Is Gerolsteiner Healthy? 12 Things You Should Know

Is Gerolsteiner a healthy drink option?

Gerolsteiner comes from a place in Germany called the “Volcanic Eifel.” Sounds kind of epic, right? It’s one of the most popular mineral water brands around the world. But is Gerolsteiner actually healthy? Or is it all volcanic smoke and mirrors?

Gerolsteiner is a sugar-free, zero-calorie, naturally carbonated mineral water that is widely considered healthy. It has a higher mineral content than most other mineral water brands, with about double the calcium and magnesium of S.Pellegrino per liter.

Below, I’ll address whether Gerolsteiner is good for hydration, weight loss, dental health, and more. I’ll compare it with other mineral waters like Perrier and Topo Chico, as well as diet soda and sparkling water like LaCroix, to see which is best.

Is Gerolsteiner Good for You?

Here are the 12 questions we’re going to cover on Gerolsteiner nutrition. Click to skip ahead to any of them—or just scroll down to read it all:

1. What Ingredients Are in Gerolsteiner?
2. What Minerals Are in Gerolsteiner?
3. Is Gerolsteiner Good for Hydration?
4. Is Gerolsteiner Good for Weight Loss?
5. Does Gerolsteiner Have Artificial Sweeteners?
6. Does Gerolsteiner Have Sugar or Carbs?
7. Is Gerolsteiner Bad for Your Teeth?
8. Is Gerolsteiner Low in Sodium?
9. Does Gerolsteiner Have Caffeine?
10. Is It Okay to Drink Gerolsteiner Every Day?
11. Is Gerolsteiner Healthier Than La Croix?
12. Is Gerolsteiner Vegan?

1. What Ingredients Are in Gerolsteiner?

Let’s start by looking at what Gerolsteiner actually has in it. It’s quite a short ingredients list:

Gerolsteiner Ingredients: Mineral Water, Natural Carbon Dioxide.

Here are my thoughts:

• Gerolsteiner has very minimal ingredients. Many beverages have long lists of chemical-sounding ingredients—but not Gerolsteiner. It’s basically just natural carbonated mineral water, period.

• Gerolsteiner is free of sugar. Gerolsteiner doesn’t have the empty calories from sugar found in most drinks, and that’s great. Below, we’ll look more at Gerolsteiner for weight loss.

• Gerolsteiner is free of artificial sweeteners. Most artificial sweeteners have been associated with possible health risks, particularly effects on gut health. But with Gerolsteiner, you don’t have to worry about those.

• Gerolsteiner has no artificial colors. Many drinks on the market today have artificial colors. These dyes are controversial for safety, causing hyperactivity in some children and possibly other issues. So it’s great Gerolsteiner doesn’t have any.

• Gerolsteiner is caffeine free. Many sparkling water drinks come with a caffeine boost, but Gerolsteiner doesn’t have a caffeinated version or anything.

Overall, the listed ingredients for Gerolsteiner look good. There is nothing really processed, artificial, or controversial. In the next section, let’s look at the actual mineral content.

2. What Minerals Are in Gerolsteiner?

One liter of Gerolsteiner has roughly the following mineral content:

• 348mg of calcium
• 108mg of magnesium
• 1,816mg of bicarbonate
• 11mg of potassium
• 118mg of sodium
• 40mg of chloride
• 38mg of sulfate

That comes out to a total of 2,479mg of mineral content per liter of Gerolsteiner. That is more than double the total mineral content of S.Pellegrino (1,002mg) and more than three times the mineral content of Perrier (688mg) per liter. (source)

As you can see, the most plentiful minerals in Gerolsteiner are bicarbonate, calcium, sodium, and magnesium.

Personally I was surprised and impressed with the calcium content of Gerolsteiner. One liter has about 26% of the daily recommended intake of calcium. That’s pretty significant for a mineral water.

3. Is Gerolsteiner Good for Hydration?

Gerolsteiner is good for hydration in normal situations, as it is mostly water. However, it may not be optimal if you’re acutely dehydrated. In that case, you should drink an oral rehydration salt (ORS) solution like Pedialyte or a homemade ORS—or at least a sports drink like Gatorade.

