Can You Drink Distilled Water?

Water is an essential element that is needed by our body to survive. Without water, life on earth will not last for a long time. Water serves a lot of purposes in our day to day activities. It is used for drinking, washing, cooking and even for cleaning. There are two types of water on our earth namely the salt water and the fresh water. Under the latter type of water, only a few percentage of it is considered potable. Because of this, experts have created many ways and processes to make other sources of water drinkable. One of these processes is through distillation. But what is “distillation” and can you drink distilled water?

Understanding the Distillation Process

How is distilled water created? The distillation process takes place when we convert water into steam or vapor and turn it back to water through condensation. This process removes most of the impurities found in the fluid and leave basically with just pure water. Distilled water is safe to drink since it does not have any after taste as a result of the process. In addition to this, distilled water also leaves no solid residue when it dries up, and it also does not contain any harmful chemicals like chlorine, which can cause negative side effects to our body.

For industrial and medical purposes, it is without a doubt that distilled water is useful and even essential at times. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that drinking distilled water over a long period can cause adverse reactions in our body and have severe side effects on our health.

Possible Side Effects of Distilled Water to the Body

Our body requires only the best when it comes to food and drinks. The things that we include in our diet can affect the outcome of our health. This is why it is important for us to learn the possible side effects of the frequent consumption of distilled water. Some of these negative reactions include the following:

Drinking distilled water over an extended period can leave us with mineral deficiencies to a certain degree. A high percentage of mineral needed by our body is coming from the water that we are drinking. Since our water is distilled, the natural minerals found in it is already gone leaving it mineral-free and nutrient-free.

Aside from the lack of minerals in the water per se, using distilled water for cooking foods such as vegetables can also drain or pull out the nutrients found in it. Because of this, the nutrition value of the vegetables is significantly lowered or reduced.

Distilled water also contains zero electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and chloride. As we all know, these electrolytes are crucial to the cellular activities of our body. Without these essential substances, the tissues of our body will not be able to function very well making us weak and unhealthy. Aside from this, the lack of electrolytes in the body can also lead to dehydration.

Another possible side effect of long term drinking of distilled water is that it can absorb the carbon dioxide from the air, which can then turn it to something acidic in nature. So the more distilled water we are drinking, the higher the body acidity will also prove to be. An increase in the acidity of the body can lead to many different health complications that can be very hard to treat or manage.

Since distilled water contains no minerals, it can increase the risk of several diseases such as osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis and high blood pressure or hypertension. Aside from these, it can also affect a long list of degenerative diseases that are related to premature aging.

These are just some of the possible effects regular drinking of distilled water can do to our body. In summary, long-term use of distilled water can cause or contribute mineral deficiencies and as well as increase the acidity level of our body. Once the cells and tissues are exposed to an acidic environment, it will automatically counteract the condition by removing vital minerals from the bones to produce bicarbonate to neutralize the acidity of the blood. So instead of drinking distilled water, we can try water filtered through a good quality of carbon filter. This can produce a slightly alkaline type of water, which can be good in normalizing the acid-base balance of the body. You might also like to look at the water filtration systems discussed in the page about removing chlorine from tap water.

So it is important for us to think first and weigh both sides of the spectrum before we decide whether or not it is safe to use the distillation process in treating our water.