BACKGROUND The past few years have seen a demand for drinking water in contemporary society with a focus on safety and taste. Mineral water is now marketed as a popular commercial product and, partly due to health concerns, the production. METHODS For the study, a comparison was carried out of water samples from 9 types of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water sold in South Korea as ...

Evidence from observational studies suggests that elevated levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. We assessed whether moderate alcohol intake in healthy social drinkers, suggested to be cardioprotective according to the 'French paradox', influences the cardiovascular risk factor homocysteine. A total of 60 normal nourished subjects who had no ev...

Melatonin (MT) exerts a beneficial action in the treatment of many diseases, among them also in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Its secretion decreases with age, particularly, in the postmenopausal period in women. It has not been determined whether these changes can have an impact on the clinical picture of IBS. The study aimed at evaluating the urinary excretion of the main MT metabolite - 6-...

A sensor array containing 9 cross-reactive sensing fluorescent elements with different affinity and selectivity to 10 metal cations (Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Cd(2+), Hg(2+), Co(2+), Zn(2+), Cu(2+), Ni(2+), Al(3+), Ga(3+)) is described. The discriminatory capacity of the array was tested at different ranges of pH and at different cation concentrations using linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Qualitative...

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPA In the Anglo-Saxon world the enthusiasm of the twentieth-century Frenchman for imbibing his country's mineral waters is proverbial. It is surprising, therefore, to discover that the French contribution to the resuscitation of the spa in the era of the Renaissance was minimal. For most of the sixteenth century, the nation that has given mankind the waters of Vichy an...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of different commercial mineral water brands, wells and reservoir supplies in surrounding areas of the city of Marília, Brazil, to determine the amount of total and fecal coliforms. Eighteen samples of each source (mineral and reservoir supplies) were analyzed using Colilert Technique in cellophane. The results revealed that one ...

The impact of race and resistance training status on the assumed density of the fat-free mass (D(FFM)) and estimates of body fatness via hydrodensitometry (%Fat(D)) vs. a four-component model (density, water, mineral; %Fat(D,W,M)) were determined in 45 men: white controls (W; n = 15), black controls (B; n = 15), and resistance-trained blacks (B-RT; n = 15). Body density by hydrostatic weighing,...

Overseas and imported mineral waters were subjected to visual examination, tested for standard plate count and heterotrophic bacteria, and also analyzed to determine the concentrations of several anions and cations. Some products showed turbidity or color, and several had standard plate count and/or heterotrophic bacteria. One imported natural mineral water product had a high level of standard ...

Four phenylurea herbicides (isoproturon, chlortoluron, diuron and linuron) were dissolved in different water matrices in order to study their chemical degradation by using UV radiation, ozone and some advanced oxidation processes (UV/H2O2, O3/H2O2, Fenton reagent and the photoFenton system). The waters used were: ultra-pure water, a commercial mineral water, a groundwater and a surface water ta...

The study was carried out on the survival of Escherichia coli and Aeromonas hydrophila in samples of mineral waters. Enumeration of the bacteria was performed by spread inoculation of samples (0.1 cm3) over the surface of selected media in Petri plates. Twenty bottles (four bottles of each of the five brands) of non-carbonated mineral waters with different levels of dissolved solids and organic...