Safety of Fiji Water

 

How Safe is Bottled Fiji Water

Dennis N. Crouse

March 15, 2021

 

Fiji water is sold in recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles¹. Fiji water is a unique bottled water because the bottle is made of 100% PET that is more economic to recycle than bottles made of mixed plastics¹. Both glass and PET bottles were used to store water from the same spring and in both cases no endocrine disrupters were released into the water^2,3. This suggests that known endocrine disruptors, such as di-2-ethyhexyl phthalate (DEP)⁴, optionally added to some PET as a plasticizer, may be the cause of endocrine disruption seen with water stored in some non-Fiji PET bottles². Fiji water has been tested and found to contain no detectable DEP⁵. Also, it is claimed the PET Fiji uses, does not contain phthalate plasticizers¹.

Fiji water is also a unique bottled water because of its high concentration of orthosilicic acid (OSA) which is a water-soluble form of silica. OSA exists as single molecules [i.e., Si(OH)₄] at a concentration of 124-149ppm⁶. Drinking water containing less than 160ppm of OSA (equivalent to 100ppm of dissolved silica) is generally regarded as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. FDA⁷.

In addition to OSA, Fiji water also contains bicarbonate, calcium, chloride, magnesium, sodium, and sulfate, all of which are considered harmless⁵. In addition, Fiji water contains the following trace metals including arsenic (1.2ppb), and fluoride (0.24ppm)^5,8 that are well below the maximum contaminant levels [MCL or SMCL set by the U.S. EPA]. Also, Fiji water was filtered through a 0.45micron filter and then the filter was examined using a 45x power microscope to reveal 12 particles of unknown composition/liter⁹.

·       Aluminum: 0 ppb¹⁰ (levels of aluminum over 100ppb have been linked to Alzheimer’s)¹⁰

·       Antimony: 0 ppb⁵ (6 ppb MCL)^{Note 1}

·       Arsenic: 1.2ppb⁵ (10ppb MCL)

·       Fluoride: 0.24ppm^5,8 (2.0ppm SMCL)

·       Lead: 0 ppb⁵ (0ppb MCL)

·       Mercury: 0 ppb⁵ (2ppb MCL)

·       Particles: 12/liter⁹ where usually 1 in 3000 is a microplastic particle^{Note 2}

Therefore, Fiji water is safe to drink. 

 

Note 1: An insignificant amount antimony is leached out of PET into bottled water after 3 months of storage at 22^oC (71.6^oF)¹¹. However, storage of drinking water in PET containers at greater than 70^oC (the glass transition temperature of PET) has been shown to add antimony to the stored water¹¹.

Note 2: Fiji water is “micron-filtered” prior to bottling in order to remove particles⁵. A study that found 12 particles larger than 0.45 microns per liter of Fiji water, used a microscope that could not identify the composition of the particles⁹. When looking at small particles with just a microscope it is impossible to discern their composition¹².   People who use equipment that can discern composition of particles (e.g., Raman spectrometer) have not examined the particles in Fiji water. However, they have found that only 1 particle in 3000 particles in river water is microplastic¹². The toxicology of microplastic particles is currently unknown but in spite of this, plastic microbeads were used for a number of years in some toothpastes and cosmetics. Because microbeads may be mistaken as food by fish, the Microbead Free Waters Act of 2015 by the U.S. FDA outlaws the manufacture, delivery, and sale of any rinse-off products (e.g., toothpastes, cosmetics, and over the counter drugs) containing microbeads smaller than 5 millimeters¹³. 

References

1. Lynch, I., et al.; Fiji water A sustainability report; University of Vermont (2010)

2. Wagner, M., and Oehlmann, J.; Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles; Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res.; 16:278-86 (2009)

 3. Chung, B.Y., et al.; Uterotropic and Hershberger assays for endocrine disruption properties of plastic food contact materials polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET); J. Toxicol. Envrion. Health, Part A; 76(10):624-34 (2013)

4. Latini, G., et al.; Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and endocrine disruption: a review; Curr. Drug Targets Immune Endocr. Metabol. Disord.; Mar.; 4(1):37-40 (2004)

5. Fiji Water; Bottled water quality report; January (2017)

6. Crouse, D.N.; Silica water the secret of healthy blue zone longevity in the aluminum age, Etiological Publishing (2018)

7. Select committee on GRAS substances – SCOGS-61, NTIS Pb 301-402/AS (1979)

8. Delaney, J. as Client; Tweed Laboratory Centre; NSW Australia; Laboratory report on Fiji water (2019)

9. Barrows, A.P.W., Anthropogenic microparticle contamination in bottled water for human consumption; (2018)

10. Crouse, D.N.; Prevent Alzheimer’s, autism, and stroke with 7 supplements, 7 lifestyle choices, and a dissolved mineral; Etiological Publishing (2016)

