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Will distilled water kill
you?
Some web sites post information that is
not based on fact or science. Because AquaPrix installs a
lot of the INNOWAVE, Inc., A Mutual of Omaha Subsidiary, and
Pure & Secure, Inc. water distillation systems we have decided
to post latest medical experts and scientific research that
actually clarify any unsubstantiated claims or "old wives
tales" regarding this myth.
FROM Dr. Andrew Weil
First of all, let me review for the record
what distilled water
is - it's water that has been turned into steam so its impurities
are left behind. The steam is then condensed to make pure
water. The process of distillation kills and removes virtually
all bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, and other organic and
inorganic contaminants. Once distilled, the water is as pure
as water can reasonably be.
For reasons I don't understand, any number
of myths - some quite extreme - have grown up over the years
about distilled water.
A quick Internet search today will take you to sites that
put forth such views as "distilled water leads to early
death." Nonsense. One claim holds that distillation removes
all of water's beneficial minerals. While it's true that distillation
removes minerals as well as various contaminants from water,
we don't know that the human body can readily absorb minerals
from water. We get our minerals from food, not water. By one
manufacturer's estimate, you would have to drink 676 eight-ounce
glasses of tap water in Boston to reach the RDA for calcium.
Your question as to whether distilled water
leaches minerals out of the body reflects another persistent
myth. While pure water helps to remove minerals from the body
that cells have eliminated or not used, it does not "leach"
out minerals that have become part of your body's cell structure.
Neither does distilled water cause your teeth to deteriorate,
a false claim made by a filter manufacturer looking to boost
sales. As far as acidity goes, distilled water is close to
a neutral pH and has no effect on the body's acid/base balance.
I hope I've set your mind at ease. Distilled
water not only isn't dangerous, it's the purest form of water.
It's also the kind of water I drink.
Dr. Andrew Weil - Published 12/19/2001
FROM Water Quality Association
Both RO - and distillation - treated waters
have comparable low (TDS - total dissolved solids) levels.
Distilled waters have been used on board ships and in seaside
communities to produce safe and palatable drinking water.
Notably, some major cities have natural
TDS (total dissolved solids) levels in their delivered municipal
drinking water actually lower than that from typical RO (reverse
osmosis) water treatment systems. In the United States, for
example, the TDS (total dissolved solids) in Portland, Oregon,
is 23 mg/L (milligrams per liter), 50 mg/L in Lake Tahoe,
California, 64 mg/L in Boston, Massachusetts, and 41 mg/L
in parts of New York City.
Such low mineral levels in water do not
cause ill health, and will not deprive the body of minerals
necessary to good health. There are four main functions of
water in the human body:
- To serve as a transporter of materials
- To act as a regulator of temperature
- To lubricate joints and other tissues, and
- To participate in our body's biochemical reactions
Demineralized (distilled) water is a good
source to satisfy all these physiological functions. On the
other hand, the body takes in the nutrients and minerals necessary
to good health through eating foods - not through drinking
water. The human body's own control mechanism (homeostasis)
regulates the mineral content of the body fluids and the discharge
of different types of ions from the body whether individuals
are drinking water with low or high mineral content.
The amount of mineral nutrient obtained
from water is truly insignificant. One cup of milk, for example,
provides the mineral equivalent of several gallons of ordinary
hard water. In warm-weather exercise, for example, the greatest
danger is that of dehydration, and the proper advice to ward
it off is to drink lots of plain water
There are many examples of real-world situations
in which large populations have been and continue to be provided
exclusively with low TDS (total dissolved solids) water, without
any reported unusual or ill health effects. This establishes
the safety of people consuming reverse
osmosis treated and other similar low-TDS (total dissolved
solids) water.
It's important to note that no public health
organization with authority over the drinking water quality
anywhere in the world has enacted or even proposed a minimum
requirement for total dissolved minerals in drinking water.
Water Quality Association - Published June
24, 2002
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