Panel Discussion: Prevention of Vascular Disease and its Consequences in Man

Abstract

There is a strong statistical association between cardiovascular mortality and the mineral content of drinking water; the softer the drinking water the higher the death rates. This inverse association between components of drinking water and cardiovascular death rates has been found in several countries since the initial report from Japan in 1957 which reported a close association between cerebrovascular death rates and the acidity of river drinking water. Table 1 indicates some of the countries in which this association has been reported. It is important to emphasise that the relationship is with cardiovascular disease in geneval not ischaemic heart disease in particular, and that different components of cardiovascular mortality are more clearly involved in some countries than in others. In Japan, cerebrovascular disease is the major association; in Sweden it is “myocardial degeneration” and in a review of studies in the United States, it is hypertensive heart disease which is most consistently correlated with water hardness. Clearly, some fundamental aspect of cardiovascular function is involved in the Water Story and the purpose of this brief communication is to draw attention to some of the possible factors concerned and to consider some of the problems and possibilities which the Water Story raise.

Table 1 Some countries reporting an association between cardiovascular death rates and water components