Did you know that there’s a metal called manganese in your tap water?
Most of us don’t think about it because it’s usually in tiny amounts that don’t cause any harm. But what if there’s too much of it? Well, that’s not good news, especially for children.
The Boston Check-Up
Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) decided to check how much manganese was in the tap water in a town in Massachusetts. And guess what?
They found that the water often had more manganese than what’s recommended. This means that the kids and other people in the town who drink the tap water are getting exposed to high levels of this metal.
The Good and the Bad
Manganese isn’t always a bad guy. We need a little bit of it for our bodies to work properly. But too much of it can cause harm.
Even though it’s in the tap water in many places in the US, there are no laws to control how much of it can be there. There are only guidelines, which are like suggestions. But nobody has to follow them.
Alexa Friedman, who led the study, says that they found that the tap water in the town had more manganese than the guidelines recommend about 40% of the time for aesthetic (color and taste) purposes, and 9% of the time for health reasons.
This suggests that we need laws to control the amount of manganese in the water to keep our kids safe.
Looking at the Bigger Picture
This study was one of the first ones to check the manganese levels in tap water in different places and times in the US.
The researchers took samples of the tap water in a town called Holliston from September 2018 to December 2019.
The people living there had noticed that their tap water sometimes turned black or brown, and they were worried about the safety of their children. The tap water in Holliston comes from a source that can have high levels of manganese.
Birgit Claus Henn, another researcher on the team, says that while the manganese levels in Holliston’s water were not too high on average, they were often higher than the guidelines recommend.
This means that without a law to control manganese levels, we can’t be sure that our water is safe to drink.
When the researchers compared the manganese levels in Holliston’s water with those in other parts of the state, they found similar levels.
This suggests that too much manganese in the water isn’t just a problem in Holliston.
The Next Steps
To keep us safe from too much manganese in our water, Claus Henn and Friedman suggest that we need to keep a closer watch on the manganese levels in our water.
They also recommend doing more studies on how this exposure can affect our health and considering making a law to control the manganese levels.
Friedman adds that if you’re worried about the manganese in your water, you can check the resources from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
But don’t try to boil the water or use a regular filter to get rid of the manganese. These methods won’t work. Only use filters that say they can remove manganese.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and calcium supplements could harm your heart health.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies that artificial sweeteners in food are linked to a higher risk of heart disease, and results showing people who have the lowest heart disease and stroke risks.
The study was published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.
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