff)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Look out for Perrier!
