Is Tannic Acid in Water Bad for You?

Tannic acid is a naturally occurring substance mostly found in the nutgails formed by insects on twigs of some oak trees. It is usually not very harmful, however when taken in large amount can cause some unwanted side effects. Let us know below if tannic acid found in water is bad for you.

Tannic acid is not usually harmful to human health. In fact it is frequently used as an approved additive in a lot of foods and beverages. Tannic acid also has some beneficial uses because of its antioxidant properties, anti-microbial properties etc. Moreover, tannic acid is also used in several medical purposes like in accelerating blood clotting and reducing the blood pressure.

Tannic acid is found in many plants and in many foods we eat including teas, wine, fruits, edible grasses such as corn etc. Though tannic acid may generally be harmless, yet when taken in large amount it can prove dangerous.

Tannic acids may be found in water and it can impart a yellowish color and in fact a bitter taste to the water. When present in large amount, tannic acid in water can be really bad for you. Below are some of the side effects of tannic acid in water when consumed in large amount.

• Tannic acid is unsafe when applied to the skin for treating prickly heat, diaper rash, minor burns or sunburn.
• Tannic acid is also not safe to treat cold sores and fever blisters on the lips as it can cause some harmful side effects. So, when water containing large amount of tannic acid is used, it may cause some unwanted side effects in cold sores.
• It is also known that stomach irritation, vomiting, nausea etc can be caused by large amount of tannic acid. It is thus essential for you to inspect if there are large amount of tannic acid in your water source.
• There may be concerns of using tannic acid in pregnancy and breast feeding phases.
• It may be a problem if you have weeping eczema and extensive skin damage and you take bath with water containing large amount of tannic acid. The broken skin could allow an excess of tannic acid enter in to your body.
• Taking bath with water containing extensive amount of tannic acid in case of fever can be dangerous.
• It is dangerous to take bath with water containing added tannic acid if you have heart failure.
• Medications taken orally along with tannic acid are not advisable. There may be an interaction which may decrease the effectiveness of the medicine.
• Moreover; if tannic acid is found in home water sources, then its presence could also indicate contamination from other substances in water. It may indicate that there may be more harmful additives that might have entered your water. In such case, you require inspecting the water source by a water quality professional so as to determine the safety of your drinking water.

So now we are aware how bad tannic acid in water could be. Make sure you inspect your water source well before using it. Talk to an expert medical professional to know more about the side effects of tannic acid in water.