If you seriously need rehydration, you’ll need added electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. And a rehydration solution also should have some sugar, to increase absorption of water and electrolytes. (source)

Gerolsteiner has some electrolytes naturally, but the sodium is relatively low compared to true ORS drinks, and there is no sugar. So, in the case of vomiting, diarrhea, or a serious hangover, Gerolsteiner would likely not help as much as something like Pedialyte.

But yes, Gerolsteiner is hydrating. It’s mostly water. Gerolsteiner and other mineral waters can count toward your overall “water intake” for most practical purposes.

4. Is Gerolsteiner Good for Weight Loss?

Gerolsteiner can be great for weight loss. For every 12 ounces of sugary beverages that you replace with Gerolsteiner, you will consume about 150 fewer calories. That change alone could lead to weight loss, even without other diet or lifestyle changes.

Replacing high-calorie drinks with Gerolsteiner is essentially the same as replacing them with plain water. Gerolsteiner doesn’t have calories, sugar, or anything else with a known negative effect on weight management.

Gerolsteiner can also be a great choice if you’re looking for a sparkling water beverage to blunt your hunger. The tingling sensation from the carbonation in your mouth and throat can help satisfy you a bit without adding any calories to your diet.

But always remember: The key to weight loss is your overall calorie balance. If you switch to Gerolsteiner or other zero-calorie drinks but then you eat a lot more food at meals or snacks later, you could cancel out the effect and stay in a weight-loss plateau.

If your goal is weight loss, you may want to consider tracking your calories as I describe in this post—or following some of these 18 tips for weight loss without counting calories.

5. Does Gerolsteiner Have Artificial Sweeteners?

Gerolsteiner does not have aspartame, sucralose, or any other artificial sweeteners. It doesn’t have sugar or stevia, either. Gerolsteiner is unsweetened.

Many zero-calorie drinks have artificial sweeteners like aspartame or sucralose. Although those sweeteners are FDA approved, there is some controversy about their long-term impact:

• Studies show consumption of diet drinks with artificial sweeteners was linked to three times higher risk of stroke and dementia.
• There’s evidence that rodents develop cancer when exposed to aspartame over their lifespan.
• Research has linked aspartame to weight gain and increased appetite.
• Sucralose and other artificial sweeteners may increase insulin resistance via multiple mechanisms.
• A breakdown product of acesulfame K (acetoacetamide) may damage the thyroid. (source)
• And more you can read about here.

Overall, the long-term health impacts of artificial sweeteners aren’t fully known. But it’s awesome when a product like Gerolsteiner can help us avoid all the uncertainty by not using them.

Related question:

• Is Gerolsteiner healthier than diet soda? Gerolsteiner is generally considered healthier than diet soda. Most diet sodas have artificial sweeteners and other controversial ingredients like artificial colors, caramel color, and phosphoric acid. Gerolsteiner’s ingredients are simple and widely regarded as healthy.

6. Does Gerolsteiner Have Sugar or Carbs?

Gerolsteiner does not have any sugar or carbs. This means Gerolsteiner is suitable for keto and other low-carb diets.

Gerolsteiner is just naturally carbonated mineral water. Minerals and carbonation do not have any calories or carbs. So, Gerolsteiner is okay for even the strictest of low-carb diets.

Related questions:

• Can diabetics drink Gerolsteiner? Gerolsteiner is generally suitable for diabetics, as it does not have any carbs or sugars. It also avoids potential problems with diet sodas that may worsen carb sensitivity over time by using zero-calorie sweeteners.

• Does Gerolsteiner break a fast? Gerolsteiner does not break a fast, as it has no calories. In fact, many people drink sparkling mineral water during a fast because it gives a sensation in your mouth and throat which can help satisfy hunger a bit without calories.

7. Is Gerolsteiner Bad for Your Teeth?

Research suggests unsweetened sparkling waters like Gerolsteiner are only “minimally erosive” to tooth enamel. In comparison, many other flavored drinks are strongly erosive. Although Gerolsteiner does have “carbonic acid” from its carbonation, it is not very bad for your teeth.

Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body. So, even though Gerolsteiner is acidic, it should not be powerful enough to damage tooth enamel significantly.

