Sunday, December 23, 2007

Distilled Water vs. Reverse Osmosis

Early Death Comes From Drinking Distilled Water

During nearly 19 years of clinical practice I have had the opportunity to observe the health effects of drinking different types of water. Most of you would agree that drinking unfiltered tap water could be hazardous to your health because of things like

  • parasites
  • chlorine
  • fluoride
  • dioxins

Many health fanatics, however, are often surprised to hear me say that drinking distilled water on a regular, daily basis is potentially dangerous.

Paavo Airola wrote about the dangers of distilled water in the 1970's when it first became a fad with the health food crowd.

Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the vapour condensed. Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time).

Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value.

Distilled water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with air, it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. The more distilled water a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Distilled water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact. Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water."

The most toxic commercial beverages that people consume (i.e. cola beverages and other soft drinks) are made from distilled water. Studies have consistently shown that heavy consumers of soft drinks (with or without sugar) spill huge amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals into the urine.

The more mineral loss, the greater the risk for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and a long list of degenerative diseases generally associated with premature aging.

A growing number of health care practitioners and scientists from around the world have been advocating the theory that aging and disease is the direct result of the accumulation of acid waste products in the body.

There is a great deal of scientific documentation that supports such a theory. A poor diet may be partially to blame for the waste accumulation.

These and other junk foods can cause the body to become more acidic:

  • meats
  • sugar
  • alcohol
  • fried foods
  • soft drinks
  • processed foods
  • white flour products
  • dairy products

Stress, whether mental or physical can lead to acid deposits in the body.

There is a correlation between the consumption of soft water (distilled water is extremely soft) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Cells, tissues and organs do not like to be dipped in acid and will do anything to buffer this acidity including the removal of minerals from the skeleton and the manufacture of bicarbonate in the blood.

The longer one drinks distilled water, the more likely the development of mineral deficiencies and an acid state.

I have done well over 3000 mineral evaluations using a combination of blood, urine and hair tests in my practice. Almost without exception, people who consume distilled water exclusively, eventually develop multiple mineral deficiencies.

Those who supplement their distilled water intake with trace minerals are not as deficient but still not as adequately nourished in minerals as their non-distilled water drinking counterparts even after several years of mineral supplementation.

The ideal water for the human body should be slightly alkaline and this requires the presence of minerals like

  • calcium
  • magnesium

Distilled water tends to be acidic and can only be recommended as a way of drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the continued drinking of distilled water is a bad idea.

Water filtered through reverse osmosis tends to be neutral and is acceptable for regular use provided minerals are supplemented.

Water filtered through a solid charcoal filter is slightly alkaline. Ozonation of this charcoal filtered water is ideal for daily drinking. Longevity is associated with the regular consumption of hard water (high in minerals). Disease and early death is more likely to be seen with the long term drinking of distilled water.

Avoid it except in special circumstances.

Zoltan P. Rona MD MSc


References

Airola, P. 1974. How To Get Well. Phoenix, AZ: Health Plus Publishers.

Baroody, Dr. Theodore A. Jr. Alkalinize or Die. California:Portal Books, 1995.

Haas, Elson M. Staying Healthy with Nutrition. The Complete Guide to Diet & Nutritional Medicine. Berkeley, California:Celestial Arts, 1992; p. 22.

Rona, Zoltan P. and Martin, Jeanne Marie. Return to the Joy of Health, Vancouver: Alive Books, 1995.

Rona, Zoltan P. Childhood Illness and The Allergy Connection. Rocklin, California:Prima Books, 1996.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info, helped me a lot :)

healthy water said...

Can you bypass the Reverse osmosis module and simply (more importantly SAFELY) use the rest of the RO system?

WATER~BOY said...

this is completley untrue the FDA has done research in regards to this study. where minerals are important in your diet minerals found in water offer no health value due to the fact that they are not assimilated properly. minerals are only able to be absorbed through vegtables/fruits due to a process we learned about in school called photosynthesis. as far as distilled water being highly absorbent there is some truth to that I suppose,but,who in their right mind would leave their water source open in the enviroment in which they live distilled water is kept in bottles which protects it. After drinking distilled water daily I have not had a kidney stone in over 1 1/2 years thanks for the chance to offer a fair view on this topic

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

For whatever reason this myth about soda being made from distilled water won't die. This is simply not true. Imagine the volume of commercial beverages made in the US daily using distilled water, it's not physically possible to distill that much for these uses. Anyway it's not true, you can check with the major manufacturers. If they did it your beverages would cost double, easily.

Unknown said...

The fact you state 19 years of experience, professional or otherwise leaves me daunted by your lack of sourcing or even educated facts.

Please rewrite this blog to say only 1 word "Fail." because you have done just That, Zoltan. There's little more than your personal opinion and fear mongering being stated in your paragraphs of deceit above.

Good day,
An0n0m0

Harold said...

Rain is the product of nature's distillation process. Even if this article is true we could distill the sea water and run it into our reservoirs, and augment the natural process. I believe that distillation is far less expensive than RO.

Anonymous said...

Drinking distilled water will lead to mineral deficiency? Bullshit. The amount of minerals one gets from most municipal water supplies is negligible. Even if a supply has high mineral content water (volcanic aquifer, etc) its nothing that can't be replaced by diet/supplements . Perhaps distillation is merely one step in the process of creating good water, one which might be followed by the re mineralization of water (which is commonly done to some designer bottled waters). It is my impression that the main purpose of any water filtration is to remove impurities. Mineral loss is a secondary concern (if at all).

healthy water said...

My husband and myself both became VERY ill after drinking our distilled water. We stopped drinking distilled (Reverse Osmosis) and drank UV purified water, and immediately got better. DON'T DRINK DISTILLED WATER!

healthy water said...

My husband and myself both became VERY ill after drinking our distilled water. We stopped drinking distilled (Reverse Osmosis) and drank UV purified water, and immediately got better. DON'T DRINK DISTILLED WATER!

Jeremy Electronic said...

This is one of the most poorly written + misleading articles I've ever come across on the web.

The most recent comment here from 'healthy water' is also hilarious... 'We stopped drinking distilled (Reverse Osmosis)' ... they aren't the same thing ! C'mon people.

DougJamesVOTL said...

I've read pro and con articles on distilled water. I use a distiller after landing on a website that quoted 12 doctors who promoted distilled water as being truly pure water. Before pollution, rain water could be drank without worry as it was nature's way of distilling water right? Now deep well water is fine but has a lot of minerals and we've learned that humans don't process minerals from water, we tend to store them and over time, inflammation develops. Minerals from plants and meats are used by our bodies. So, to say that "pure" water, no minerals, just h2o is bad for us boggles my mind. Also, if you haven't woken up yet and realized, the agenda 21 anything our FDA says, do the opposite, any govt that promotes fluoride and chlorine (toxic chemicals the Germans used) in their municipal waters supplies has lost all of my trust. If the election didn't show you all the fake media, you need to step back and see truth. Peace