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Human consumption of deionized water, page 4
March 3, 2009
I agree with the don't drink DI water opinion. Having first worked for a laser mfg. that uses DI water to cool the excitation lamps through a closed loop system that uses tap water or a chiller to cool the DI water, I learned that customers would occasionally use the supplied DI water for the laser to fill their chillers. In a matter of months the heat exchangers on the chillers began leaking because of the corrosive action of the DI water on the soldered heat exchangers, (the laser has stainless heat exchanger and plastic plumbing). There is reference to not using distilled or DI water in boilers and automotive cooling systems for the same reason.
Now I work for a plating shop that uses hundreds of gallons per day of DI water. Culligan comes 4-6 times per year to swap out the DI water column. All of their tanks are stainless or fiberglass and all the fittings are stainless or plastic.
Now think what happens when you use DI water in a coffee maker or an aluminum pot or in copper piping, soldered.
There are many places that do not have quality drinking water so I can understand looking for alternatives. As part of the Mass Water Resources Authority area, we have one of the best tap water supplies in the country.
I reject bottled, purified water because I believe our tap water is better. There has been much bad press lately about the legitimacy of bottled water, quality control, plastic bottles leaching harmful chemicals, and the enormous amount of energy it takes to produce and the enormous waste problems associated with the disposable bottles. There is also evidence now that purified water, lacking the usual potpourri of beneficial bacteria, and the continued abuse of anti biotics, is creating serious conditions caused by the proliferation of "bad" bacteria in the intestines.
Tap water contains the electrolytes, beneficial bacteria, pH buffers, fluoride (if that's still used for strong teeth), that we need, and is constantly monitored and maintained.
I'll take my water with some dirt and meat in it, Thank You.
- Melrose, Massachusetts
March 20, 2009
"Unless I have passed to the other side and am totally unaware of it, DI water is about the best tasting thing on the planet. I am an avid athlete - yoga, pilates, half marathoner, weight lifter, etc - and have been drinking about a half gallon to a gallon of it for over six years now."
Water is tasteless, odorless, and colorless. If it's not, then it probably has junk in it that should not be there. I have drank a small amount of deionized water just to test this, and find it indeed tasteless.
Oscar Yeager- Albany, New York
March 31, 2009
I've read all the posts both pro and con for deionized water. I have used deionized water for years in a coral reef tank. Corals are much much much more sensitive to pollutants than most animals. The water is purified using RO, Carbon and a DI cartridge. This water is considered unstable since it is not buffered. The next step is to put the buffers back in the water (alkalinity) and then add the salts to simulate sea water. I want to use this pure water for drinking, so what I would suggest is the purify the water to ensure all pollutants are removed and then remineralize it. You can do this with calcium and trace mineral cartridges. You can find the cartridges from various websites, the one I'll use can be found from the spectrapure website.
-Brent
- Dublin, California
April 22, 2009
If DI water is known to leach minerals from and destroy metal pipes I would be very concerned about drinking large volumes and quantities over time. I would have to assume that it will also leach minerals from tooth enamel.
BUT, as with anything, moderation is the key.
- Waterford, Michigan
May 15, 2009
I think the problem many are encountering is actually defining the system. The fact that dH2O leeches minerals from metal pipes doesn't really demonstrate its potential effect on the body. This really shows its ability as a solvent. Humans aren't made of metal. Water hydrates our cells and carries waste from the body. If I consumed just dH2O all day, my body would probably be depleted of many nutrients. When we add diet to this system, it becomes very different. The body takes in the needed nutrients and the excess is carried away. I doubt dH2O would have a significant effect on tooth enamel due to the presence of normal flora. Plus, Coca-Cola is much more effective in destroying tooth enamel. I drink them on a daily basis and I have very healthy teeth.
Take Brent's application of dH2O in his coral reef tanks. He adds buffers back to the water to acquire an optimum environment for the coral, because coral depends on adequate levels of calcium carbonate created by these buffers for growth. This system is more easily defined and allows him to manipulate the environment.
