Drinking distilled water?

[Daves_Not_Here]

Curious if anyone has opinions or data to offer on the benefits or drawbacks of drinking distilled water? 

I must say that I've found the quality of dialog on this topic to be lowest I've ever encountered on the internet, which is saying something.  People seem to fall into 2 camps:

• Drinking distilled water is the absolute best thing you can do in the whole world, and drinking hard water will kill you, if you're not already dead.  The reason for this is <insert here incoherent nonsense>.  The data supporting this position can be found on highly scientific UFO enthusiast websites that sell water distillers.  
• Drinking distilled water is the absolute worst thing you con do in the whole world, you should be ashamed of yourself and shot.  The reason for this is <insert here sophomoric arguments that wouldn't fool even a vegan>.  The data supporting this position can be found on highly scientific numerology websites that buy used water distillers. 

I'm being facetious, actually it's worse. There is some argument over whether the minerals dissolved in hard water are essential, or "inorganic" versus "organic", or bio-available, or the source of the plaque in our arteries, and whether distilled water will lead to a mineral deficiency, etc..  Is anyone aware of reliable information about drinking distilled water?

[GershonSurge]

@Daves_Not_Here,

Anyone who goes outside the prevailing paradigm runs the risk of getting shot. 

Many people extol the benefits of mineral water. It likely dates back to at least the early 1900's when rich people like Teddy Roosevelt would go to hot spring spas, sit in the hot water and drink mineral water. They would extol the benefits, which were real because most people are constipated and mineral water is  mild laxative.

I'm happy with water that goes through a coffee filter. 🙂  Seriously, in today's world buying filtered water is probably good except for one thing:

Here is where I get shot because I'm outside your paradigm. You will get far more chemicals by eating animal products than you are likely to get through drinking good city water. I'm excluding exceptions like Flint, Michigan. One of the things they found in the China study was that the probability of getting cancer, which was 10,000 times less prevalent in China, was a function of animal products eaten/plant products eaten. The cancerous pockets were areas where people ate animal products.

[Esya]

From what I remember from my physics study, we were told not to drink distilled water. It is so clean that it will take nutrients out of your body and your cells swell up through the process of osmosis. However, water already does this anyway (hence the risk of dieing from drinking too much water). One should not drink many liters of either in one go. Distilled water will however have a stronger effect on this than regular water, but it is debatable how big this difference will be (found some numbers on that, see below). However, I don't find any benefits in drinking distilled water unless you have a compromised immune system, as it will be free of bacterias and germs.

I just did a google search as I found your question interesting and it turns out the differences are so small, it does not really matter.

Translated from a Dutch discussion:

To put this into perspective: blood has a salt/mineral level of about 9 grams per liter, mostly natrium and chlorine-ions. In (Dutch) tap water, depending on hardness, about 50 mg/liter of ions, mostly calcium and magnesium.

I think there is more calcium in our food.

[WendyB]

I have to agree with @Esya and @GershonSurge

But I also have a question for you. What made you so concern about it?

I drink a lot of water. From tap to bottled or canned.

My sweet treat in the afternoon is to have a glass of flavored bottle or canned water

[Daves_Not_Here]

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@WendyBwrote:

I have to agree with @Esya and @GershonSurge

But I also have a question for you. What made you so concern about it?

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Thanks @WendyB -- it's more intellectual curiosity -- I became interested when I read something to the effect that a lifetime of drinking hard water with dissolved minerals contributes to plaque in blood vessels and that one should drink distilled water instead.  I was initially skeptical and looked for other articles to confirm or contradict that notion.  And then I stumbled on articles asserting that drinking distilled water will tend to leech essential minerals and micro-nutrients leading to deficiencies.  

What's weird is that not one of the articles on either side of the question is credible.  For some reason, the topic of drinking distilled water seems to attract raving lunatics:  flat-earthers, astrologists, numerologists, vegans (just kidding!) who (1) feel very strongly about distilled water, and (2) are completely incoherent.  Which is unfortunate, because water is so essential but we don't give it much thought.

[WendyB]

Very interesting @Daves_Not_Here

[emili]

I had a similar conversation just a few months ago with my husband. I accidently bought distilled water at the supermarket and he asked me why? I said I had no idea I did and have no idea what the difference is. He said, me either. We drank it and lived to tell the tale. I can honestly say the only water I will not drink is tap water and that is only recently based on that awful water incident. I am probably completely safe drinking it and I do drink it filtered which is probably more mental than any actual difference....

[Daves_Not_Here]

So here's an update from a few days ago -- I brought up the topic with two friends.  They are a couple who are 100% vegan, very health-oriented and active, and very attuned to what they eat and drink.  A year ago, they got a reverse-osmosis filtration and purification system.  Apparently, the water from it is similar to distilled water in that the minerals are stripped out.  

What they found over a period of months is that their thirst increased and they drank more and more water.  At first, they considered it a healthy change as they felt they previously had not been drinking enough water.  But after a while, they felt it had become extreme because it seemed like they spent all day drinking and urinating, yet they felt dehydrated.  When they tried to back off, they were surprised at how strongly their thirst persisted.  When they reverted to drinking tap water, the symptoms disappeared within a few hours.  So, they both are now strongly in the anti-distilled-water camp.

[ZHAT88]

apart from assumptions I always vote for distilled water. Distilled water is satisfying as it goes with the laws of Nature. But the only drawback is that during vaporizing all the active minerals like magnesium, potassium are lost, which are vital for the human body. Other than that we are sure that all the impurities and solids are completely eliminated from the water.

Hope this will help you to come to the right decision.

Cheers!

[Alicat2104]

@Daves_Not_Here have a listen to this -

https://theshawnstevensonmodel.com/best-water-filter-best-bottled-water/ 

[ZHAT88]

also you can check on this article https://waterfilteronly.com/difference-between-distilled-water-and-purified-water/

its really helpful. It answered most of my questions

[Esya]

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@ZHAT88 wrote:

apart from assumptions I always vote for distilled water. Distilled water is satisfying as it goes with the laws of Nature.

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I am curious what laws you refer to? I am very confident that you won't find distilled water in nature.

[Daves_Not_Here]

Thanks @Alicat2104 - listening to this podcast tonight on my commute home.

[jmoran92]

The disadvantage of drinking this water is that a greater part of the essential minerals in the water would no longer exist.

[Raincatcher8]

I done sum research on distilled water is this not the same as rain water,  natural where the sun heats the ocean and lakes etc then evaporate the water leaving  all the minerals and chemicals behind and then cools to form rain which we collect surely how can water from nature be bad for you ie distilled water made by mother nature 

[StumblingGranma]

My employer aged  91 started drinking distilled water after suffering with gallstones 30 years ago. He said he would never stop drinking it as it has totally reversed his condition. He has very hard well water at his home. 

   I have recently started drinking it on his advice and it is helping with my arthritis, but I would not use the distilled water bought in plastic containers. I use a home system as does he. 

[laaurasw]

Distilled water is not all that bad. If you have to choose between unfiltered and distilled water, you should choose the latter. However, since distilled water lacks salts and minerals, it will try to balance this out by taking minerals from whatever material it comes into contact with. If you keep distilled water in a plastic bottle for too long, you can drink all of the plastic.