The real reason why parents shouldn’t give any highly mineralised water to babies are down to some of their mineral contents being too high for an infant to process through its system, particularly very young infants which have very weak immune resistance.
We could base our entire marketing proposition on Aquapax being one of the very few naturally pure mineral waters’ which is suitable for babies, but we prefer to encourage parents to think for themselves where possible and hopefully secure a bit of honest trust in the process.
Rather than slander some the bestselling brands in the market directly, we also encourage reading all bottled water labels in conjunction with the attached WHO research guide on nitrate & nitrite in drinking water (specifically read point 5.3 (infants < 3 months)).
This paper contradicts the limits of the WHO nitrate commentary paper, defining limits for toxicity with small babies with gastrointestinal disturbances. These limits (ranging from 1.5mg to 2.7 mg of nitrate per kilogram of body weight) are potentially exceeded by several popular mineral water brands.
Water Suitable For Babies
We receive lots of questions from people don’t understand the language of the WHO (world health organisation) guidelines. In a spirit of helpfulness, this is the essence of what it says to follow - and there’s another link to the document for you to check via your own research near the bottom of this post.
The Official WHO guidelines for maximum nitrate levels in drinking water is 50mg/l, and WHO also commissioned a paper which defined concerning nitrate toxicity levels for infants at significantly lower levels (WHO guide on nitrate & nitrite in drinking water).
For an infant with a ‘gastro disturbance’ (just about covers all infants at some stage in their first 6 months) the nitrate toxicity level is quoted at between 1.5mg and 2.7mg of nitrate per kg of infant body weight. What this means to in plain English, is that just 7.5mg of nitrate is potentially toxic for a notional 5kg baby with a ‘gastro disturbance’ – isn’t that a dicky tummy? The calculation used is 1.5mg/kg of nitrate x 5kg baby = 7.5mg of nitrate as a potentially toxic dose.
Yes, the limit does suggest ‘between’ 1.5 and 2.7mg/kg but if it was your baby, would you honestly opt for the higher level as probably being ok? In science speak, this is a ‘biochemically detectable adverse change in the blood’ and quite frankly, there’s no need for any infant to consume water containing nitrate with a bit of thoughtful parenting...
Remember, boiling water does not change its chemical composition, it simply kills any bacteria present in a water which isn’t packed under aseptic conditions.
You can ask your water company to tell you what the nitrate levels are in your local water supply zone if you’re concerned. This is not intended as a sales blog, but in case you can’t find Aquapax (containing <0.3mg/l of nitrates) in your local food store, please ask for it or you can order online through our website. Aquapax ultra-low nitrate levels and naturally pure, low mineral content, means our water is safe for preparing infant foods or hydrating infants without the need for boiling the water; our litmus test for quality.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your ongoing support - we still believe it’s the fresh taste of our natural water (aseptically sealed from light and air) and the ecologically sensible packaging (72% paper) that are our strongest selling features, but it’s great to help parents understand more about the wonderful world of water.
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/nitratenitrite2ndadd.pdf 🙂