I just don't think dH2O would have any harmful effect considering its function in bodily processes. The system created by the body is just too vast to justify the significance of one effect(leeching minerals)
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
August 28, 2009
The potential harm from drinking deionized water comes from osmotic pressure which will draw minerals and electrolytes from your blood back in to your intestines, for this to be a concern you would have to drink a large amount of DI water in a short duration. There are no long term side effects from drinking pure water.
Osmotic pressure could be briefly explained as waters desire to have an equal distribution of salts and minerals even through a membrane that may divide two volumes of water such as plastic or an intestinal wall or organ tissue. Because of osmotic pressure we die of dehydration from drinking sea water (the relatively pure water in our blood is drawn in to our intestines) it's also why sea fish die in fresh water and vice versa.
DI water makes great coffee ;)
- Bakersfield, California
October 7, 2009
Is it safe to re-use plastic deionized water containers ie for brewing, bearing in mind the corrosive effect that previous respondents have mentioned?
Dylan Squires- Bristol uk
December 21, 2009
Hi. I am actually doing a project that involves DI water and was wondering where you guys get it from...
Sarah mannem- McLean, Virginia
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January 6, 2010
Although we may never find an answer to the question regarding DI water and whether or not it's good/bad, I think everyone can agree with what the WHO has to say and with what many people (mostly scientist who work with DI water) has to say! - Bremen, Germany |
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January 26, 2010
i work in an analytical chemistry lab and we use DI water for ALL of our work. Each tap has a resistivity meter that tells us in real time what we are getting. Our trace metals lab has a system that produces 18.2 MOhm water (this is the purest form, i.e., no ions present). For our other instruments, we can use about 12 MOhm water and up (we're usually lucky to get over 15 MOhm from the house DI tap) for making reagents, etc.
A few points:
first: I have been drinking water that is between 5 and 15 MOhm for the last two years without ill effect (of course, I'm here reading to see if there is a reason to stop). This is my major source of water, but not my sole source.
Second: when we had a problem getting our 18.2 MOhm system to actually produce 18.2 MOhm water, we thought our resistivity sensor was to blame. Talked to tech support for the company, and the woman said to just get a bottle of supermarket brand drinking water and measure it, it should be 18.2 MOhm (then we'd know if our filtration or our sensor was to blame). Well, sure enough, and to our surprise, supermarket water rang in at 18.2 MOhm.
So, seeing as how there is no worse type of DI water to drink then 18.2 MOhm (according to the proponents of not drinking pure DI water), how can that be the water of choice by just about every major supermarket? That said, I don't drink the 18.2 stuff from the tap, but I have definitely drank supermarket bottled water before with no problems at all.
I can't see how that water would make it through the FDA regulations if there was even the slightest chance of it being as bad as the WHO article makes it out to be.
A few anecdotal points: our DI water wash bottles have to be rinsed 5 times and refilled fresh every day because the water is constantly ionizing itself as soon as it is dispensed.
Measuring the pH of pure water is difficult at best. I've tried and the reading never stabilizes, this is because their are no ions to interact with the pH detector and tell it what's going on in the solution.
Anyone else measured the supermarket water resistivity? Would love to hear otherwise, because I always heard that drinking DI was bad, but its not what I'm experiencing or measuring.
-Mike
- Santa Barbara, California
January 27, 2010
Where I work, the entire building is plumbed with DI water. As shown on this thread, there are widely varied opinions at my company about drinking DI water.
A couple people here swear that DI makes the best coffee, but in my experience it makes the coffee taste like someone emptied their ashtray into the coffee maker. Most people use water from the water cooler to make the coffee instead.
Maybe it's dumping metal from the innards of the coffee machine into the urn, maybe not. I just know it tastes like 
optical/aerospace manufacturing - Cullman, Alabama
February 8, 2010
We are a water treatment OEM and hear this question a fair amount. We retail commercial and residential Reverse Osmosis systems as well as systems with RO followed by DI.
