Classification of Iranian bottled waters as indicated by manufacturer's labellings

Water is the most important substance in our daily lives and contains minerals which play an important role in Our nutrition. In this study, the chemical composition of Iranian bottled water brands were investigated by correlation analysis, principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. For this Purpose, the chemical composition reported on the label of 73 Iranian bottled waters was used as data set. It was found out that only 26 brands had eight important parameters such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, sulphate, bicarbonate and fluoride and 20 brands had acceptable charge balance error. Results showed that Iranian bottled waters can be divided into 11 classes. Most of them were Ca-Mg-HCO3 type. The relationships among selected variables were also examined by Piper diagram. The best brands were introduced for common customers and kidney stone patients. The chemical content of Iranian bottled water brands was also compared with some world standards. It was observed that only one of the brands had fluoride in excess compare to that of standard values. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.