11. Westerhoff, P., et al.; Antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic used for bottled drinking water; Water Res.; Feb.; 42(3):551-6 (2018)

12. Ivleva, N.; Technical University Munich; How dangerous is microplastic?  https://phys.org/news/2019-01-dangerous-microplastic.html

13. The microbead-free waters act: FAQs; U.S. FDA (2020) https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/microbead-free-waters-act-faqs

Safety of OSA Augmentation

Safety of OSA Augmentation

OSA and its salt, sodium silicate, are not silica (SiO₂ silicon dioxide). Dissolved in water, OSA and sodium silicate can’t be converted to silica and silica is not converted to OSA in the human body. Therefore, the toxicology of silica does not apply to OSA or its salt, sodium silicate. 

It is safe to drink bottled OSA rich water and beer. For a list of waters and beers see appendices I and II. It is also safe to drink handcrafted Silicade made by neutralizing a sodium silicate produced by PQ Corporation and sold online that is 99.5% water soluble (see appendix III). This product is sold by PQ Corporation directly and distributed through Brenntag to many U.S. community water departments that add it to public drinking water. In addition to being a brain saver, OSA provides corrosion protection. This PQ Corporation product meets the ANSI standard specification set by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for silicates added to drinking water, as it contains only a 0.5% water insoluble impurity²²².

OSA is commonly found in rivers, lakes, aquifers, and drinking waters around the world¹⁴⁰. Dissolved OSA from soluble silicates added to drinking water in the U.S. is identical to dissolved OSA in beer and mineral waters^140,232.  The amount of OSA in drinking water varies widely depending upon the source¹⁴⁰.  In the U.S. 160ppm of dissolved silicates as OSA are generally recognized as safe (i.e., GRAS) in drinking water by the FDA²²¹. The adequate intake of water per day is 3 liters for men and 2.3 liters for women. This level of water intake corresponds to a maximum safe level of OSA intake per day of 480mg for men and 368mg for women. Therefore, drinking 4 cups (approximately 1 liter) of OSA rich water each day containing 50 to 150mg per liter of OSA is well below the GRAS level for dissolved silicates.

It is safe to ingest dissolved silicates, such as OSA, at concentrations well below the saturation level (i.e., less than 200ppm of OSA) in order to ensure that they will not become supersaturated and crystallize in the kidney lumen. Ingesting OSA above the saturation level (i.e., 200ppm) can result in kidney stones (a.k.a. nephrolithiasis) in dogs but almost never in humans. There is one report of kidney stones resulting from too much silicate salt, erroneously labeled as silica (SiO₂), used as an inactive ingredient (a.k.a. excipient) in several over-the-counter drugs such as Uncaria Tomentosa, Digestive Advantage, and FlexProtein supplements⁵⁰⁷. 

Excerpt from book

Increasing IQ, Cognition and Cure Rate of COVID-19 with Essential Nutrients

Targeted Detox Improves Children’s IQ, ADHD Behavior, and Adult Cognition

by Dennis N Crouse The book will be published in Jan 2021 and will be available on Amazon. 

 

Newspaper article about Prevent Alzheimer's Autism and Stroke with 7 Lifestyle choices, 7 Supplements and a Dissolved Mineral (2014 )

Melrose resident dives into Alzheimer’s research to help his mother

 

For four years, Crouse pored over thousands of pages of scientific literature. He took courses in dementia and neuro-chemistry. Over time, a promising theory emerged.

By Jeannette Hinkle 
jhinkle@wickedlocal.com 

In 2012, Beulah Crouse’s memory began to fade.

The 86-year-old resident of Marion, Iowa had been a seamstress and an accountant during her working years, but she started forgetting how to load the sewing machine, how to balance her own checkbook. Beulah started getting panic attacks, and at night, she had trouble holding a conversation with her son, Dennis Crouse.

“We knew she was on her way, and Alzheimer’s is one of those diseases that is a steady downhill plod in terms of your mental health – it just gets worse and worse,” said Crouse, who lives in Melrose with his wife Laurie Adamson.

Crouse decided he could help.

He holds an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard, and went on to earn his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard after developing an anti-tumor alkaloid currently being used to treat colon cancer. Later, he developed strategies and instruments to detect environmental contaminants and measure corrosion.