Some practical comments:
We advise customers to drink RO, rather than RO/DI water.
Apart from any questions of health effects, RO water tastes great, RODI or just DI water does not taste good. Discussion of the taste of the water is often muddled because people often confuse "distilled" water with "deionized" water.
Our customers in the coffee biz typically shoot for a feedwater to their coffee makers of about 50 ppm - well above what any RODI or DI system would produce. So these customers typically opt for RO systems.
Someone said it above - making DI water is a needless expense if the end use is drinking water. RO is the way to go for drinking water.
- Cincinnati, Ohio
March 8, 2010
As a living organism, our body attempts, rather successfully, to buffer itself from poor diet. Since my field is closely related to soil science I cannot speak, er write, in detail about the human body. But I will bring up buffering again and in this light my science sense tells me de-ionized water is not healthy over the long haul. Our bodies contain cations and anions just like live soil does. These ions may be held in balance in soil solution but this doesn't point to a healthy condition in a plant. Our body is able to buffer change as well but buffer here typically means the body is removing elements from one place to offset a deficiency elsewhere.
I do not know the actual chemical make up of de-ionized water, more specifically its charge(s)...if conditions are just right, I can certainly understand how de-ionized water will cause the body to buffer - lose cations and anions to this water - leaching.
- Wappinger Falls, New York
March 17, 2010
After working with DI and drinking it at various levels of de-ionization, I can't believe that leaching is happening anywhere other than from the contents of your stomach. These are readily available and water soluble for the most part. There is no reason why the DI would leach minerals from your stomach lining unless you completely purged your stomach, then drank only DI in massive quantities to overpower all the fluids the body produces to digest foods.
I know first hand that it doesn't take much to ionize DI, so there's no reason to believe those phenomena aren't happening in my/your stomach.
I'm now on the its safe to drink in moderation side of this debate.
-mike
- santa barbara, California
April 7, 2010
There are different grades of DI-water. I work offshore and we use DI-water to scrub out stainless steel tubing. We use surgical grade DI-water. This would not be safe to drink at all. They do sell kits to install at your home that are just fine to drink. The problem is they call it DI-water but really your buying a fancy RO unit. So if you are going to drink DI-water, know what grade it is.
Josh Post- Houston, Texas, USA
April 13, 2010
Here is a link that mentions the ill effects of ingesting deionized water: www.tmasc.com/cleaning_chemicals.htm
Claire Marie- Corpus Christi, Texas
May 25, 2010
What does everybody think happens when the water hits your GI tract? It isn't there all by itself. It is mixed with everything else you eat and drink.
Now most town waters have TDS that provide less than 10% of required daily intake of essential minerals. So if you drink pure water at worst your GI tract will have about 10% less of those minerals.
So if you are worried about the lack of Calcium in your pure water, drink an extra 10% of a glass of milk. Once it is in your GI tract it makes no difference.
- Brisbane Australia
June 18, 2010
This is a great topic and I think it's remarkable to find it debated here on this website for electroplating and such. I'd like to give you my perspective.
The chemistry of DI water is undisputed here, on a scale of purity it is the most pure form of water, and its lack of metal ions make it an excellent industrial solvent. You all know that, its part of your field. Yet from a biological perspective this extreme level of purity is not as desirable as one might think. From a biological perspective, valuing water is not like valuing gold, where the purer the better. There is a definite point where water crosses over into 'too pure'.
Let me explain. There are many different levels of processing water to achieve greater 'purity', from boiling > filtering > micro-filtering > reverse osmosis > distilling > de-ionizing. When you get to reverse osmosis, it becomes possible to remove a greater amount of minerals from the water.
It's no surprise that DI water will react with metals (minerals), pulling them from anything it contacts: your skin, even a stainless steel container.
I'm going to reference some research which I am familiar with that began in the 1970's by a Dr. Watson and Dr. Eck. It's incredible how important their findings were, yet still it is relatively unknown in the medical community. They began by analyzing the mineral profiles of athletes, and discovered the relationships of the minerals in the body, citing their necessary ratios to each other for maximum energy production. More specifically, they pinpointed the ratios of the four macro minerals calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium necessary in the body for the optimal functioning of the thyroid and adrenal glands. Combined, the thyroid and adrenal glands dictate our metabolic rate, a primary indicator of our energy production level if you will.
I think you can see what I'm getting at. The effects of DI water are to reduce the body's stores of minerals which are vital to our health. It isn't a question of whether or not DI water is bad for you because it lacks minerals - yes you can and do get minerals from your food and the mineral content of regular drinking water is negligible as a source of dietary minerals itself. What is important is that you do not want to be stripping your body's mineral reserves. Drinking DI water every day can be compared to taking a sauna every day - you will eventually suffer health problems caused by a lack of mineral reserves. Granted, any damage done by DI water won't happen overnight, just as getting a mercury filling won't cause you to drop dead right outside the dentist's office. The effects are cumulative - the longer you drink DI water the more imbalances can occur with your mineral stores, potentially causing more and more health problems as you go.
There are many health issues related to mineral imbalances such as adrenal exhaustion (stress), obesity, fatigue, attention deficit disorder, diabetes, hypertension, depression and Alzheimer's to name a few.
I find it refreshing that in geology water and ice are considered minerals. They are because of the many interactions water and ice have amongst the many other minerals which make up the earth - the physical and chemical interactions between water and rock are inseparable.
There are many reasons why people search for purity. For those who have it in their minds that de-ionized water is better simply because it is the ultimate in purity, I urge you to question your motives and consider that mineralized water has always been here and life as we know it wouldn't be here without it. My suggestion is if you're concerned about the purity of your drinking water, and you should be, take a look again at the many purifying systems which remove contaminants. For me, the balance here is to purify my daily drinking water with micro-filtration and even reverse osmosis - but not demineralize it beyond reverse osmosis.
I wanted to also comment on things I read from previous posts:
Lysing - yes DI water does lyse living cells.
Bacteria - yes without the chlorine and chloramine of tap water, microbes can live in DI. Does this make tap water good for you? Yes because it has low bacteria, no because of the effects of chlorine and chloramine on your body. Remember, it's KILLING the bacteria. Moreover, within animals (which include us) a low dietary electrolyte
(mineral ion) balance has been shown to increase the level of bacterial count in urine.
Coffee - I cringed when I read about the office piping DI directly to their coffee maker. Please do not use DI water in your coffee makers. The tubing inside your coffee maker is made of aluminum, which will be leached by the DI. Aluminum is a heavy metal which causes Alzheimer's, amongst numerous other health problems with physiological and psychological ramifications. In California this could make a pretty good lawsuit.
Cola - as we know, cola itself is not de-ionized. The cleaning properties in cola which the poster referred to are from its high phosphoric acid content. I'm sure the folks here know about phosphoric acid used in metal etching. I've used it myself to clean concrete and convert rust.
As a side note, there are some who like to use distilled water for short periods of time, believing that it will pull impurities from their kidneys. Some also use dilute acids for the same purpose, like phosphoric acid and malic acid.
- Los Angeles, California
June 23, 2010
I agree with many others on this posting site. If you ingest DI, it may absorb minerals from your body. And if so happens in the end won't the water go back through your system and be replenished sooner or later.
I am not agreeing or disagreeing with the fact the DI may be harmful for any living kinds' digestion.
When I look at it, It seems to me that there are strong opinions flying each and every way. In some of the comments that I have read persons have ingested DI on a daily basis, in some the person ingested a quite large amount of this demineralized water every day that he was in his lab. And in that case there were no found harmful symptoms.
I am wondering if there are truly any negative effects of deionized water in the first place. There seems to be no verified tests saying that drinking this pure water is harmful to the body at all.
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 29, 2010
I stumbled across this site as I am researching deionized water versus distilled water in removing heavy metals from the body.
