Hygienic Assessment of Bottled Water for Infant Nutrition as a Source of Essential Mineral Elements

BACKGROUND: To maintain and promote health from an early age, it is necessary to ensure an adequate intake of biologically active substances such as vitamins and minerals. Drinking water is an important source of minerals, especially under conditions of dietary deficiency. One proposed way of compensating for this deficiency is the use of packaged drinking water. To assess its contribution to the supply of trace elements in children, the intake of each element with packaged drinking water should be calculated. AIM: The work aimed to perform a hygienic assessment of packaged drinking water for infant nutrition in terms of chemical safety indicators and to calculate its contribution to the supply of essential and conditionally essential elements to the human body. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional sanitary-hygienic study of packaged drinking water. The study objects included samples of packaged water from seven of the most popular Russian brands, five of which were intended for children from birth to three years of age and two for children over three years. The analysis of bottled water was conducted at the Testing Laboratory Center of the North-West Public Health Research Center, where pH and concentrations of 17 chemical indicators were determined in each sample. Calculations were performed for daily intake of macro- and microelements with drinking water. The results were evaluated for compliance with the Technical Regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union, On the Safety of Packaged Drinking Water, Including Natural Mineral Water (TR EAEU 044/2017), and with methodological guidelines on physiological requirements. RESULTS: The study established that the content of mineral elements in all samples did not exceed the normative values set by TR EAEU 044/2017. The calculated results indicated a predominantly low level of contribution to meeting physiological requirements for the analyzed mineral substances. For certain parameters, such as fluorides, selenium, iodine, calcium, and magnesium, the values obtained should be taken into account when assessing mineral intake. CONCLUSION: Thus, the data obtained substantiate the rationale of taking packaged drinking water into account when assessing the supply of the body with certain essential and conditionally essential elements.