Our bodies need a lot more water than we thought. Unfortunately, we’re not getting enough of it. And what water we do get isn’t necessarily the best.
Three categories of water drinkers:
1) Just do not drink much water
2) Drink water, maybe even a lot, but is not absorbed into the cells because all this water is going to dilute all the salt, sugar and chemicals in the diet. This group tends to retain water in the tissues just to dilute the excessive salt and chemicals. This water is non functional to the cells
3) Those that live in total health. They drink the allotted amount of water daily and are almost never thirsty because the foods they eat are high water content and do not contain salt, sugar or other chemicals that need to be diluted with water. These people drink water for the health of it and see water as preventative medicine. They power drink their water drinking 32oz. at a time and drink no closer than 30 minutes prior to a meal and at least 11⁄2 hours after a meal so not to interfere with digestion and assimilation.
The average American doesn’t get even close to the recommended 1 quart per 50 pounds of body weight per day; I have many patients who don’t drink water at all. Second, is the water that we’re drinking safe? More than 700 contaminants have been found in public drinking water, including pesticides, solvents, metals, radon and harmful microbes. Unfortunately, the EPA has set legal limits on, or maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), for just 54 of the 700-plus contaminants. Still, these 54 include some particularly nasty chemicals like arsenic and benzene, both carcinogens.²
Here are some of the many chemicals polluting our water supply:
• Chlorine supposedly makes water safe because of its ability to kill bacteria, viruses, parasites, algae, yeast and mold. But when chlorine is combined with other compounds, it forms new ones called trihalomethanes (ThMs), such as chloroform, bromoform and carbon tetrachloride, all very hazardous to your health. Dr. Kurt Donsbach links a high incidence of kidney, bladder and urinary tract cancers in New Orleans with the fact that water there is chlorinated beyond government standards. The result: 66 new carcinogenic compounds. ThMs, along with cadmium and fluoride, are also known causes of atherosclerosis. Studies have also shown correlation between chlorination and colon and rectal cancer.³
• Fluoride has been added to our water since 1945 because dentists believed it helped prevent tooth decay. But those opposing routine fluoridation of water say it causes cancer and other diseases. Fluoride is probably a weak carcinogen; nonetheless, it shouldn’t be added to our food or water.
In the book, Fluoride: The Aging Factor, Dr. John Yiamouyiannis describes a village in Turkey where residents age prematurely. Many villagers show signs of wrinkling skin and brittle bones, etc. in their 30s, and many don’t live to the age of 50. The cause of this condition is a 5.4 ppm (parts per million) level of natural fluoride found in their drinking water.⁴ Parts of India have this same fluoride level — with similar age accelerating effects.
It is also documented that bone cancer and bone tumors occur in laboratory animals that have been treated with fluoride. Another study, done in the 1970s, showed a higher rate of cancer in areas with fluorinated water than in unfluorinated areas.
In experiments with rats, Dr. Leo Pira found that fluoride interferes with the proper usage of B vitamins, damages the thyroid and kidney, and causes heart muscles to lose their tone and degenerate.⁵
Dr. Dean Burk, former chief biochemist at the National Cancer Institute, made the astonishing statement that more than 50,000 Americans a year die of cancer caused by fluoridated drinking water.
Dr. Yiamouyiannis says fluoride interferes with the body’s use of oxygen and depresses the making of ATP, from which we receive all of our energy for body and mind functions.⁶
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that Europe banned the use of fluoride more than 20 years ago.
How much fluoride is too much? The amount of fluoride in our drinking water is 1 ppm. And even at 1 ppm, the fluoride has been shown to cause such problems as birth defects, mental retardation, heart and kidney damage, allergies and cancer. Fluoride also decreases the migration rate of white blood cells, which leads to suppression of the immune system.⁷
One report (prepared by the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service for the United States House Subcommittee on the environment and the atmosphere) lists fluoride (along with chlorine, asbestos, nickel and mercury) as a pollutant, dangerous due to its adverse effects on the central nervous system and increased rates of cancer, heart disease, and genetic mutations. According to chemistry indexes, sodium fluoride is more toxic than lead, and only slightly less toxic than arsenic.⁸
• Lead is a major offender of the nervous system, causing impairment, especially in children. It is commonly found in very old houses in the plumbing.⁹ Since lead can leach out quicker in water that it sits in, it’s not a good idea to drink tap water. If you decide to drink from the tap or cook with the water, let the water run until it is very cold, which can take two minutes or more. Even very low levels of lead are very dangerous to children and unborn children.¹⁰

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