sparkling water - is it safe

[melarnz]

hi

my dd is nearly 3 and instead of giving her squash, (or the pop sh always asks for and never gets) i have started giving her sparkling water with some pure juice of some kind. because its fizzy, she thinks its lemonade, however, how safe is the carbonated water?

I would be more worried about the sugar in the fruit juice.

it is pure juice (not from concentrate) i thought this would be better than squash. i only put in a splash

I can see why you think that but it still has lots of natural sugar. Dentists recommend not having sugary drinks.

Don't let me bang on though, there are far worse things to drink!!

it's juice for goodness sake! Beansprout I think you are being a bit over the top.

Dentists recommend not constantly sucking on sugary drinks all day long - dilute juice with a meal is not going to do anyone any harm.

Carbonated water is totally safe as far as I know - what makes you think it's not?

Sure, with a meal. Ds has juice with breakfast ie before he brushes his teeth. That's one thing, but I don't know if this is with a meal or all day?!

I was worried about this recently because I drink a ton of it ... I think as long as it's pure (no added salts for example) then you are fine because the sparkle is just carbon dioxide. That's what Wikipedia says anyway, I'm no expert!! Would like to know more though tbh so watching this thread with interest.

Hmm, I am completeyl uninformed but I did read in a few places that excessive consumption of carbonated drinks (ie more than twice a week for adults or children) can cause bone problems in the long term (osteoparosis I suppose). But I might be completely wrong and I don't really understand drink manufacture processes enough to know what this includes. I guess it comes back to moderation in all things. I'm mean to my kids now, they can have fruit juice or milk with breakfast, squash with their tea, and otherwise its cold milk or water all day. Of course other drinks on special occasions or when offered at others houses. They don't mind, except 2 year old not keen on water but I figure she might as well get used to it because when she goes to school next year it will just be water or milk all day.

Ooo interesting. I just found this on the net. It seems to suggest that main culprits are colas (because of the caffeine) and that the reasons are unclear - it may be as much to do with the fact that the drinkers are replacing nutrient-rich drinks with nutritionally empty sodas.

Regular consumption of caffeinated carbonated beverages has been associated with increased risk of bone fracture both earlier and later in life, yet the contributions of the individual components of these beverages to calcium loss is unclear. The per capita consumption of carbonated beverages has risen dramatically, making them the preferred beverage of women 20-40 years old, many of whom already have an inadequate daily intake of calcium.

The effect of caffeinated and noncaffeinated beverages on urinary calcium excretion was measured in a group of 30 women with an average age of 31 years. The subjects habitually drank from two to seven 12-ounce cans of carbonated beverages daily; 27 drank predominantly colas.

Though the caffeine in the drinks was primarily responsible for excess calcium excretion, previous studies of the effect of caffeine have shown a compensatory drop in calcium excretion over the 24-hour period following ingestion. The fact that the small calcium loss from carbonated beverages was offset by reduced excretion later in the day, and the habituation of the subjects to frequent consumption, lead the authors to conclude that the main cause of calcium loss from carbonated beverages was their lack of nutrients needed for bone health.

(PS that's very true beansprout - sorry if I was a bit hasty! You shouldn't have sugary drinks all day of course.)

it's from here by the way.

Shoudl say, I know nothing about this subject - I am not a doctor!

I thought the acidity of fizzy water was bad for your teeth...

nowt wrong with no-crap squash (eg Rocks) in moderation IMO

Thanks for looking that up

My understanding is that H2O+CO2 make H2CO3, which is an acid. To balance it in the body, the calcium would have to be leached from the bones to maintain ph7 or thereabouts in the body.
Maybe it's poss to compensate by calcium-rich foods, but there is deffo a link to weak bones with too much carbonated drinks, and that's before you even consider sugar & any other additives..

I've been told by dentists that fizzy water is bad for teeth.

The carbon dioxide makes it acid (as nightcat said) which still rots teeth even if it is just water or any other 'diet' fizz.

H2CO3 is the same as acid rain..

oh getting worried now ...

... I thought the links between carbonated drinks and bone density had been disproved ...or not proven anyway

well that's what Wikipedia says so must be true (goes to pour a glass of still Evian)