I have a Sodastream too! Unfortunately, I just ran out of CO2 last night.

Are you saying you can dissolve the MoM first, and then add the fizz? And what's this 4 liter flagon you're talking about? How could that fit?

You first make up the concentrated solution with MagHydroxide in cold fizzy water.
You put it back in the fridge and shake it a bit 30mins later maybe again if the sides of the bottle haven't gone crinkly or the mix is still cloudy.
You then add a third of the concentrate into the 4litres of plain water.
So you now have 4anda third liters of magnesium rich water.
I then keep this in the pantry and use it to fill a sodastream bottle that I fizz and keep in the fridge. So I have sparking magnesium rich mineral water for next to nothing.
You don't have to refizz if you prefer plain unsparkling water.

Further reading

Indications for a medium mineral high bicarbonate water (Cerelia) in urology.

Dissolution of radiolucent renal stones by oral alkalinization with potassium citrate/potassium bicarbonate.

Bicarbonate, but not potassium, had a favorable effect on bone resorption and calcium excretion. This suggests that increasing the alkali content of the diet may attenuate bone loss in healthy older adults.

Okay, I think I get it now. You fizz it once to make the bicarbonate and then the second time to make it fizzy for drinking. And you don't have a special gallon-size flask for the SodaStream, you just pour from there into the regular bottles.

This brings up a question. My wife and my doctor think it's bad that I only drink fizzy water. The doc thinks it's aggravating my GERD and my wife thinks it's causing bone loss. Did you ever see that story about how carbonated drinks cause bone loss, even when they're not sweet? I can't find it anymore, so I can't evaluate the claim. Do you think it's true, and does the magnesium counteract that effect?

Hi capmikee,

Having lived in Germany for over 22 years now, I have long since become a convert to fizzy water and even have to buy it when I am staying in the UK, although I grew up drinking plain tap water. The fizzy stuff just seems to quench my thirst better, I don't know why. And plain water is well, so plain...

I think the business with carbonated drinks causing bone loss is related to the phosphorous (or phosphates??? something that sounds like that anyway) which is in carbonated soft drinks, such as Coke and the like, not to fizzy water. I am sure I have read that somewhere, but don't ask me where right now!!!

Bone loss would certainly be counteracted by the magnesium, though. It is now suspected by some experts that osteoporosis is not so much a calcium deficiency as a magnesium deficiency, as without magnesium (and, of course, vitamin D), calcium cannot be metabolized properly.

As for fizzy water causing GERD, that I can't judge. The only link would be the fizz causing extra gas in your stomach which would force the LES to open and allow acid to reflux back. But do you get bloating from drinking fizzy water? I tend to drink it "medium", i.e. some bought fizzy waters are too fizzy for me. I also have a "Soda Club" machine at home and might look into this home-made mineral water, too. I have been buying Apollinaris lately, which is of course more expensive than filtering and fizzing up tap water.

How is the tum these days, by the way???

amanda

I seem to recall reading that the bones also need magnesium to keep them supple - they can be strong and dense from calcium but still fracture if they are too brittle from lack of magnesium.

I think I like fizzy water because the CO2 makes it slightly acidic. Seems like a good thing to me! But when I heard that report about bone loss, I think they specifically mentioned that carbonated water was associated with it too.

Yes, the doc said he didn't care why the LES was opening, but that the gas from the water would be one cause. Personally, I don't care if I burp after drinking fizzy water, it's the burping all day when I've had nothing to eat or drink that bugs me - and more importantly, makes me think that something that shouldn't be in my gut is producing gas. Why do people care more about the symptoms than the cause?

The tummy is more or less the same. Maybe I've had a few more good days, I don't know. Right now I'm taking 20 HCl tablets at the start of a meal and about 4 more with each additional glass of water. I probably had 40 yesterday, and I felt like I could have had more - there was no stomach burning at all.

On the other hand, I think I might be eating more fat and less total food, and not getting diarrhea from it. I regularly spread tallow on my hamburgers now. So at least that seems to be getting better.

It occurred to me that I could use an HCl tablet instead of citric acid as that recipe suggested, provided that there was enough water to dilute the acidity to a reasonable level.

Amanda,

I'm not a frequent poster but have been on a low carb diet the last 3 years and am an avid lurker here. I always read your posts with interest, and I appreciate your suggestions on getting better magnesium absorbtion. Will try taking my magnesium supplements between meals, and will also look for the Apollinaris brand of water. I'm already a big D3 fan, though I really could stand to limit my caffeine consumption. Yes, you certainly helped me very much with your great answers! Thanks! Kathy


Hutchinson,

Thanks to you, as well, for your very detailed and interesting response!
I will go ahead and purchase the Bluebonnet brand, then, as it seems the better deal in several ways. And I WILL split my doses up throughout the day rather than taking them at once, and will shoot for 600 mg. total to start. The recipe for Mag BiCarb Water looks delicious and nutritious, also something fun to make at home. I'll certainly try it. As always, I'll continue following everything you write with great interest.

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

One last tip on the magnesium:

unless you are sure that you are deficient (which most of us are), because you have had typical low-magnesium symptoms, then, I would pass on Dr Carolyn Dean's recommendation that you build up to your dose of 600mg per day. This way you can monitor how it - possibly - affects your BMs and how you react to it in general.

Many people like to take their entire dose of Mg at night before going to bed and report that doing so helps them sleep. This makes sense as magnesium is a muscle relaxant. I find, however, that if I do so - maybe because I am no longer so deficient in Mg - I have to run to the toilet the next morning, which is not a good thing as you are losing nutrients if your food goes through too fast, so to speak. I now take a small dose at night and find it stops me from clenching my jaw in my sleep.

Others find that magnesium can have an energizing effect, which also makes sense as magnesium is needed to make ATP, which is our cells' fuel. For these people, it doesn't make sense for them to have a night-time dose of Mg.

So, as you can see, the dosage thing is very personal and you have to test and experiment on yourself to see what suits you best.

Good luck and I'm glad you enjoy my posts!

amanda

Hi cap'n mikee,

Being a fan of the fizzy H2O myself, I was curious to see whether my suspicion that fizzy water is OK and fizzy pop (what you Americans call "soda") is not (due to the phosphates) was actually correct.

I found this rather nice article from the British newspaper, The Guardian, and thought I'd share it and put our various minds at rest:




The original article is here:

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/299005

I shall now see what I can find about phosphates in fizzy pop.

amanda

To continue the fizzy drink saga...

Just found this:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/4/936

in which it is said that drinking coke is associated with lower bone density, but not other carbonated beverages. Must be the caffeine which has adverse effects on magnesium, IMHO.

This extract is interesting:



So, if this is true, if you were, for example, deficient in magnesium, then drinking soft drinks would be bad for you. Seeing as most people in the US and UK are magnesium-deficient, then for most people, drinking sodas will be affecting their bone density. I suppose you could counteract this to a degree by supplementing magnesium, but the best thing would be to stay off the sodas. (which isn't a problem round here, of course!!! )

amanda

Here's more evidence supporting the argument that calcium supplements may in fact be downright dangerous:



Admittedly, they write here that these supps only increase the risk of CV events - not the event itself, which is a different kettle of fish. Nonetheless, caution is the word!!!

Here's the link to the original pubmed site:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20089502

amanda

Wow. I posted that study on Facebook.