Could you drink distilled water with a mineral pill

Drinking pure H2O isn’t good for you. As far as I know it could even be deadly. But what if you had a pill with all the minerals usually dissolved in water and washed it down with a nice big glass of distilled water? Would it be more or less the same as drinking tap water? Or would you need more time to dissolve the minerals? What if you threw the pill into the H2O and stirred?

Or am I missing something entirely? I think someone on Lemmy even explained to me the other day what is so bad about distilled water. But I’m stupid today and forgot.

fixmycode,
@fixmycode@feddit.cl avatar

I asked a distilled water seller once, they say you can basically drink it because it’s made from tap water, but they get to sell it with a margin because they don’t have to be food grade certified, so they have to put a warning on the bottle. there could be a lot of nasty things in the distill process.

Etterra,

I don’t see why not, though I don’t know why you would - distilled water tastes blek. Not as bad as bitter-ass unflavored seltzer water though.

bjoern_tantau,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

No it doesn’t. It tastes like regular ass water. Not like regular ass-water.

slingstone,

Making an important distinction, my friend.

intensely_human,

I think this would be fine. But the mineral content of that glass of natural water is probably tiny, so the pill would be mostly filler.

GrayBackgroundMusic,

Yes. Home brewers do this all the time with beer.

Corkyskog,

My HS chemistry teacher was adamant that distilled water could pull filings out of your teeth. No idea if that’s true or not, I doubt she is still alive to ask.

KISSmyOSFeddit,

She died in the name of science.

lps,

As I understand your neighbour wants to remove fluoride, can he get an under tap filter that only removes those types of chemicals? If not, why not simply buy mineral/spring water. Where I live it’s the same price.

pelletbucket,

there’s no data that says drinking distilled water is bad for you. if half of a grain of salt would make that water no longer distilled, the leftover minerals in your mouth from the last thing you ate are going to make it no longer distilled

Glass0448,

Distilled water is fine for you. Otherwise big gov would be telling you to pack up vitamins/minerals for emergencies (they do anyways, but not because of distilled water worries).

rusticus, (edited )

Distilled water is fine unless you are not eating food. Which means you’ll die eventually anyway. Plenty of minerals in solid food.

xkforce, (edited )

The vast majority of the minerals that your body obtains are from food and drink. The danger of drinking distilled water (due to the lack of mineral content) is very overblown. And the osmotic pressure of tap water is essentially the same as distilled water.

Nikls94,

I think that there’s a line which makes destillier water bad. Like when you’re drinking 1250 ml destillied water it’s definitely healthy, but 2500 ml, over a long time, will surely cause some side effects

xmunk,

Everything is poisonous at some level. Distilled water has absolutely no minerals in it so in a very high quantity it will potentially cause cell death through osmosis - it’s also the case that if you exclusively drink it your body will constantly flush minerals you get from water in your pee while not replacing them. Do shit in moderation and enjoy the occasional glass of tap water.

weeeeum,

Why do people drink distilled water? I get that there’s some taste from the minerals, but I live in a place with hard water and it tastes fine. I’ve had fancy bottled water and that tastes the exact same if not worse, I drank distilled water and that basically tastes the same too.

Anticorp,

I’ve only heard of people drinking it when they’re on a life raft in the middle of the ocean. Is there a new trend I’m unaware of?

Farvana,

Most bottled water comes from a municipal water system somewhere, i.e., is tap water.

Some water supplies have issues with sulfur or algae, so that can be unpleasant if your sense of smell is particularly sensitive. My sense of smell is pretty weak so I drink the tap water most places, while my spouse had an RO system installed in our house due to their sensitivity.

meanmon13,

Been drinking distilled water all my life… I even have a countertop water distiller to ensure I always have it available. I prefer the taste of distilled water over RO water

Corno,

deleted_by_author

    •
    rollingflower,

    That homeostasis is important. You would always bloat up the cells in mouth, throat and gut a tiny bit.

    So dissolve the minerals before drinking, thats better

    Tar_alcaran,

    electrolytes and other solutes which are present in impure water are important in maintaining cellular homeostasis

    But they’re barely present. Adding up the common ones, calcium, sodium, magnesium doesn’t even get you to 100mg per liter. Meanwhile, the body needs at least 1000mg of calcium, which is 30 liters worth.

