Most individuals never think about what is in the water that comes out of your kitchen tap and how bad it can be for your health. Yes, drinking water is essential for your health and we cannot survive without it, but some water could do doing more harm than good.
Tap water generally contains a stream of chemical by-products known to cause heart disease, cancer, and reproductive problems.
Chlorine has been used to treat the drinking water in many nations since the turn of the century, and was once hailed as the perfect treatment because it virtually eliminated disease-causing bacteria and viruses with no ill effects on our health, but research has shown that this is not entirely true, and that in retrospect, chlorine has led to an increase in heart disease and cancer-related deaths.
It is not as much the chlorine itself that is unhealthy as what it is the chlorine by-products, called organochlorines, which are created when chlorine mixes with organic materials such as algae, leaves, or human skin. While these thousands of different chlorine by-products do not cause immediate illnesses, the long-term effects of ingesting them have been linked to various conditions.
The by-product that has been studied the most is trihalomethanes (THMs), which occur when chlorine combines with methane. The most common THM found in drinking water is chloroform, which is a known carcinogen. While a large number of THMs are known to be carcinogens, they are permitted to remain in our drinking water at minimal levels, despite the fact that research has shown that even those minimal levels are capable of causing cancer.
Chlorine and its by-products can enter your body via inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption; when taking a shower for instance, the water heats up, turning the by-products to vapour, which are then inhaled. The by-products are also easily absorbed through the skin via your pores which become enlarged from the heat of the shower. These by-products are then stored within the fatty tissues of the body, where they can suppress immune function, alter DNA, or interfere with natural cell growth.
Chlorine by-products also generate carcinogenic free radicals and destroy the intestinal flora or “good bacteria†that protects your body from pathogens. A study conducted in Hartford, Connecticut showed that there are 50-60% higher levels of organochlorines in the breast tissue of women with breast cancer. Chlorine by-products have also been linked to cancers of the bladder, liver, rectum, and colon.
Make sure that you are not at risk from ingesting toxic chlorine by-products in your drinking water by investing in a water cooler fitted with a triple action water filter that will filter out any toxins, including fluoride and chlorine in the water.
Get watercoolers and water cooler accessories from Living-Water. Get bottled water coolers or mains water cooler in London.
