Add it to the pile of things we thought were good for us, but apparently aren’t anymore.
It does feel like every time we take one step forwards in the battle of being healthier, we’re knocked back with a new revelation that the thing we thought was healthy is actually super not healthy for you after all.
Sigh.
The latest addition is bottled water, or more specifically sparkling bottled water, and more specifically still, flavoured sparkling bottled water.
Edmond R. Hewlett, a spokesperson for the American Dental Association, recently told the Food Network the following:
“We know that frequent consumption of acidic beverages can cause erosion of tooth enamel. The flavouring additives in many sparkling waters cause them to be acidic and must thus be viewed as potentially erosive. It is the flavouring and not the carbonation that lowers the pH (increases the acidity) to a level that can potentially erode tooth enamel with frequent consumption.”
Hewlett states that more study needs to be performed on non-flavoured sparkling water, but Adam Thorne, a dentist in London’s Harley Street, recently told the Daily Mail that even that isn’t something you should be consuming:
“Most people have no idea that fizzy water is extremely acidic, it’s pH3 on the acidity scale. The bubbles erode your tooth enamel – and over time this causes painful, yellow cracked teeth.”
So there you have it.
Stick to still bottled water. Or tap water.
At least until we find out why we shouldn’t be drinking that, either.
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