Uttam K. Saha, a program coordinator at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Services Lab in Athens, was recently quoted in a USA Today article about the “raw water” trend.
Raw, or unsterilized water bottled directly from a natural spring, is becoming a sought-after item in California and parts of the U.S. Raw water advocates argue filtration processes strip natural water of probiotics. While raw water might have some probiotics, it also contains a lot of disease-causing organisms.
“I would say the risk is more than the potential benefits of drinking the water,” Saha said. “You don’t know whether the water contains disease-carrying organisms or not, and the same is true for probiotics, we don’t know if they are unless the water is tested.”