“When I retired in 2011, I put all that aside until my mother called up,” Crouse said. “I decided that I have the wherewithal to potentially figure out what causes Alzheimer’s and if I can figure out what causes it, I could potentially think of some solutions as a chemist and maybe help my mother. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

Finding the problem, solving the problem

For four years, Crouse pored over thousands of pages of scientific literature. He took courses in dementia and neuro-chemistry. Over time, a promising theory emerged.

“Aluminum in our food, in our water, in some of the air that we breathe is indeed a causative factor of Alzheimer’s,” Crouse said. “I was totally shocked. I went in thinking, like a lot of people, that Alzheimer’s is mostly a genetic thing.”

Building on English and French studies, Crouse determined a few easy strategies he contends can slow and even reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s caused by environmental exposure to aluminum.

The first is available at most gas stations.

Though it’s more expensive than other brands of bottled water, Crouse said Fiji water is the most affordable way to get silica, which according to his research, draws aluminum out of the brain through chelation. Crouse said those up for a little chemistry can make silica-rich water at home, for the cost of about a nickel a gallon. For Beulah, Crouse said, the drink made a difference.

“We put my mother on Fiji water and in four months, my dad saw significant improvement in her performance and she was having more good days than bad,” Crouse said.

Crouse first noticed the positive change during an evening conversation with Beulah, who had special difficulty with her cognition after the sun went down – a typical symptom of Alzheimer’s.

“She had a long story to tell me and she told it,” Crouse said. “As a son, it’s good to know you took part in making it happen and didn’t just sit back and wait for her to drift off.”

Along the way, Crouse found other strategies he argues cuts down on aluminum build-up in the brain. Aerobic exercise, vitamin D and eliminating sources of aluminum in one’s daily environment all lead to lowered levels of aluminum, he said.

Beulah has no trouble drinking Fiji water, Crouse said, but efforts motivate her to exercise aerobically and eliminate all aluminum intake have met some friction. For most of her life, Beulah made tomato juice in a large aluminum pan, which she still considers to be “a useful pan.”

“After 30 or 40 years, there is this black corroded line around the pan,” Crouse said. “She’s been making neuro-toxic tomato juice all these years and drinking it down every morning with breakfast. I went home and wrote on all the sides of the pan with magic marker, ‘Do not use this for cooking – Skip.’ Skip is my nickname.”

But Beulah has been taking most of her son’s advice. For her 90th birthday this past fall, the family shared an aluminum-free cake made with natural dyes and cream of tartar baking powder – the only baking powder Crouse said doesn’t contain aluminum.

“It was beautiful,” Crouse said. “It was vanilla. She wanted vanilla.”

Spreading the word

When his mother’s health started to improve, Crouse thought he’d done his work. But Adamson, who had watched Crouse dig through medical journals and search the internet for years, wanted others to benefit from his findings – partly because he found aluminum might also impact autism.

Crouse wrote a book, titled “Prevent Alzheimer’s, Autism and Stroke: With 7-Supplements, 7-Lifestyle Choices, and a Dissolved Mineral,” which he published this fall. Now, the couple is working to further publicize Crouse’s research.

They created a video that will air on MMTV, they’ve reached out to congressmen and senators and made sure Crouse’s book is easily searchable online. Still, the findings are controversial, and the role of aluminum in Alzheimer’s is a topic of debate in the medical community. The Alzheimer’s Association lists aluminum exposure as one of eight myths about the disease on its website.

“During the 1960s and 1970s, aluminum emerged as a possible suspect in Alzheimer’s. Since then, studies have failed to confirm any role for aluminum in causing Alzheimer’s,” the site reads. “Experts today focus on other areas of research, and few believe that everyday sources of aluminum pose any threat.”

Even so, Crouse and Adamson believe in the research and the couple’s personal experiences have motivated them to share his findings with others.

“We’re retired,” Adamson said, “and we certainly don’t want to make this a full-time job for ourselves, but at the same time we’re passionate about getting this information out.”

Crouse said his research provides agency to individuals as federal budgets for the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Health are cut, reducing their ability to regulate and study environmental toxins.

“Transforming frustration to hope, my book proposes inexpensive ways that an individual can control their own mental fitness, lower aluminum accumulation, and avoid these diseases in their brain without medical insurance or prescription pharmaceuticals,” Crouse said. “These recommendations, if followed, will empower us to save ourselves and our children from these diseases that have currently reached epidemic proportions.”

The couple’s two-part video on MMTV goes deeper into explaining Crouse’s findings. The first is titled “Brain Fitness in the Aluminum Age – Preventing Alzheimer’s.” The second is titled “Brain Fitness in the Aluminum Age – Eliminating Aluminum Intake.” The videos will be uploaded to YouTube after airing on MMTV.