assessing the chemical components of some iranian brands of bottled water

aims: bottled water is widely used in many countries and more than 100 different brands of bottled water are produced in iran. the aim of the present research was to assess the chemical compound of some iranian brands of bottled water and compare them with the mention information on their labels.     instrument & methods: this descriptive study was performed during march to december 2012 on the 16 brands of bottled water produced in iran. random sampling (10 samples for each brand) was done by buying 1.5liter bottled water with different brands from the supermarkets in kashan city, iran. the concentration of na+, k+, f-, no3-, so4-2 and cl- and the ph of bottled water samples were measured. data were analyzed by spss 16 software using independent t test. findings: the mean concentration of no3- was 1.70±2.52mg/l, na+ was 8.44±8.76mg/l, k+ was 0.11±0.53mg/l, so4-2 was 15.15±12.49mg/l, cl- was 42.30±33.84mg/l and f- was 1.02±1.88mg/l in all samples of 16 brands of bottled water. the highest concentration of no3- was seen in brand 12 (9.55±2.76mg/l), na+ in brand 6 (32.18±12.60mg/l), k+ in brand 13 and 4 (1.86±0.76mg/l), so4-2 in brand 6 (40.53±8.90mg/l), cl- in brand 16 (88.73±13.80mg/l), f- in brand 13 (0.63±0.12mg/l). the ph of brand 12 (7.9±0.1) was the highest among the samples. conclusion: the concentrations of na+, k+, f-, no3-, so4-2 and cl- of the studied iranian brands of bottled water are not higher than the national and international standards and the ph is in the acceptable range.