Neurological Problems Anyone? Why You Must Filter Your Tap Water

Most people that follow my blog would have an understanding that Nutritional Balancing is all about helping people get well and stay well naturally. This is not a simple process and involves diet, nutrition, dietetics, toxicology, environmental science, soil science and emotional work. A sad reality that is just now starting to be more widely understood by the public at large is the significant role that toxicity plays. There are many types of toxins and heavy metals and any one of them can create absolute havoc in the body and can cause virtually any symptom you can imagine. Let's look at copper and Alzheimer's and it's connection to tap water.

Copper is actually a needed metal in the body unlike some other heavy metals like mercury and lead. However, like any nutrient in the body it needs to be kept in a normal range and when it goes out of range, either too high or too low, problems and symptoms will be the result. It has been very interesting to see the recent media and scientific attention that copper has been getting in its link to Alzheimer's disease.

First some background. Copper is a very common contaminant in our tap water due to the pipes that carry the water being made from it. Unlike what you might believe there is a natural lifespan for copper pipes of about 20 years before they start to breakdown and leach. This means that if your home was built prior to 1992 your pipes have already reached their designed lifespan. Even with new pipes some leaching is possible. The bottom line is that most people consume tap water that has been exposed to high levels of copper, and even if it is not coming from your taps it may be coming through your coffee machines, hot water systems etc.

Did you know that Alzheimer's is a relatively recent epidemic over just the last hundred years? It's true. It's also true that it is appearing primarily in developed countries that use copper pipes but not undeveloped countries like India or places like Africa. One interesting country is Japan as they don't have the same rates as other modern countries and this is speculated to be because they don't use copper pipes due to fears of metal contamination.

Recent studies showed that rabbits that were genetically disposed to develop Alzheimer's did get the disease when they drank tap water that contained copper but DID NOT get it when they drank distilled water with no copper in it. Just to be sure it was the copper causing the Alzheimer's they then added just copper to the distilled water group and Alzheimer's developed again.

When people were tested for copper, the group in the highest 20% of copper intake lost cognition (thinking, reasoning, and memory) at the rate of 19 years over a 6 year period. This is over triple the rate expected.

I suppose I would like to make two significant conclusions from this. The first is that toxic metals such as copper are linked to the development of serious neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and we need to undertake proper precautions and programs to limit our exposure and maximize our excretion. Second is that I don't think we should be drinking unfiltered tap water AT ALL. This study was the so called "final straw" for me in the sense that to continue to drink unfiltered water is just unfathomable knowing what we now know about copper and other chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride, aluminum etc.

I would encourage everyone to seriously think about the water you are putting into your body. While there is much debate about which filters might be best I would suggest you purchase one that gets the metals out along with the fluoride. This can be done. A brand that stands out to me at the moment is the Durand water filter systems with the fluoride reduction filter although others would be just as good. It is your health, and if our bodies are 70% water I'd suggest you get the good stuff.