A green glass bottle with a metal foil cap containing Apenta aperient water, Hungarian, 1900-1940

‘Aperient’ is another word for laxative. A wineglassful of aperient water was drunk before breakfast every day to avoid constipation, to help disorders of the liver and prevent fat deposits in the body. The water was also recommended for pregnant women and those experiencing ‘female diseases’. Bottled at the Apenta spring in Budapest, Hungary, by The Apollinaris Co Ltd, the water was recommended by the British Medical Journal as “agreeable to the palate…and an exceptionally effective aperient”. The Apollinaris Co Ltd also owned the Apollinaris spring in Germany and their mineral water was exported all over the world.