However, many dentists acknowledge that regularly drinking sparkling water could still lead to some tooth erosion. Therefore, if you want to be extra careful, here are some tips for minimizing tooth damage from Gerolsteiner:

• Don’t drink Gerolsteiner or other fizzy beverages all day—instead, limit them to meal times, or just once or twice per day.
• Don’t swish your Gerolsteiner around your mouth or hold it in your mouth for a long time.
• Consider drinking your sparkling mineral water through a straw.
• Rinse out your mouth with water after drinking Gerolsteiner or other carbonated drinks.

Related question:

• What is the pH of Gerolsteiner? Gerolsteiner was measured as 5.2 pH when cold and 5.82 pH when warm. This means Gerolsteiner is indeed acidic. However, it is less acidic than most beverages, including Gatorade, Coca-Cola, and orange juice.

8. Is Gerolsteiner Low in Sodium?

Gerolsteiner has about 30mg of sodium per 8 fl oz, or about 118mg of sodium per liter. That is significantly more than other sparkling mineral waters like Topo Chico and Perrier, but it’s still far less than electrolyte drinks like Gatorade or Pedialyte.

Some drinks available today, like Propel water, have added electrolytes that include sodium. That’s nice if you’re losing a lot of sodium in sweat, diarrhea, or vomit. But if you’re drinking Propel all day, that added sodium can really add up. (Propel and Gatorade have over three times the sodium of Gerolsteiner.)

Gerolsteiner does not have any added sodium beyond the naturally occurring amount. So, its sodium content shouldn’t be a concern for most people. However, if you’re looking for an even lower-sodium mineral water, you can find that from other brands.

For example, Perrier is a brand of mineral water with about 11mg of sodium per liter. So that’s only about 9% of the sodium found in Gerolsteiner.

Does nutrition ever seem confusing? It doesn’t have to be. Learn how simple (and delicious) healthy eating can be in the FREE Food for Health Masterclass. This 1-hour presentation makes things clear—finally. Click here to reserve your free spot!

9. Does Gerolsteiner Have Caffeine?

Gerolsteiner does not have caffeine. It is not an energy drink. It is not advertised as providing caffeine, and none of the ingredients have caffeine naturally. Gerolsteiner should not keep you awake.

Caffeine has pros and cons. Studies show it may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. But it’s habit forming, and too much can disrupt sleep.

Therefore, it’s not simply “healthy” or “unhealthy” for a drink to be caffeinated. It’s more complicated than that. That said, Gerolsteiner is not caffeinated.

10. Is It Okay to Drink Gerolsteiner Every Day?

Most people should have no problem with drinking Gerolsteiner every day. It doesn’t have any unhealthy ingredients or anything that would become toxic when consumed daily. It is just naturally carbonated mineral water.

Personally, I have had sparkling water drinks almost every day for years, including some Gerolsteiner in that mix. It has had no negative effect that I’ve perceived, and I’m in great overall health.

11. Is Gerolsteiner Healthier Than LaCroix?

Gerolsteiner is likely healthier than LaCroix because it has naturally occurring healthy minerals like calcium and magnesium. However, both Gerolsteiner and LaCroix are healthy drinks. They are both free of calories, sugar, and artificial sweeteners and colors.

Nutritionally, Gerolsteiner and LaCroix are both great. They both avoid all the main nutritional traps that most drinks today fall into.

The same goes for other sparkling mineral waters like Perrier, Topo Chico, and S.Pellegrino. And the same even goes for other seltzer waters like Bubly, Waterloo, and AHA. If it’s just carbonated water—or just that and “natural flavors”—it’s pretty healthy.

12. Is Gerolsteiner Vegan?

Gerolsteiner is vegan-friendly. It does not contain milk, eggs, honey, or any other animal by-products.

In fact, Gerolsteiner may be even “more vegan” than some competing products, as many other drinks are sweetened with cane sugar that was filtered with animal bone char. With Gerolsteiner, there’s no contentious ingredients at all.

Two More Recommendations for Your Plant-Based Journey

1. This is the best free video training I’ve found on plant-based nutrition. You’ll learn how to reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and obesity—all with plant-based food. Watch the free “Food for Health Masterclass” here.

2. This is the best vegan multivitamin I’ve found in my 14 years of being vegan. It has vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega-3—and nothing else. Translation: It only has the nutrients vegans are actually low in. Read my full review of Future Kind’s multivitamin here (with 10% discount).