Has anyone heard of a case where someone started drinking deionized water while undergoing chemotherapy?
Information relayed to me was the affected person symptoms were lack of energy and fibromyalgia type pain. A colleague suggested that they were experiencing side effects from the Chemo, and needed to find a way to clean out their system. So they started drinking deionized water and added a multivitamin to their diet. In a couple of months the pain was gone, and energy returned.
I am curious if others have heard or experienced this phenomenon. Or have related information.
Thank you for your time and feedback.
- Valdez, Arkansas, USA
July 13, 2010
This is in response to the following post.
"I work at an optical fabrication lab and have been drinking about 1/2 gallon of DI water at work daily for about 4 months now. It tasted better than the stuff coming out of the drinking fountains and I was told it was "cleaner". This morning, a gentleman passing by as I filled my glass from the tap told me that I shouldn't be drinking it due to the fact that it leached minerals and sodium from your body. Naturally, I did some research and found this page. I was fascinated by the WHO article posted previously and have learned a great deal from everyone--thanks!
Now, what I've experienced isn't scientific or factual, but these are my observations since I started drinking DI water. My thirst throughout the day seems to stay pretty high, despite the amount of water I consume. Additionally, about a month ago while receiving a facial, my aesthetician commented that the condition of my skin indicated that I wasn't drinking enough water. I, of course, protested, saying that I drank 1/2 gallon or more a day.
As I said, these are not scientific and I'm certainly not a chemist. I will, however, switch back to "regular" water and see what happens.
Thanks!
Thanks again!
Samantha Truesdale
- Yorktown, Virginia"
I am not a water guru, but I do follow a lot of homeopathic sites and natural-type news outlets. Samantha has pointed out the real problem of DI, it is an oxidizer...and she has noticed that even though she is a very hydrated individual, the person giving her a facial noted that her face looked dehydrated. DI water is a strong oxidizer will most likely oxidize your cells, which is part of the aging process.
I have conducted some research related to ionized water filters, and how they will help slow the aging process by inhibiting oxidation. Obviously it is not acutely toxic, or the people posting that they have been drinking DI water for years, would not be alive to post. But the question then becomes, does DI water cause premature aging?
- Covington, Indiana, USA
July 15, 2010
"I feel better than I have in years" placebo effects aside, it seems like if you really want the purest of the pure you'll do the most time consuming of all options and get remineralized deionized water. Deionizing removes everything, and remineralizing/ionizing correctly would only put in essentials. So if you really want to go for broke that seems like it's the best option.
The benefits of lower-grade deionized water alone might not outweigh the cost and leaching problems. If you used it in your house it would corrode pots, pans, showerheads, knives, buttons on clothes etc., so you can't use it for most washing. It's probably bad for your skin, too
(but so is dish soap).
Deionized water's expensive and has certain downsides to uninformed drinkers, but depending on the quality of local water and bottled water it could still be a significant shift. If I was really nuts about water I'd probably do some form of remineralized/ionized deionized.
- Seattle, Washington, USA
February 4, 2011
I've been having some health issues and have been researching what distilled water can do to the body. I've been drinking it for at least six months straight. Probably more. I just recently went to the dentist and had 9 cavities filled. I have NEVER had any more than a couple filled, per visit, in my whole life! Even went from 1996 to 2008 without any cavities at all. Now, talking about something that may be soaking up a persons calcium.
Like most of us, I have no proof at all that the distilled water has done this. But I can only figure it has to be just that. I am going to bottled spring water now and see how that works. I hope there's nothing wrong with that! :)
Thanks to everyone that's posted. I'm getting a real educating on drinking water that I never knew existed! :)
- Newark, Ohio USA
March 17, 2011
I'm a physician. We give distilled water to patients all the time, but slowly. We call it "free water" and it is given to purposefully lower the patients sodium level or replace a persons "free water deficit." So in my opinion a small amount of DI water or distilled water should not be harmful as long as your kidneys work ok, AND you don't take much at a time or too fast. Large amounts especially in a short amount of time could cause potentially dangerous shifts in your sodium levels (by dilution of your total body electrolytes) and can cause seizures among other problems.
