Why You Should Drink Distilled Water
Learn distillation basics and the answers to frequently asked questions
You would think that drinking water that meets Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards would be safe and healthy, but it's actually one of your biggest health risks. Even "safe" water may contain "acceptable" amounts of lead, arsenic, mercury, radioactive particles, and a long list of other poisons. To illustrate this point:- There are more than 75,000 chemical compounds used by industry and agriculture, with thousands more added each year—many unregulated.
- Eighty percent of these chemicals have never been tested for long-term, chronic toxicity.
- It's estimated that 20 billion tons of chemicals, radioactive waste, and pollutants are introduced into the environment each year, and the belief is that most of these toxic chemicals eventually reach our water supply.
- In the United States, the EPA has evaluated and set standards for only a small percentage of the more than 700 chemicals found in drinking water supplies.
Distillation is the Only Viable Option
Because municipal water treatment facilities can't remove all toxins, the only solution is to take advantage of water filtration technology for your own home. My first choice for safe drinking water is distillation, because it safely removes all contaminants. It's a fairly simple process in which water is heated until it boils and turns to steam. The boiling action kills bacteria and other pathogens, and as the steam rises, it leaves behind waste material, minerals, heavy metals, and other heavier contaminants. The steam is then cooled and returns to water.Distillation is effective because it removes the water from the contaminants, rather than trying to remove the contaminants from the water. Distillers have several major advantages over other purification systems. A good distillation system pretty much eliminates the need to ever have your water tested. It’s the only purification system I know that removes every kind of bacteria, virus, parasite, and pathogen, as well as pesticides, herbicides, organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals (dissolved or otherwise), and even radioactive contaminants.
One added benefit to having a distiller is that if your tap water supply is lost for any reason, you can safely distill water from a river, lake, pond, or swimming pool. True, distillation takes longer than other methods such as drip filtration, but I consider any inconvenience associated with distillation minor in comparison to the safety.
Frequently Asked Questions About Distillation
- Does distilled water contain harmful substances that have a lower boiling point than water?
- I've heard that distilled water is acidic. I know you prefer that we keep our bodies as alkaline as possible, so how can distilled water be good for us?
- I've read that distilled water leaches minerals out of your body. Is that healthy?
The only reliable way to remove chemicals in our water supply is through distillation. Distillation is a very straightforward concept: You boil off the water, and all the undesirable “extras” are left behind. To do the job correctly, however, takes a little finesse.
Some of these compounds are left behind during the distillation process, no matter how the distillation is carried out. These compounds and minerals make up the residue you'll see remaining in the tray or bottom chamber of your home machine.
The finesse part has to do with the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that boil off before the water. (More properly, the compounds have what's called a lower vapor pressure than water. The effect is the same—they evaporate before the water does.) In a properly made distillation unit, the tap water is preheated to just below the boiling point to drive off the compounds that are lighter than water. Once those compounds have evaporated, the water is heated just to the boiling point and is sent to the condensation chamber to return to its liquid state as pure water.
A unit that doesn't include the preheating phase will evaporate the VOCs along with the water, so they'll condense with the steam and remain in the finished product. While this won’t concentrate the harmful compounds, it will leave the purifying job half done.
If you don't distill your water yourself, you won’t know about the process used—which is why I recommend not just that you drink distilled water, but that you buy a high-quality home distiller unit and use that. Lower-quality units seldom have the preheating step, so I don't recommend them. The distiller I use and recommend is the WaterWise 9000.
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I've heard that distilled water is acidic. I know you prefer that we keep our bodies as alkaline as possible, so how can distilled water be good for us?
It's true that distilled water is acidic, whether it comes from a store-bought jug or a distiller at home. The acidity occurs because carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in the water, creating a very dilute solution of carbonic acid. Distilled water in a container that’s been sitting open for a while could have a pH in the range of 6. (For comparison, vinegar has a pH of about 4, or 100 times as acidic.) Your body responds to this trivial amount of acidity by producing more stomach acid. So long as your digestive system is in good shape, and you're not taking any medication to block the production of stomach acid, then the amount of acidity from distilled water won't affect any body processes.
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I've read that distilled water leaches minerals out of your body. Is that healthy?
This assertion is made because distilled water doesn’t have any minerals of its own. However, most of the minerals we take in come from food, not water. And the fact is that your kidneys do a fine job of keeping your minerals in proper balance. As long as your kidneys are functioning normally, you’ll have no problems drinking distilled water.
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June 4th, 2012 at 11:23 am [...] It’s one of the cheapest potable water options out there, if not the cheapest. I found out about it through the advice of my guru on diet. But he wrote about it back in the 1920′s. Check out this link about how doctors recommend distilled water for optimal health. [...]
August 1st, 2013 at 3:02 pm I would suggest taking the advice above very skeptically.
The problem with quoting opinions from doctors, or anyone else for that matter, is that if you search long enough you can find opinions to support practically any position you want to promote – why should those 24 individuals be believed any more than 24 doctors I could find who thought distilled water was harmful – or another 24 who believed (like I do) that in most cases it doesn’t really matter, unless you happen to be selling something.