    As one might expect, water simply isn’t a big source of nutrients. Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you something, probably either bottled water, or mineral-powder to add to osmotic filters.

    Corno,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival,

    Does your neighbor just not eat or something? The overwhelming majority of electrolytes and minerals come from food, not drinking water. He’d have to fast for a pretty long time before distilled water could remove enough salt to cause hyponatremia.

    Corno, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival,

    Your first link doesn’t mention distilled (or demineralized) water at all.

    Your second link is an advertisement for mineral water.

    Your third and fourth links have nothing to do with hyponatremia.

    Yes, a solvent with no solutes is going to exert more osmotic pressure than a solvent containing solutes. I am not disputing that.

    What I am disputing is the idea that there is a biologically relevant difference. The human body contains 42 liters of “solvent” with 6000mg of “solutes” per liter. The difference in concentration after adding a liter of tap water vs distilled water is a tiny, tiny fraction of the difference between the upper and lower levels of normal.

    No, this is a purely theoretical risk. In practical terms, anyone suffering from hyponatremia while consuming distilled water would also be suffering from hyponatremia if they had been consuming tap water instead.

    Corno,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival,

    The first link was in response to someone implying that hyponatremia is caused by not consuming enough electrolytes in food

    No, that was not my implication at all. My implication was that the amount of electrolytes we consume in tap water is miniscule. So little comes from water that even if we were to completely eliminate that source by switching to distilled water, we would not significantly affect the levels in our bodies.

    The second link outlines the health risks of demineralized water.

    The second link is a fucking ad. It was written by people who majored in sales and marketing, not science or medicine. It’s shit. I’m not going to pick through that cow patty for the few kernels of truth that might be hiding, and I promise you, I won’t find them very appealing after you do the picking.

    Your latest link does, indeed, list some health concerns about demineralized water, relating primarily to calcium and magnesium. Where diets are already deficient in these minerals (and thus the trace amounts in water are a high percentage of total intake), switching to distilled water would, indeed, contribute to such deficiency. This is irrelevant if your diet has sufficient calcium and magnesium.

    It also suggests that demineralized water can leech toxic heavy metals from plumbing systems, as we saw in Flint, MI, when they switched from a hard water source to a softened water source. This is irrelevant if your plumbing source does not contain toxic metals.

    Notably missing from those health risks is “hyponatremia”. I found 9 references to hyponatremia in that paper, and none of them suggest that distilled or demineralized water poses a significant risk over tap water.

    However, your link also confirms my argument, on page 43:

    The relative of contribution of water to total dietary intake of selected trace elements and electrolytes is between 1 and 20%.

    The overwhelming source of electrolytes and minerals in the body is from food, not water. Since we do not acquire a significant portion of electrolytes from water, the lack of electrolytes in distilled water is not an important consideration.

    Corno, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival, (edited )

    I’m not sure how this is relevant to the point I’ve made, since I never said that we obtain a significant portion of electrolytes from water.

    Ok, it’s a little less intuitive to come at it from the opposite direction, but it’s exactly the same argument: A liter of distilled water “sucks up” just 20mg more salt from the body than a liter of tap water. It “takes” that 20mg of salt from the 42 liters of water in the body.

    The effect of the “physics based reasons” you are talking about is 20mg of salt from the entire body. Less than half a milligram of salt per liter of body fluids.

    The normal range of serum sodium levels is about 15mg of salt per liter, or 30 times the difference caused by switching from tap to distilled.

    In other words, this is an entirely theoretical risk that has zero practical effect on your neighbor’s hyponatremia.

    Corno, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival, (edited )

    A snake oil salesman would mineral water salesman did have you fooled.

    You presented your neighbor’s hyponatremia as a result of drinking distilled water; the WHO did not mention hyponatremia being a risk of distilled water.

    I have no idea what Tyson said on the subject. I suspect you’re citing him about as accurately as you cited WHO.

    Corno,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival, (edited )

    Nevertheless, severe acute damage, such as hyponatremic shock or delirium, may occur following intense physical efforts and ingestion of several litres of low mineral water (10)."

    Bolded the relevant bit for emphasis. It’s the “several liters” part that damages your argument. You also conveniently omitted the very next sentence:

    The so-called “water intoxication” (hyponatremic shock) may also occur with rapid ingestion of excessive amounts not only of low-mineral water but also tap water.

