It seems that there is a huge interest in improving health but there is also a lot of confusion.

The response I have been receiving regarding the healthy water issue has been ongoing, so in an effort to close this subject and move on here are a few final words addressing potential health issues and their solutions.

The effects of chlorine and its byproducts on the human body are not only diverse, but not well understood yet.

There is a lot of money involved in chlorine products and chlorine dependent processes, so powerful companies and influential people benefiting from these chemicals do their best to muddy the waters, so to speak.

I prefer not to focus on politics and conspiracy theories for this blog, so I’ll be brief regarding the harmful health effects of chlorine.

Perhaps the most prominent potential side effect of chlorine and its byproducts is cancer.  This, by itself, should be enough to encourage the use of filters.

Other effects include damage to the nervous system, skin, hair, and respiratory system.

After installing our home shower filters, one of the more obvious changes I noticed was a decrease in skin dryness, less hair in the drain, and of course no swimming pool smell.

Asthma and allergy sufferers would also benefit tremendously from shower filters.  Although there are no clear studies that document this, it is conceivable that chlorinated water adds to overall inflammation in the body, taxes the immune system, decreases energy, accelerates aging.

Truly, there are more dangers to chlorinated water than we know.

Best to use filters for the entire house.

The next obvious question is: What kind of filter should I use?

Carbon based filters will generally do a good job of removing chlorine and harmful organic substances.  Reverse osmosis sytems also filter well using a multistage process that also involves activated carbon.  The only draw back with reverse osmosis is the amount of waste water that is produced per unit of sanitized water.

Ceramic and disk filters removes organisms and small particles but do not remove chlorine, heavy metals, and small organic molecules, unless combined with another filter medium.

I recommend the Berkey black filters in combination with their fluoride filters.  They do a good job of removing chlorine, flouride, heavy metals, organisms, and volatile organic compounds among other things, while preserving the natural minerals in the water.  Just keep in mind not to use plastic containers that leech BPA.

I also recommend plain ascorbic acid (vitamin C) for the shower.  Although not technically a filter, vitamin C water treatment will neutralize chlorine and chloramines.

This is a good start and an amazingly easy and economical way to remove a major source of personal toxicity.

In Health

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com