This Is What's Really In Dasani Water
The bottled water industry is expected to reach a $334 billion valuation in 2023 (via BusinessWire). This might be because people love the portability and taste of bottled water. However, not every brand is created equal. While it may seem like most of them are similar, looking at the ingredients list can tell a different story. Many bottled water brands add other ingredients to their products. For example, SmartWater contains calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium bicarbonate, according to TIME.
Additionally, there's no evidence suggesting bottled water is healthier than the water that comes out of your faucet at home. "To my knowledge, there is no published evidence to suggest that bottled water is either healthier or safer than tap water — none whatsoever," Dan Heil, professor of exercise physiology at Montana State University, tells the Los Angeles Times. But does Dasani agree with that?
What goes into Dasani water?
If you look at the back of a bottle of Dasani water, it contains four ingredients: purified water, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and salt. Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and professor of Sociology at New York University suggests these ingredients are not a health concern and are mostly added to improve the taste (via TIME).
It may seem strange to add extra ingredients to water, but those additives are already found in nature and are being re-added after the filtering process. "If you had pure water by itself, it doesn't have any taste," Bob Mahler, Soil Science and Water Quality professor at the University of Idaho, told TIME. "So companies that sell bottled water will put in calcium, magnesium, or maybe a little bit of salt."
While additives found in Dasani may seem like a potential health concern, bottled water is highly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (via Lifehacker). So it's likely you won't need to worry about the added ingredients.