Kokova Magazine

You care about your health and well-being, so choose to drink bottled mineral water - and would expect there to be nothing in water, except water. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

Water composition varies enormously and few people know how to read the 'ingredient labels'. We assume all water is the same and provides equal health benefits.

Pure fresh water heals and transports vitamins, minerals, oxygen, enzymes, hormones and glucose to the body's cells to ensure they function properly. It gives us energy and ensures our cells can reproduce and repair properly. Sadly toxic or chemically enhanced water can have the opposite effect.

So when we met Neil Tomlinson at this year's Allergy & Free From Show at Olympia, we were keen to listen to his story and try his natural mineral water - which we have to say tasted of nothing; just pure, clean water served at body temperature, for maximum effect.

Aquapax is wonderfully pure, fresh, natural mineral water, which comes from deep beneath a protected nature park in Germany. No commercial farming in the immediate area means Aquapax is incredibly pure. It has a naturally low mineral balance with a near perfect 7.065pH and contains less than 0.3mg/l (parts per million) of nitrates making it suitable for infant consumption and people with virtually any type of diet restrictions.

Aquapax was founded by ecologist, Neil Tomlinson, who sourced the water from Germany because of the purity of the source allied to their open minded attitude to his carton water idea. Aquapax won the internationally recognised QATRAH Award as Best Bottled Water at its first public outing.

Aquapax eco-chic carton containers are made from majority renewable resources sourced from responsibly managed sustainable forests in Northern Europe. The cartons have an oxygen impermeable barrier film made of 6/1000th of a single millimetre thin aluminium that serves to protect the water from smells or contamination. Both the inside and outside of the carton are covered by an incredibly thin LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene) film. This is a proven non-leaching plastic polymer, extruded at low temperature, which acts as a waterproof lining for both the inside and outside of the carton.

Aquapax is on sale online through amazon.com and hollandandbarrett.com, while it's available in the high street through selected Waitrose, Holland and Barrett and many other good independent retailers, cafes, farm shops, sports gyms and yoga studios across the UK, France and the Middle East.

Mineral water brand Aquapax, one of the purest natural mineral waters on the planet, is on a mission to educate the public by sharing some handy tips on how to select mineral water that delivers the health benefits so many of us take for granted: -

• Think twice about buying water in plastic bottles. It doesn't matter how much the brands spend on marketing them, various reports, including one by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), express concerns about compounds, in particular 'Bisphenol A' known as BPA, found in plastic food and drink packaging.
• If you do risk buying plastic bottles never refill them. Many people don't notice the warning on plastic bottles that say 'please dispose of within 3 days of opening'. Over time, and especially in hot environments, such as cars, the bottle's oil-based plastic polymers can allow external elements (and potentially the bottle's own lining) to seep (leach) into the water.
• Check Nitrate Levels - It is critical to look on the ingredients label for the seemingly innocent letters NO2 & NO3. These describe the level of nitrate levels within the water. Nitrate is a public friendly word to describe the chemical fertilisers which are put on the land (mostly by the farming community) and then soak into the ground via rainfall. Pure fresh water can help expel toxins and metabolic waste products from your body, while drinking water with nitrates in it will not.
• Don't make assumptions about the source of your mineral water. Rather than coming from natural springs, packaged water can sometimes simply be filtered tap water, so you are essentially paying for something you can get for free. Also just because a water comes from a spring on organic land doesn't mean the water is organic. If it is surrounded by farm land that uses chemicals, these will still seep into the water course, showing up in the water analysis as nitrates.
• Check the pH level - you'll be amazed at the variation. Ideally you should be looking for a product as close to a neutral 7.0pH as possible

For more information on Aquapax visit www.aquapaxwater.com Follow @aquapax or find on Facebook

Aquapax is a brand name owned by Just Drinking Water Ltd - a carbon balanced business. Registered Co. No 05699151