Most bottled water brands tell you what they want you to believe. A Certificate of Analysis tells you what a lab actually found.
The problem with marketing claims
When a water brand says "pure" or "natural" or "premium," those words carry no regulatory weight. There is no FDA definition of "pure" for bottled water. A brand can source from a municipal tap, run it through basic filtration, and call it premium spring water.
The only thing that cuts through this is data. Specifically, third-party laboratory data that tests for the contaminants you actually care about: heavy metals, PFAS, microplastics, pesticides, VOCs, radiologicals, and disinfection byproducts.
What a COA actually contains
A Certificate of Analysis from an accredited lab typically includes:
- Analyte name: what was tested (e.g., Lead, Arsenic, PFOS)
- Result: the measured concentration, or ND (not detected)
- Reporting limit: the lowest concentration the lab can reliably detect
- MCL: the maximum contaminant level set by EPA or FDA
- Method: the EPA-approved test method used (e.g., EPA 200.8 for metals)
When a result says "ND," it means the analyte was below the lab's detection limit. This is the best possible result for contaminants.
Why most brands don't publish COAs
Publishing a full COA means exposing every number to scrutiny. If a brand has elevated levels of anything -- even within legal limits -- it becomes visible. Most brands prefer the safety of vague marketing language over the vulnerability of transparent data.
The brands that do publish full COAs are making a statement: they have nothing to hide.
What we do differently
Alternative Health extracts COA data from lab reports and presents it in a searchable, comparable format. Every number you see on our platform comes directly from a third-party laboratory report. We don't interpret, editorialize, or adjust the data.
When you see a panel showing 87 analytes tested with 0 exceedances, that's not our opinion. That's what the lab found.