The point is, opinions without scientific research to support those opinions are not particularly reliable – may be true – might not – there is just no way to tell by reading someone’s opinion.
For me, there is a wide range of believability in the information presented by the 24 quoted doctors – some of the information is relevant and accurate – most is not. Those that discuss the fact that distilled water is not harmful and that distillation is the most effective (albeit most expensive and energy dependent) method to purify water are accurate. Those that talk about the harm done by inorganic (vs. organic) minerals to the body are very suspect.
I still have not found any reliable evidence to support either the opinion that distilled water is healthier or that it is more harmful than ‘regular’ non-distilled water – in most circumstances and for most people, http://www.cyber-nook.com/water/distilledwater.htm
One of the sentences in the article is completely contradictory,
“Whenever Mother Nature produces new water she ONLY uses the process of distillation. … These new waters can be found in all precipitation (rain, mist, snow, dew and fog,) all live fruit and vegetable juices, and urine.”
The idea that so called ‘new water’ (aka distilled water) is in fruit juice, vegetable juice and urine makes no sense whatever. As soon as anything is added to water, whether it is carbon dioxide from the air, arsenic from the ground, plastic from a bottle, or salts and nitrates from the blood the water is no longer distilled or pure – it is contaminated.
September 24th, 2013 at 12:12 pm @Randy
Interesting reply in your statement:
“The problem with quoting opinions from doctors, or anyone else for that matter, is that if you search long enough you can find opinions to support practically any position you want to promote…”
Did you notice that each quote has references and some published items showing a scientific approach to their findings. I would suggest that rather than dismiss the quotes. Better to verify as the writer has provided ref’s.
October 14th, 2013 at 5:12 pm Randy the only evidence you will ever believe is your own. Stop looking for some sudo-science to believe in. The only person who will ever be able to convince you of the truth of distilled water is YOU. Get a counter top distiller and drink only distilled water for the next 5 years and see if you find any difference. Make sure you get one that does not have a metal tank. The water will taste like metal. Get the food grade plastic or glass container. Always put the water in a glass container in the frig to keep it from getting contaminated. I have been drinking distilled water for 50 years and am in very good health. This proves that the people who claim one glass of distilled water can kill you are telling you lies so they can sell you bottled water for $4.00 a bottle.
October 19th, 2013 at 6:53 pm I agree with all of this not just because some scientists wrote it but I feel like the proof is in the pudding. You have to try it for yourself. I buy distilled water in gallon jugs and try to drink a gallon a day but usually only get through half. But even that amount immediately moves my bowels. I’ve had problems with constipation all my life. Sometimes just a little bit (going but straining) and sometimes severe (not going for 3 or 4 days). If I get my distilled water in the morning and continue drinking it throughout the day, ill have 2-3 EASY bowel movements. I’m not sure if it’s stimulating my liver or intestines but it sure works.
January 8th, 2014 at 9:42 pm I have been drinking a half gallon of distilled water per day for 7 plus yrs. Before that my knees were so arthritic, I had to wear braces, when I played tournament softball. I had an MR I on both knees, and was told by the sports doctor, he would scrape both meniscus for $7000.00. Instead I started drinking 80 ozs of distilled water daily, and in two and a half months I was pain free. Much cheaper than $7000.00.
January 9th, 2014 at 2:23 am @Barry,
Thanks for sharing.
And a knee surgery is no guarantee that you’ll be pain-free afterwards.
Also your arteriosclerosis (if you’ve had arthritis then you also had arteriosclerosis) is after 7 plus years of drinking distilled water GONE.
I bet your brain is now sharper than those legendary samurai swords and your energy levels are through the roof, especially if you also maintain a healthy diet and exercise.
And am I right in assuming that more and more people are telling you that you look younger than your age?
Best,
Infinite Unknown
April 15th, 2014 at 2:46 am […] Dr. Mercola says that drinking only distilled water over a long period of time can even cause death, but no studies proved it, according to this and this source. You should also read this: 24 Doctors With the Courage to Tell the Truth about Distilled Water. […]
May 11th, 2014 at 9:25 am […] 24 Doctors With The Courage To Tell The Truth About Distilled Water. […]
June 10th, 2014 at 8:42 am I use distilled water almost regularly but two issues always bother me :
1) Has man been drinking distilled water for the past thousands of years ?
2) Water from my distiller is normally acidic, PH = 6
June 10th, 2014 at 2:05 pm @C Spadavecchia,
I hope I will be able to answer your questions tomorrow.
Update:
1) Nature uses a low temperature evaporation process to distill its water.
Nature’s way to produce distilled water is superior to a water distiller, because we still have to additionally carbon filter our water to remove the VOCs.
Rain water is nature’s distilled water. Water coming from glaciers is distilled water.
So yes, we as humans (and all other lifeforms on the planet) have been drinking distilled water all of the time.
When distilled water comes in contact with rocks and soil it dissolves all those inorganic minerals that are good for plants (but not for us).
Plants turn those inorganic minerals into organic minerals (the only useful form for our bodies) and we need these as building blocks for all functions of our body.
Only through organic minerals can our body maintain its health and homeostasis.