    Turns out that ingesting “several liters” of just about anything is going to affect homeostasis faster than the kidneys can correct it.

    The “intoxication” risk increases with decreasing levels of TDS.”

    Go ahead and quantify that risk. When you do the math, you’ll find that 1 liter of chemically pure water poses the same risk of hyponatremia as approximately 1.002 liters of tap water. Which makes the WHO statement technically true, but definitely misleading.

    Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s statements are in accordance to what the WHO said.

    That’s likely true, but you’ve misrepresented WHO, so I’m assuming it likely you’ve misrepresented Tyson as well.

    Corno, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Rivalarrival,

    They also recommend 2300mg of sodium, maximum. The average American consumes 3400mg a day.

    The difference between the percentage of H₂O of tap water and ultrapure water is very small and seemingly insignificant, and yet ultrapure water can do things that normal water cannot, such as dissolving metal.

    I’ve replaced too many galvanized pipes for you to tell me that tap water cannot dissolve metal.

    Corno,

    We aren’t talking about galvanized pipes. We’re talking about distilled water in large amounts being bad for you. If you feel that what the WHO and Neil DeGrasse Tyson said is inaccurate or misleading, then I’m sure there are various ways to contact them and see what they have to say. There’s only so many ways I can explain things to people before it gets tiring. Have a good day.

    Rivalarrival,

    You’re talking about a carbon steel wrench that rusted away on the bottom of a stainless steel tank due to Galvanic corrosion. It is an extremely common problem for submerged metals. It is usually mitigated by sacrificial zinc anodes, which are slowly dissolved byb the water, protecting submerged structural and mechanical conponents of boats, ships, pipelines, and structures.

    The claim from that article is bogus. It was written by someone who does not understand what they are talking about, for an audience that doesn’t care.

    Corno,

    Rust and corrosion ≠ dissolving. We don’t say that we corrode table salt in water. Like I said, if you think that you know better than the World Health Organization and Neil DeGrasse Tyson on this topic feel free to contact them and see what they have to say.

    Rivalarrival, (edited )

    Neither WHO nor Tyson claimed that pure water dissolves metal. That claim came from an article you linked about a Japanese science project, which uses a large tank of pure water as part of a neutrino detector. The entire article was a B-story to that neutrino detection project.

    Between the author and the translator, the distinction between “dissolve” and “corrode” went missing. Context restores it for anyone who recognizes the conditions present in that tank. That was simple galvanic corrosion, not some mysterious property imbued on water by distillation or reverse osmosis filtration. The exact same process occurs within fresh water and within water in which considerable amounts of electrolytes and minerals are dissolved (salt water).

    Tar_alcaran,

    It’s really the same thing. Tapwater contains barely any sodium, and the average western person had a harder time bringing down their dietary sodium than keeping it up.

    Tapwater contains some 40mg of sodium per liter, one single slice of bread contains some 200mg, at least.

    Corno, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Tar_alcaran,

    I’m a chemist, not a biologist, so I’m a bit fuzzy on stuff like cells. But I can do basic maths (and obviously chemistry) and I have Google.

    If you are only drinking distilled water it’s going to flush out the electrolytes already present in your body.

    The difference in sodium between tapwater and distilled water is 40mg per liter. So at most, drinking a liter of distilled water you’re going to lose 40mg of sodium more than with tapwater.

    Your blood contains 140ish mmol of sodium per liter. At 26 grams per mole, that’s 3650mg/liter. The difference between blood and tapwater is already huge, which is why you can easily get hyponatremia from drinking regular tap- or mineralwater (as you showed in your link). Whether it’s a difference of 3610mg/l or 3650mg/l doesn’t matter at all, the gradient is already very steep with normal water.

    The other very obvious bit of evidence are the thousands of people on ocean-going ships who drink water from reverse-osmosis filters, which is basically completely mineral-free too.

    0_0j, (edited )
    @0_0j@lemmy.world avatar

    Drinking pure H2O isn’t good for you. As far as I know it could even be deadly.

    Tell me more please

    Edit: federalreverse@feddit.de answered thanks

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • asklemmy@lemmy.ml
  • ngwrru68w68
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • osvaldo12
  • love
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • kavyap
  • mdbf
  • DreamBathrooms
  • thenastyranch
  • magazineikmin
  • megavids
  • InstantRegret
  • normalnudes
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • tester
  • provamag3
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •