Posted by
harrycarry
19 yrs ago
Is it true that the Australian Government insists that distilled water on sale in Australia must carry a health warning? Australian friends inform me that it's use is considered safe only for filling car batteries and sterilizing wounds and the like.
Watsons advertises its distilled water as being as "pure as nature intended" but is that true? There appears to be a body of opinion that, because it lacks minerals and trace elements, which the body requires, it actually leaches these out from the body as it passes through and excessive drinking of distilled water can be harmful to health. With most offices providing a distilled water dispenser, and most homes being encouraged by various companies' advertising campaigns to use only distilled water, is such constant consumption likely to prove harmful to health in the long term?
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Distilled water - as distinct from "mineralised water", which you can also buy - does indeed take mineral salts out of your body. (Remember doing osmosis and diffusion at school when you were 14 or 15?).
That doesn't matter if you drink it with something that will replace those minerals (such as a meal or snack or even mix it with orange squash), but it does matter if you will drink only distilled water for several hours without a snack.
For example, hiking in the hills here for several hours on a sticky summer's day blasts a lot of the salts out of you (in sweat) and distilled water would exacerbate that mineral loss. Standard advice for such activities is to make a solution of 5% orange juice to 95% water - the juice gives you the energy and mineral salts you need without making you ever more thirsty (as pure OJ would). Or just eat a banana every couple of hours - though they go pretty yucky as the sun warms up your backpack in summer!
Btw, tap water (which contains minerals) in HK is perfectly safe at the point it enters your building. So if you have decent management to keep the fresh water tanks clean in your building and the plumbing is not too old, there's no need to buy water. If in doubt, you can get your tap water tested - much cheaper than buying lots of water!
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If the above is correct, isn't the Hong Kong Government negligent in not making the distilled water companies provide a warning on the bottles that they sell, with advice on how to minimise the potential health risk created by drinking nothing but distilled water? Or is it just short-sightedness on the part of the Government, like the advice given, never to walk in the country parks without a mobile phone, neglecting to mention that large parts of the country parks are out of network reach?
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Just my 2 cents; Distilled from what i understand is fine; i'll buy Burgundy explanation also. I may be wrong but from what i understand the mineral water in itself is not sufficient source of minerals anyway and you get it from your diet in any case.
For taste; that is a different thing; i pref. Mineral water, or even sparkling mineral water.
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Welcome sell thier own brand o distilled water with mineral added - does anyone know if this is any better?
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It is strange, my GP told me that distilled water is much better for you, considering we take in so many minerals/sodium throughout the day with our food already.
She thinks the quantity of minerals in mineralised water is too high. She especially told me to give distilled water to my baby...I am now sort of confused...
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This is so scary...I have been giving my toddler distilled water since birth, because I thought it was better for him...poor boy...
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well here's some interesting facts from the net
you decide
http://www.durastill.com/myths.html
* Over 95% of our minerals come from our food and less than 5% from drinking water. You would practically have to drown yourself by drinking it to get the RDA of any beneficial minerals.
* Distilled water will not leach minerals from your body. There has never been any documented evidence to prove this claim true. It is perfectly safe to drink.
* Pure water refers to water that is H2O, and that's it! It's not H20 with calcium, iron, fluoride, etc... Distilled water comes the closest to this definition.
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OK, there's some confusion here.
First, nobody (I hope) is suggesting that you "get" useful amounts of minerals from water. We are just pointing out that distilled water is less good than mineralised or "normal" water in maintaining electrolyte balance, especially during/after intensive exercise.
Second, the major brands of "mineralized water" in HK are sourced from the city's water supply (according to the Consumer Council). See
http://www.consumer.org.hk/website/ws_en/news/press_releases/p260.html
There is no health reason to buy drinking water if you live in a modern building with good management (except in some very unusual medical cases). You can see water quality data at:
http://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/html/water/qualitydata.htm
As for getting your tap water tested, it's really not necessary if you live in a modern well managed development (the water in the mains is fine; unlined pipes in new buildings were prohibited here in 1996; and good management will have the tanks cleaned regularly); but if you want peace of mind you can either buy water test kits online or get the job done professionally. There are numerous "Environmental Testing" labs in HK that will do this, for example
http://www.envirolabs.com.hk/analysis.htm
If you really have a psychological block about drinking tap water, then buy the mineralised types (about the same price per litre as petrol/gas) - but realise they probably came from the mains supply! Only drink distilled if the doc has told you to.
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To remove the chlorine taste on tap water and avoid any requirement to boil tap water (I know tap water is safe, just to remove the taste), I'm considering imstalling a ceramic filter on the cold water pipe to the kitchen tap and then filter it again through a britax charcoal filter jug. It should pay for itself in no time if I don't have to buy bottled water of any description.
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weh
19 yrs ago
Why do so many people get sooo hung up about such common sense issues. Some writers above appear to lack logic and some have given sound reasoning about the safety of drinking tap water AND distilled water. If you prefer distilled water, then fine. Just add a little juice, suck a few candies etc. Is anyone silly enough to rely totally on drinking water for ALL their minerals????? Sometimes I wonder!!!
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cd
19 yrs ago
To Ausmob, type of water or lack of it etc has not been confirmed as having been a contribution to that boys death, in fact last I heard the post mortem details hadn't come back and the police were still investigating.
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