The world today is insanely obsessed with purity and cleanliness.
Most people want everything around them to be spotless, spic-and-span, and dirt-free - especially when it comes to food and drink.
Yet, a little dirt in water can actually be good for the health.
Can you imagine how preposterous that claim is? The truth is that it is not preposterous at all.
It is scientific fact.
Read on for a discussion on this seemingly absurd claim.
You know one simple fact from your grade school biology class: two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom comprise one water molecule.
That alone is the chemical composition of pure water.
If you add anything to that, you get impure water.
But, here's another scientific fact that you probably didn't learn from your biology class: pure water exists only in controlled laboratory conditions.
Water existing in nature is never pure.
It contains a lot of impurities.
Some of these impurities include dissolved minerals, insoluble sediments (such as dust and heavy metals), and microorganisms.
Do these impurities make water unsafe for human consumption? Not necessarily.
Certain dissolved minerals, in fact, help your body to function properly.
Magnesium, for instance, is one useful mineral that you can get from drinking "impure" water.
Your muscles need it as they contract and relax when they perform their various tasks (e.
g.
, lifting objects, digestion, etc.
).
Your body needs magnesium to build or break down proteins.
This mineral is also needed for converting stored energy (e.
g.
fat) into readily usable energy, as well as for maintaining the appropriate viscosity of your blood.
Lack of magnesium over a long period can cause your blood pressure to soar and your bones to become brittle.
Other helpful "impurities" include calcium, sodium, and fluorine.
Calcium helps in keeping your bones and teeth strong.
Sodium assists in keeping your body's fluid balance and in delivering other nutrients to the rest of your body; yet, too much of it can also increase your blood pressure.
Fluorine prevents tooth decay and cavities, provided that you don't ingest too much of it (i.
e.
, no more than 4 mg for every liter).
Along with magnesium, these are known as essential minerals that your body needs to work right.
These are useful impurities that you won't get from your water if you grow obsessed with drinking only pure water.
However, there are other water impurities that you don't want to drink along with the essential minerals.
Toxic substances, for instance, can be present in water.
They will harm your body.
Some will harm you immediately, others will harm you over the long run.
Microorganisms are another example of impurities that will do your body more harm than good.
Most of them can cause diseases, a lot of which are fatal.
You will want to drink only water that bears no harmful contaminants such as toxic chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms.
So, ditch the unnecessary obsession for 100% pure water.
Pure water, of course, is definitely safe to drink but is not necessarily healthy.
The healthier option is water containing enough helpful "impurities"; that is, to drink water with dissolved essential minerals but without the toxic contaminants and microorganisms.
Not only do the mineral "impurities" make your drinking water healthier.
They also make your drinking water taste sweeter - literally.