Introduction
Everyone must have heard this quote ‘’Water is life.’’ Yes, indeed, it is true. There is no life without water. Water is essential to keep the body hydrated and remove toxins from the body. However, apart from quenching thirst, water is crucial for maintaining a healthy body, as it contains essential minerals needed for the body to function efficiently. Therefore, it is crucial to drink healthy water to keep the body healthy. It is a common perception that RO (reverse osmosis) water is pure and healthy water as it is free from impurities. However, the truth is that RO water might be pure, but it is not healthy because it strips the essential minerals apart from stripping the impurities from the water. Drinking this kind of water does not offer health benefits, and it only serves the purpose of quenching the thirst. This article will explain why drinking too pure water can be dangerous to one’s health. It will delve into what recent research and scientists are saying about RO water. Continue reading to know more.
Why Is RO Water Considered Unhealthy?
According to doctors, experts, and researchers, drinking RO water could be dangerous if one is drinking it for a prolonged period of time. Here are the reasons that support this fact.
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Depletion of Essential Nutrients: As mentioned earlier, RO water lacks the essential minerals that water naturally has. During the filtering process, all the dirt, impurities, viruses, fungi, and toxins that make the water impure and can cause water-borne diseases (diseases spread through water) like diarrhea, E. coli infection, typhoid fever, etc., are removed to make it ‘’pure.’’
However, during this filtration process, the essential nutrients also get removed from the water. Therefore, the pure water that one gets after RO filtering is too acidic because of the removal of essential nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate. These minerals are found in traces in water and are required by the body to make hormones and enzymes. Yes, along with the diet, the body also takes these essential nutrients from the water. However, if water does not provide the required elements, one has to depend solely on the diet to fulfill the body's requirements. Diet alone cannot provide the full requirements of these elements.
Hence, a deficiency in these elements starts to appear. As a result, organs do not perform typically, and symptoms like tiredness, lethargy, weakness, loss of memory, etc. If one continues to drink RO, which lacks these essential nutrients, it negatively affects their health.
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Side Effects of Mineral Depletion: Drinking RO water deficient in minerals can lead to mineral depletion in the body, resulting in essential nutrients being excreted through urine. This imbalance, with fewer minerals being consumed and more being excreted, can cause significant health issues. A scientific study aimed at assessing whether dietary mineral intake could compensate for the lack of minerals in RO water found that reduced mineral intake from water was not offset by dietary sources. Consequently, low-mineral water leads to increased mineral excretion from the body.
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Drops in pH of Water: The normal pH of regular water is 7, which is neutral. However, during the filtering process, a significant drop in the pH of the water occurs, and it can drop up to 5. This drop in pH turns regular water into acidic water. Daily consumption of acidic water will not make one feel unhealthy immediately. However, extended use of this ‘RO acidic water’ can put an individual at risk of developing some serious diseases like hypertension (high blood pressure), digestive problems, goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland), pregnancy complications, heart disease (heart attack, blockage in the heart, chest pain), and several problems in newborns, like jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin), growth disorder, mood swings, irritability, depression, hair loss, bone loss etc.
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Affects the Foods Also: If RO water is used in cooking, it can result in a notable reduction of essential elements in vegetables and cereals as well. Research indicates that RO water can lead to up to 60 percent reductions in magnesium and calcium and even higher reductions for micro-elements such as copper, manganese, and cobalt. On the other hand, research says that using mineralized water for cooking significantly reduces these losses, sometimes even enhancing the calcium content of food. Therefore, cooking with RO water should be avoided.
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Do Not Provide Enough Hydration: Water is meant to keep the body hydrated. However, when the essential minerals are depleted from water, they do not effectively provide hydration to the body. As water lacks minerals and nutrients, it can take an extended period to fulfill even basic hydration needs. Individuals consuming RO water may find themselves needing to drink more to stay hydrated, which can pose risks, particularly if sufficient intake is challenging to achieve.
Furthermore, to ensure water is healthy, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that it should contain 30 milligrams of calcium, 30 milligrams of bicarbonate, and 20 milligrams of magnesium per liter. Since RO water lacks it, WHO has cautioned against the use of RO filters.
What Is the Alternatives to RO Water?
According to the WHO, boiling is the best method to provide healthy water by removing only the impurities from the water and not the essential minerals. Based on certain reports, an effective method could involve filtering water through a cotton filter and subsequently boiling it for 20 minutes. Additionally, boiling water is a cost-effective way to obtain pure and healthy water.
Conclusion
To conclude, RO water should be avoided, and boiled water should be used. RO water removes all the necessary minerals from the water and can lead to serious health issues in the future. Apart from providing mineral-devoided water, another disadvantage is that RO systems also waste 70 to 80 percent of the water during filtration. This discarded water has elevated chemical contaminant levels, rendering it unsuitable for any other purpose. Therefore, people should consider replacing RO water with boiled water to enjoy all the benefits of water.
