Are mineral waters good sources of calcium?

Could we get a good deal of our recommended calcium amount from good old mineral water? Well, possibly – but good sources of calcium all depend on which bottle you reach for on the shelf.

A lot of water is high in minerals, but this varies from brand to brand. However, on average, mineral water has up to four times the amount of calcium and other minerals than tap water.

Yet, tap water contains a fair amount of minerals too. The area that you live in influences the amount of minerals you imbibe from a glass of tap. So a hard water area like London, will have higher calcium readings than in soft water area like Manchester. In fact soft water is extremely low in minerals.

But on average, if you drink the recommended two litres of water a day – and you stick to tap – you will be consuming about 15% of the recommended calcium amount per day. Your magnesium intake will be around a third. Not bad for something that comes out of your tap, eh?

So despite the relatively small amounts found in water, it is still beneficial to you. And it has been shown that people who live in soft water areas, where mineral balance is low, do suffer from illnesses more. Coincidence? Possibly not. However, the benefits to health in hard water areas have the disadvantage of hard water being rough on plumbing and appliances like kettles. People consider the payback of high minerals but high maintenance an unfair deal, so often pay out for water softening devices which lower the mineral levels in their water supply.

But going back to mineral waters: one litre of San Pellegrino provides 200mg of calcium which is 20% of our recommended daily amount. Perrier gives us 170mg – or 17% of our RDA. Acqua Della Madonna, the water in the blue tear-drop bottle, is the highest with 288mg per litre, or just under 30% of our recommended calcium intake.

So if you’re low in minerals like calcium and magnesium, it would be a good idea to sup on a bottle of Badoit, than anything else – and mind you avoid adding tea and coffee into the mix. Caffeine will stop the calcium from being absorbed.