HEALTH                                                       January 04, 2004

Water cure
Editor Harriet Griffey thought bottled water was a con, until mountain-pure H2O healed her senses

Unlike Joan Juliet Buck, the former French Vogue editor, who famously enjoys mineral-water cocktails of several brands at a time, I have never been big on water. When absolutely necessary, tap water will do, and, although purists shudder, I don’t care. When eating at the River Cafe and asked if I prefer sparkling or still, I request tap water with ice and lemon. And no marketing on earth could have persuaded me that bottled water was anything but a con. Then I discovered Blue Water, a “naturally detoxifying water” from Austria.

Blue Water is taken from a deep mountain spring, 2,000 metres below ground, where it has been filtered through alpine rock, picking up natural minerals as it goes. So far, so standard. What makes it different is that the water then undergoes a “revitalisation” process invented by Johann Grander, an Austrian naturalist and scientist. The exact nature of the process is a closely guarded secret, but in essence, it creates a charge that splits the molecular clusters of the water into many smaller ones, causing them to repel against each other and produce energy. Smaller molecule clusters also mean a greater surface area, which reduces surface tension and increases the water’s ability to dissolve other substances.

Well, that’s the science — but, like me, you could be forgiven for thinking, so what? Which is where the lemon test comes in. I am as sceptical as the next person, and am not convinced by hype, but seeing — or tasting — is believing.

Take one lemon. Cut it in half and squeeze each half into two identical glasses. Place one next to a bottle of Blue Water, the other on the opposite side of the room. Wait five minutes, then taste.

I tried it — and the results were astonishing. While the juice in one glass remained wincingly sharp, the lemon in the other, placed next to the Blue Water, was noticeably softer and less tart. Even through glass, the effect of the water is enough to change the taste of the lemon juice.

There is also anecdotal evidence (from users, not Blue Water itself), some of which admittedly sounds more like science fiction than science. Some say that simply having a bottle next to their bed makes them sleep better, others that plants flourish on the stuff. There are colonic irrigationists who claim that using Blue Water gives far better results — although I can’t personally vouch for that one.

Even if you find this a bit hard to swallow, there are more straightforward reasons to give it a try. One of Blue Water’s claims is that it is naturally detoxifying — which, of course, is the case with all water. But scientific research has shown that it has a superior solvent capacity, which means a greater ability to hydrate the body and flush out toxins. Those of us on a mission to detox can only be grateful. And because our bodies are about 70% water, and our brains 90%, if Blue Water naturally “energises” whatever it comes into contact with, the effect on our systems should be dramatic.

But what about the shock of the £13.95-per-litre price tag? The good news is that you only need to add 10ml to a glass of filtered, mineral or even tap water. It’s wonderful in herb teas — and I have it on very good authority that it brings out theflavours of a blended malt whisky like nothing else.