Inorganic minerals are toxic garbage that needs to be expelled from the body. Himalayan salt is therefor toxic garbage.
Usually all salts dissolved in our drinking water are inorganic and the body uses up a lot of its vital energy to get rid of them.
Let’s say your drinking water has 3 gramm of inorganic matter per liter. You know that drinking water is important and you drink 3 liters per day.
That is 9g per day, 3285g per year and over a lifetime of just 75 years your intake of inorganic matter is 246,375g.
Expelling all these inorganic minerals is a lot of hard work for the body, especially if seen over a lifetime … and that does not include the water you’ve used to cook your food!
2)Yes, distilled water is acidic.
Lemon juice is also acidic, but it has a strong alkalizing effect on the body!
So what we really need to look at is how our food and water is getting metabolized by the body instead of judging it by it’s original PH.
Distilled water may have an acidic PH, but it is so negatively charged that it attracts all positively charged inorganic garbage, because opposites attract.
And yes, distilled water leaches minerals from the body, but only the toxic posively charged inorganic garbage.
So distilled water will slowly turn your body more and more alkaline.
You can measure the PH of your saliva & urine for several days and then compare again after several weeks, months and years.
You will be amazed how fast you will move up the scale (especially with a (raw) vegan diet).
If you drink distilled water and maintain a healthy diet this will become so obvious.
Your excess fat will melt like snow, gray hair may even turn back into its natural hair color or it will never get gray in the first place.
The car battery analogy used in the article is also a good way to descibe what will happen inside your body if you drink distilled water.
You too are an ‘electric engine’.
Drinking distilled water and maintaining a healthy diet will give your body the ability to get rid of all toxic garbage and you will experience a lot of healing reactions, that are more often than not misinterpreted, but once you’ve got rid of the worst part of the toxic load, that you’ve been carrying around with you for so long, you will feel lighter and stronger than ever before and your energy levels will just go off the charts. But this will take some time.
Here are some interesting videos:
- Raw Food Diet: ‘You Will Play The Game Much Longer And Much Higher Level’ (Video)
- Amazing Story Of 70 Year Old Woman Finds The Fountain Of Youth – Ageless Woman Annette Larkins Interview (Video)
- The Road To Health: Dr. Robert Young On The Importance Of Juicing & The pH Miracle (Video)
- Raw Food Vegan Bodybuilder Cab Driver (Video)
- The Joy Of Juicing (Full Movie) – A Dr. Gary Null Production
- Green Smoothies: Curing Obesity (Starting From 447 Pounds) & Type 2 Diabetes (Video)
Enjoy!
(As a side note: Cooking turns a lot of organic minerals into their inorganic form, also enzymes and many other vital nutrients are getting destroyed in the process. Cooked spinach is toxic, especially for kids, because the healthy organic oxalic acid, has turned into toxic inorganic oxalic acid that causes kidney stones etc. The body always gives all he has got to keep us healthy, but he could do a much greater job if we would support its work, instead of obstructing it. We are the only animal that cooks its food and we are also the only animal that suffers from diseases of civilization. We feed our pets cooked food and they too develop the same problems as we do. Indigenous people have been studied and closely examined all around the planet and many of them are still in a great health condition at 90 years of age. I am not telling anybody what to do. What I can tell you is, that coming out of the other side of the detoxification process myself, I feel like I have been born again and my energy level still keeps rising.
My diet = raw vegan + honey – salt – soy products)
Best,
Infinite Unknown
June 29th, 2014 at 11:17 pm Those Doctors are famous and a lot of people into a lot of marketing hype of various ideas on water.
July 12th, 2014 at 5:14 am Hmm Cherry picked quotes from dubious “Doctors” many of whom may not be “medical doctors” at all, some very very old documents and a lot of advertising for urine therapy. Very dubious psuedo science stuff there.
Distilled water is only as good as the water you started with. Any contaminant in the water that vaporizes at a lower temperature than the water, such as volatile organic compounds, will be condensed and actually concentrated in the finished distilled water. So don’t think that all distilled water safe unless it has been tested first.
July 12th, 2014 at 7:04 am @IanTC,
… which is why I advise to use a carbon filter before distilling…
… to get rid of the VOCs!
But you’ve obviously missed that information.
You wrote:
If you get yourself some books on distilled water, then you’ll find out that there is nothing dubious about it and that it is not pseudo-science.
On urine therapy:
Ask yourself why you don’t know and haven’t been told about all the research that has been done on the most extensively scientifically researched natural substance in medicine in human history?
Yes, urine is the most extensively scientifically researched natural substance in medicine!
Recommended book on urine therapy @Amazon.com:
- Your Own Perfect Medicine by Martha Christy (Citing lots of scientific studies!)
And you all have done urine therapy at the beginning of your life:
Amniotic fluid:
So you all have already done – successfully – urine therapy for months!
Here is another good reason to practice urine therapy:
Your urine contains for example …
Vitamin B12: 0,03 mg/day!!!
Vitamin B6: 100 mg/day!!!
Folic acid: 4mg/day!!!
… and hundreds of other important substances.
It gets better: