Influence of mineral composition of drinking water on acid-base balance of human body

摘要

Recent systematic review and meta-analysis found significant evidence of an inverse association between magnesium levels in drinking water and cardiovascular mortality. Other studies suggest also beneficial effect of water calcium and magnesium on other diseases. As drinking water, comparing to diet, usually provides only minority of total daily intake of essential nutrients, several mechanisms have been suggested to explain this effects. The most recent hypothesis indicates that negative health effects related to drinking low mineral (acidic) water may be caused by an increased urinary excretion of minerals induced by acidosis. We tried to verify this hypothesis with pilot experiment with healthy volunteers (4 men and 4 women, age 20-47). The first week, they drank medium hard tap water and the other week demineralised water treated by reverse osmosis. They collected 24-hour urine samples twice a week to measure net endogenous acid production and excretion of essential elements in laboratory. This pilot study did not find any significant impact of low mineral water on acid-base balance and mineral excretion, but provided important experience regarding the design of future full scale studies.