Is Sparkling Water Bad for You? Teeth, Bloating and Mineral Water

Plain sparkling water is water with carbon dioxide dissolved in it, and your body handles it that way. A 12 oz (355 ml) can goes into your log at its full size, like a glass from the tap.

It sits with the other drinks that count in our guide to what counts toward your water intake. The worries people bring up are about the bubbles: teeth, bloating, bones, and whether mineral water adds anything worth paying for.

Does Sparkling Water Count as Water Intake?

Yes, in full. In a 2016 trial of 72 men, those who drank 1 L (34 oz) of sparkling water within 30 minutes passed no more urine over the next 4 hours than after the same amount of still water. So the fizz does not make your body let go of the water faster.

The men started on an empty stomach and drank a lot at once, which is not how you drink on a normal day. Still, there is no reason to think a can with lunch behaves any differently.

If plain water bores you, sparkling water is the swap that changes the least. The NHS asks for 6 to 8 cups or glasses of fluid a day, the same range our page on whether 8 glasses a day is enough examines, and plain sparkling water fills that as well as still.

Is Sparkling Water Bad for Your Teeth?

Plain sparkling water is not. The American Dental Association reports a lab test where sparkling and regular water "were about the same in their effects on tooth enamel", even though sparkling water is slightly more acidic. Flavoured kinds with citrus or sugar are a different drink for your teeth.

What the Lab Tests Found

A 2001 study put extracted human teeth and tooth mineral into still and sparkling mineral waters, and into soft drinks for comparison. Sparkling waters dissolved a little more than still ones, but the amounts stayed "of the order of one hundred times less" than the soft drinks.

When the researchers let the gas out of one sparkling water, it dissolved less, but the totals were low either way. They concluded that carbonation "may not be an important factor per se". Calcium in the water cut the dissolving the most.

That test ran in glassware, not in a mouth with saliva. Its answer matches the ADA's, so you can lean on the two together.

Which Sparkling Drinks Wear Down Enamel?

The risk comes from what is added, not from the bubbles. Here is how the common kinds compare:

How to Drink It Without Harming Your Teeth

Drink citrus-flavoured kinds in one sitting or with a meal, the ADA advises, instead of sipping one can across the afternoon.

Plain Sparkling Water

• About the same as still water on enamel
• Counts in full toward your goal

Citrus or Sweetened

• Higher acid, or sugar that feeds cavities
• Finish it in one sitting or with a meal
• Each sip bathes your teeth in acid again

Keep drinking plain fluoridated tap water too. The ADA notes that fluoride helps fight cavities and that water keeps your mouth from going dry.

Does Sparkling Water Make You Bloated?

It can. The NHS names fizzy drinks among the things that put gas in your gut and advises you not to drink lots of them if you bloat. If a can leaves you uncomfortable, switch that drink to still water; the fluid counts the same.

Not everyone reacts that way. In a small 2002 trial, 21 people with indigestion and constipation drank carbonated or tap water for about 15 days. Those on carbonated water had lower indigestion and constipation scores, while the tap-water group stayed the same, but the study is far too small to recommend fizz as a remedy.

When Bloating Needs a Doctor

If switching to still water does not settle it, the NHS says to see a GP when:

See a GP If

• you feel bloated regularly
• you've tried changing your diet but keep feeling bloated
• you have bloating and unintentional weight loss
• you have bloating and also have blood in your poo

Is Sparkling Water Bad for Your Bones?

There is no sign that it is. A 2006 study of 1,413 women and 1,125 men in Framingham, Massachusetts found that cola drinkers had lower hip bone density, but "no significant relations" for other carbonated drinks. The suspect is cola itself, not the bubbles.

Women who drank cola every day had 3.7 % lower bone density at the top of the thigh bone than women who had less than one serving a month. Men showed no link. The study asked people what they drank and measured their bones once, so it shows a pattern, not a cause.

Is Mineral Water Good for You?

It is good water, and some kinds add a useful amount of calcium. In the US, the FDA uses the name only for water from an underground source with at least 250 parts per million of dissolved minerals, and those minerals "cannot be added later."

A 2006 review found that your body takes up the calcium in high-calcium mineral waters as well as the calcium in milk "or slightly better." Mineral content varies a lot from one spring to the next, so the label is where you find out what you are getting.

The names on the shelf mean different things:

If your doctor has asked you to watch your salt, read the sodium line on a mineral water label, since springs differ.

How Much Sparkling Water Can You Drink a Day?

No health body sets a limit for plain sparkling water. It counts like still water, so it can cover your whole goal if it suits your stomach and your teeth stay fine.

Lena's Day

Lena weighs 58 kg (128 lb), works at a desk and lives somewhere hot. Glubbo's habit formula gives her a goal of 1,750 ml (59 oz).

Find your own number with the water intake calculator, then turn it into cans or bottles with bottles per day.

What About Other Fizzy Drinks?

Cola, diet cola and lager matched water in the same 2016 trial, but each brings something you may want less of: sugar, caffeine or alcohol. Our page on whether coffee counts as water covers the caffeine ceiling, and does alcohol dehydrate you covers why Glubbo leaves beer out of your log.

Sports drinks and electrolyte tablets are a separate question, because they add salt and often sugar. Our page on electrolytes and sports drinks explains when they earn their sugar and salt.

For the daily number that all of these drinks add up to, read how much water you should drink a day.