Is sparkling water healthy?
Yes. Plain sparkling water, seltzer or club soda has no calories, and the worry about teeth is mostly unfounded: in a lab test, sparkling mineral waters dissolved tooth enamel only slightly more than still water and about a hundred times less than soft drinks. As a replacement for an evening drink, it’s hard to beat.
People ask this because fizzy water sounds like it should be a little bad for you. The bubbles come from carbonic acid, and acid can wear teeth. But the amount in plain sparkling water is small, and the research on teeth is reassuring.
What we’d do
Make sparkling water your default drink in the evening, in a glass you like, with lime, cucumber or a splash of juice. It fills the slot where a glass of wine used to go. Choose plain or unsweetened flavored, and save the sweet versions for treats.
The pros
- No calories. USDA lists 12 oz of club soda at zero.
- Gentle on teeth. In the 2001 lab test, extracted human teeth were soaked in still and sparkling mineral waters and in soft drinks. Sparkling waters dissolved a little more enamel than still waters, but about a hundred times less than the soft drinks. Taking the gas out lowered it a little, and the authors concluded that carbonation itself may not be an important factor.
- A real swap. NIAAA’s advice for cutting back includes finding alternatives that fill the time and the habit. A cold, fizzy drink in a good glass fills the habit of a drink better than plain water does.
The cons
- Some are sweetened. Flavored sparkling drinks with sugar are soda by another name. USDA lists 12 oz of lemon-lime soda at 147 calories. Read the label.
- Not for everyone. Some people just don’t like the bubbles. Still water works too.
Compared with what it replaces, it’s a clear win. A 5 oz glass of red wine is 125 calories by NIAAA’s count, so a nightly swap saves about 45,000 calories a year, and all of the alcohol. Replace your evening drink has more swaps.
0 US drinks
Sparkling water with lime, 12 oz, 0%: 0 g of alcohol and about 0 calories from the alcohol alone.
When will tonight's drinks clear?
Bed at 11:00pm
Mostly cleared by 2:50am
That's about 3.8 hours of your sleep with alcohol in your blood (3.1 to 4.9 if your liver runs faster or slower).
Restaurant pour6 oz, 13.5%, 1.35 US drinks- Restaurant pour6 oz, 13.5%, 1.35 US drinks
REM: More REM lost. Your evening is 0.56 g of alcohol per kg of body weight.
The full clock, with the band, the same drinks two hours earlier and what your heart does.
4 sources
- Parry J, Shaw L, Arnaud MJ, Smith AJ, Investigation of mineral waters and soft drinks in relation to dental erosion, Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, 2001pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- US Department of Agriculture, Nutritive Value of Foods, Home and Garden Bulletin 72, 2002ars.usda.gov
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rethinking Drinking, Alcohol Calorie Calculatorrethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rethinking Drinking, Tips to Tryrethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov
