Clinincal Briefs-By Louis Kuritzky, MD
Fluoride and Bacterial Content of Bottled Water vs. Tap Water
Fluoridation of public water in the United States is an almost-universal practice felt to improve the dental health of the nation by preventing cavities. Though the water supply of the nation is generally perceived as safe, a burgeoning industry of bottled water indicates substantial preference for proprietary water sources, despite its obvious increased incident expense, and without proof that bottled water provides either greater safety as far as bacterial count goes, or more appropriate consistency of fluoride content.
Fluoride content of 57 brands of bottled water varied from 0.3 mg/L (or less) to almost 1.00 mg/L (considered ideal, and achieved by < 10% of bottled waters). Public water samples consistently were within 0.04 mg/L of the optimum level.
Bacteria counts were highly variable in bottled water: less than 0.01-4900 CFU/mL. In tap water, bacterial content was much more consistent, ranging from 0.2-2.7 CFU/mL. Fifteen out of 57 samples of bottled water tested were not as pure (as measured by CFU/mL of bacteria) as tap water, but tap water was not as pure as 39 of the samples of bottled water. The bacterial content of bottled water ranged from 10-1000 times as contaminated as tap water.
In summary, the local tap water tested (Cleveland, Ohio) was found to be more appropriately fluoridated than bottled water, and was more pure than more than 20% of bottled waters. There is as yet no legislative protection for citizens to know the quality of commercial bottled water.
Lalumandier JA, Ayers LW. Arch Fam Med 2000;9:246-250.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content