Reverse-Osmosis Water, Distilled Water and Your Health

Often when you hear someone mention reverse-osmosis (RO) or distilled water you think it’s better than other kinds of water, especially tap water. But, I wanted to talk to you today and give you some information on why RO and distilled water are not better and can actually be harmful to you.

What Exactly is Reverse-Osmosis Water?

Reverse-osmosis water is water that has been forced through a membrane which eliminates 90-99% of all contaminants and minerals. Now the eliminated minerals is the real problem. Sure, contaminants are not welcome in our drinking water, but the alkaline minerals are very beneficial to our bodies.

How Does Reverse-Osmosis Negatively Affect Our Bodies?

There was a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the latter part of the 1970s that showed continual consumption of RO water actually has a negative effect on the body.

It was found while testing on animals, mostly rats, that the consumption of this kind of water led to several different negative occurrences: increased water intake, increased or excessive production of urine, extracellular fluid content and lowered red blood cell counts. These same effects were confirmed in people who volunteered to participate in the study.

Other more recent studies suggest that the intake of water low in minerals, may be associated with higher risk of fracture in children (Verd Vallespir et al. 1992), certain neurodegenerative diseases (Jacqmin et al. 1994), pre-term birth and low weight at birth (Yang et al. 2002), some types of cancer (Yang et al. 1997; Yang et al. 1998, Yang et al. 1999a; Yang et al. 1999b; Yang et al. 1999c; Yang et al. 2000), an increased risk of sudden death (Eisenberg 1992; Bernardi et al. 1995; Garzon and Eisenberg 1998), a higher risk of motor neuronal disease (Iwami et al. 1994), and preeclampsia (Melles & Kiss 1992).

You can find another article I wrote on this subject here.

Cooking with Mineral-Depleted Water

It has been found that cooking with soft water (water low in minerals) leads to the loss of all essential elements from the food, but, in contrast, when cooking with hard water, there is very little to no loss of these same essential elements.

The Best Water to Choose

I highly recommend purchasing an electronic water ionizer, which will give you alkaline mineral-enriched water that is very beneficial to you.