If you have reached this page you have probably been researching water distillers and distilled water drinking. You have probably read conflicting arguments. You may well have read about distilled water having almost magical properties - like being able to cure cancer or flush out toxins from the body.
You may also have read about negative effects like distilled water lacking minerals or "leaching" minerals from your bones. This article sets the record straight.
What is distilled water?
Distilled water is the purest water you can drink. It contains no bacteria, pesticides or other contaminants. Distilling process removes all those impurities.
Distillation also removes minerals, but you can get these from food. We have a great article about minerals and how to replace them if you drink distilled water here.
Distilled water also has many other uses which are listed here.
Drinking distilled water
Distilled water is not magic water - it does not cure cancer, flush out toxins or leach minerals from the body.
Distilled water is simply pure water. Rainwater is pure water. Human beings evolved in rainforests where the main water source is rainwater.
Is distilled water safe to drink?
Distilled water is safe to drink. It's a pure water with no ill effects. Human beings effectively evolved distilled water drinking.
Can you drink distilled water?
Yes, it is natural and normal for us to drink distilled water.
Benefits of distilled water
The main health benefit of distilled water is that you are avoiding the nasty contaminants that end up in tap water. A lot of these contaminants are actually unwanted minerals as well as complex chemicals like pesticides and herbicides and potential biological contamination like viruses and bacteria.
Distilled water also helps to:
- prevent kidney stones
- improve your bodily functions
- help to protect your teeth from too much fluoride which can cause tooth discolouration
- reduce the risk of disease - distillation removed waterborne pathogens. Most of the waterborne diseases don't survive distillation.
Here is a list of all the potential contaminants available in tap water: 79-common-drinking-water-contaminants-and-their-effects
The human body is made up of around 70% water, so it is important to choose the type of water you drink carefully. Tap water and bottled water both contain chemicals that are out of your control. All bottled water in plastic bottles contains microplastics. The only way to really know what you are putting into your body is to use a water distiller.
Water distillers provide water purity superior to any other method. Water distillers create water that is purer than any bottled water, reverse osmosis and any filtration method.
Distilled water means you avoid unwanted chemicals
By using a water distiller, you will be avoiding potentially harmful chemicals in tap water such as pesticides, nitrates, fertiliser and contamination from copper or lead pipes.
Many of the contaminants and chemicals in our tap water can cause harm to the human body if we are exposed to them over a long period of time (this process is called bio-accumulation) so it is important to prevent exposure.
Distilled water means you protect your teeth from excess fluoride
Distillation removes fluoride from your water; fluoride is now found in most toothpaste. Fluoride was originally added to local water supplies to help strengthen teeth, however too much exposure leads to fluorosis, which leaves a brown staining effect on young teeth. There is also a link between Fluoride and cancer.
The problem with drinking Fluoride in water is that it is being added to your entire body. Your teeth need fluoride to maintain hardness and the easiest way to do this is with a toothpaste with Fluoride in it.
In this way it is being added just to the teeth where it is needed and not to the whole body system. There is also a civil liberties issue - is it morally right to medicate a population via the water supply? By distilling your water you remove any fluoride and you have a choice about how and in what way you use fluoride.