Abstract
The mineral components and other properties were analyzed for 50 samples of domestic and 11 samples of foreign mineral water available on the Japanese market. When these samples were classified according to the Bottled Water Guideline of Japan, 45 brands of natural mineral water (NMW) and 5 brands of mineral water (MW) of the domestic mineral waters were determined. Of the foreign mineral waters, there were 8 brands of NMW, 2 brands of MW and one brand of bottled water.
The means of the residue upon evaporation, hardness and the free carbon dioxide of the domestic mineral waters were significantly lower than those of the foreign mineral waters.
As for the minerals, the Na, Mg and Ca contents of the foreign mineral waters were significantly higher than those of the domestic mineral waters. On the other hand, the P contents of the domestic mineral waters were significantly higher than that of the foreign mineral waters.
The contents of the trace minerals, presumed to be always found in the NMW, are expressed in the detection percentage of the mineral waters of Japanese origin and the mineral waters of foreign origin in parentheses. B was 97. 8% (100%), V 80% (37. 5%), As 80% (12. 5%), Sr 97. 8% (75. 0%), Li 66. 7% (37. 5%), Zn 62. 2% (62. 5%), Ge 62. 2% (12. 5%), Se 60. 0% (12. 5%), Rb 71. 1% (12. 5%), Mo 71. 1% (25. 0%), Sb 57. 8% (62. 5%) and U 57. 8% (25. 0%).
Of the mineral waters of foreign origin, only B had a trace mineral detection percentage exceeding 80%.