The same thing can happen if you drink too much tap water too fast as well, but DI water would take a smaller amount to cause problems.
If you use your RO or Di water to make an occasional cup of coffee you should be fine. RO water is safer and prob makes a better cup of coffee anyway.
- knoxville, Tennessee
May 13, 2011
I would not put much stock into what the WHO says. If I want advice about music, sure, I'd ask Roger Daltrey or Pete Townshend. But questions about my health? The WHO is hardly qualified.
Greg Wallace- Weehawken, New Jersey, USA
May 2011
Although The Who may not be especially qualified in health matters, my understanding is that they are singing the same song, playing the same tune :-)
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
June 9, 2011
I have worked in an analytical lab setting all my life and have drunk DI water by preference for over 30 years. It is nothing but cleaner water and tastes great. If water containing ppm of Ca, Na, K, Mg is safe to drink, why on earth would one think that DI would be bad. Even the dirtiest water contains more than 99% water. Resin isn't bad to drink either and most resins in DI removal systems are about a sixteenth of an inch in size and quickly sink to the bottom in a beaker of water. PS, I use clean beakers to drink from also.
Mike Klein- Denver, Colorado
July 18, 2011
I read the WHO article. Can someone tell me if anyone has done research on the water made by home filters that work with a plastic pitcher that you can buy at the big box stores? Are these safe to use? My son and his wife are planning to get pregnant this year, and they use such one of those pitchers to filter water in their kitchen. Is this cleaning out all the good calcium and magnesium that they actually need? Or is it mainly improving the taste of the water by filtering out other stuff?
Anita Garrett-Roe- Portland, Texas, USA
November 15, 2011
I recently started drinking DI water because it is close by my work center and others have been doing it for several years with no ill effects. It seems like there are many different opinions on if it is a good idea to drink it or not. Just wondering if it removes minerals from your system, would it help to remove lead and mercury? Sorry if this has already been addressed, I didn't read entire forum. Thanx
Bill HeinemanElectronics Tech - Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
November 15, 2011
Hi, Bill.
Regardless of the opinions as to whether DI water is bad for you or not, the DI source you are referring to is likely not a potable water source. It may have wild bacteria growth, and there may be no effective backflow preventers to guarantee that process chemicals have not gotten into it. It's like drinking from a stream: it may be fine, it may be toxic.
Regards,
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 Ted Mooney, P.E. RET finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
December 30, 2011
(Drinking RODI as I type this) I've read this entire site regarding DI water and have done some research outside and it appears there is a lot of guessing going on causing many to be mislead about the properties of DI water. DI water is not anymore corrosive than tap water, it essentially is not corrosive and is used as an industrial cleaner because it leaves no residue behind giving it an elevated grade, and not for any other reason than that. DI water re-ionizes immediately after being exposed to air.
There has NEVER been any evidence that it depletes the minerals/vitamins from your body - that was based off a theory that was never proven. DI water does NOT deplete electrolytes from your body (this is a 'proven' fact today). DI water though is not really a better alternative to RO or other water.
We all eat other foods and get minerals from other sources so rather than suggesting it depletes these; it is true that we are not providing any extra of them from this type of water. Although to be completely objective about this topic. Where I live there are high levels of mercury and lead in the water. Wouldn't removing these ions be more beneficial than the minerals I would have potentially gotten from the water? Think about it.
In conclusion I personally like the taste of having no taste to the water. I make all my coffee with it because I get to taste the coffee without any of my local tap water additive flavors. I alternate my water depending upon the source though.
Here is an article written by Jo Alesto of 'TheWaterCompany.com' who clarifies the healthy/un-healthy myths regarding DI water very well.
www.articledashboard.com/Article/Is-Deionized-Water-Harmless-for-Human-Intake/1402818
- Redding, California