Should You Drink Sparkling Water? (Healthiest Sparkling Water!)
Should you drink sparkling water? And if so, what kind?? La Croix? Perrier? San Pellegrino? …Or wait a minute, isn’t San Pellegrino mineral water? It’s TOO CONFUSING!!
I know that’s a lot of questions, but that’s exactly my point…that when it comes to the TYPES of water, and with so many darned “terms,” it’s easy to “drown” in confusion…
To follow up last week’s blog post, “Decaf vs Caffeine Free…What the Heck is the De-fference?” I thought I’d tackle the most common questions I get about water.
But first of all, before I get to answering, should you drink sparkling water…
I want to give a super quick SUMMARY of water terms that everybody (including me) gets confused:
- Sparkling water: This simply means, “carbonated water.” NOW, WITHIN the broad category of carbonated water AKA sparkling water, there are lots of subcategories…like:
- Seltzer: Man-made carbonated water.
- Club soda: Also man-made carbonated water…with table salt or another common sodium source to make it a bit salty.
- Tonic water: Fun fact, this stuff used to be used to treat malaria because it contains (safe to drink) quinine. As you probably know, this tastes terrible by itself. Instead, it’s used as a mixer in vodka.
Now, mineral water is a different term. Mineral water comes from a spring and, duh, has a variety of minerals, including calcium and magnesium!
You can either have “mineral water” (no carbonation) or “mineral sparkling water” (carbonation).
I hope you weren’t falling asleep with that chemistry lesson. Personally, I found it kinda fascinating!! But anyway…
What we’re talking about today is sparkling (carbonated) mineral water like La Croix. It’s got minerals and it’s fizzy.
So let’s get to it already…should you drink sparkling water??
We all have that friend who always has a 24-count of La Croix on hand. Or maybe you ARE that friend. If so, you might be drinking it as a pop replacement…or because you heard it was healthy…or both!!
But I heard around the rumor mill that it ERODES YOUR STOMACH LINING AND RUINS YOUR TEETH! (Sorry for all caps, but my mind was screaming when I read that…)
Don’t worry, that’s not true!!
People were worrying that sparkling mineral water leeches the calcium from your teeth and bones, but there’s just no truth to that. It’s actually the OPPOSITE — the drink helps your bones retain calcium. (See a 2005 Spanish study where half the participants drank La Croix and half drank tap water. The sparklers lost A LOT less calcium!)
So don’t believe the hate…EXCEPT when it comes to stomach ulcers, and acid reflux. Because if you’re really drinking the stuff excessively, ANY carbonated drink can cause your stomach to produce too much acid.
Dr. Lee Gause, in an interview with NBC, recommended to limit your sparkling water to once a day!
BUT if you keep it to once a day, it can help with your digestion: according to a study published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, patients who had a problem with gallstone formation, indigestion or constipation had their issues, overall digestion and constipation problems all IMPROVE after drinking sparkling water for two weeks.
Should you drink sparkling water?
The answer is (as it SO often is), “Everything in moderation!”
I remember as a kid my mom giving me a Seven Up to help my upset stomach…She was onto something (besides the sugar part)! Did your mom do that too?
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