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Secret Squirrel
03-06-2008, 03:57 PM
There have been many discussions on distilled water. As to why it's not a good choice to use for mixing formula or for drinking water. Here is an article I can across. :)
The artical was too long to put in this post and I had to remove myth #4. It was a myth about the distilled water having a flat taste.
You can find this artical by doing a google search on distilled water, if you want know the 2 sides to distilled water.



Blowing The Lid Off Distilled Water Myths

By: Joe Letorney, Jr. (CWS-V)
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Controversy always seems to shroud distilled water through the years. The same old myths and fallacies that were once heard ten to fifteen years ago still continue today. All the misconceptions about distillation and distilled water are grossly misrepresented.
All the myths listed below have no basis in fact. The purpose of this article is to set the record straight and lay these false perceptions to rest. Helping clear up these misconceptions about distilled water will greatly benefit both the dealer and the general public.

MYTH # 1: Distillation takes out all the beneficial minerals

This is a statement used countless times, usually from literature from some filter companies trying to tell you in effect, that their filters take out all the bad contaminants, but leave in the good, beneficial minerals. Fortunately, there are many reputable companies who would never think of making this kind of claim in its ads.
Distillation will kill and remove bacteria, viruses, cysts, as well as, heavy metals, radionuclides, organics, inorganics, and particulates. And yes, it will remove minerals, which fall under inorganic contaminants. Whether the minerals in water are beneficial or useless has been an ongoing debate.
All of our minerals are derived from our food: fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, grains, nuts, and dairy products. The minerals in water are so scant that in Boston, MA for example, one would have to drink 676 8-ounce glasses of tap water to obtain the Recommended Daily Allowance ( RDA) of calcium. That person would have to drink 1,848 8-ounce glasses to get RDA of magnesium, 848 8-ounce glasses to get RDA of iron, and 168,960 8-ounce glasses to obtain the RDA of phosphorus. It seems insane to even think about drinking that much water. Most people can't even drink the recommended 8 glasses of water a day that is widely touted by health experts.
When you think of pure water what definition comes to your mind? It should be just H20, and that's it. It's not H20 with minerals and fluoride, because that doesn't fit the description of pure water. For all intent and purposes, distilled water comes the closest to the definition of pure drinking water. The process of distillation removes the broadest range of contaminants over any other point of use (POU) system.

MYTH # 2: Distilled Water leaches minerals from your body.

What the proponents of this myth want you to believe is that because distilled water is so pure, drinking it will leach minerals from your body, thereby robbing you of good health and nutrition. There is no basis of fact to document this claim.



The national best-selling health and diet book, : "Fit for Life II: Living Health" by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, answers this question. The following is an excerpt:
"Distilled water has an inherent quality. Acting almost like a magnet, it picks up rejected, discarded, and unusable minerals and, assisted by the blood and the lymph, carries them to the lungs and kidneys for elimination from the body. The statement that distilled water leaches minerals from the body has no basis in fact. It doesn't leach out minerals that have become part of the cell structure. It can't and won't. It collects only minerals that have already been rejected or excreted by the cells...To suggest that distilled water takes up minerals from foods so that the body derives no benefit from them is absurd." MYTH # 3: Long continued drinking of distilled water
could cause deterioration of the teeth

I saw this statement in product literature from a national filter company. Shame on them for bad mouthing distillation just to sell a few more filters. This is a truly inventive falsification. The negative message this filter company wants to convey is that drinking distilled water (which has removed all traces of fluoride) for long periods, will supposedly wreak havoc on your teeth by deteriorating them. Where is the proof?



MYTH # 5: Distilled water isn't effective against organic chemicals

VOC'S are organic chemicals that have lower boiling points than tap water, for e.g., benzene. When water is being boiled to 212 degrees Fahrenheit in the boiling tank, if VOC'S are present they will vaporize and rise up with the steam as a gas. Many distillers today utilize a volatile gas vent, which is a pin hole in the top of the condensing coils to vent off any unwanted gases. If the VOC's do happen to escape this vent, then the carbon post filter will trap them. Carbon pre treatment before distillation will remove a majority of chlorine and VOC'S, whereas the post filter is mainly used as a polishing filter. In cases of manual distillers, only post carbon filtration is used and is sufficient in removing VOC'S and unwanted gases.
I see this statement made all too often in advertising literature from different segments of the water industry. When they compare their system with distillation, they will say that theirs will remove nearly all the organic contaminants and distillation is weak on VOC removal. Why? Because they are telling you half the truth. Distillation without carbon filtration is not as effective in removing VOC'S by itself. Combining carbon filtration with distillation will boost removal rates to greater than 99% under normal conditions. In an actual highly spiked test, VOC'S were tested on a Durastill distiller system with carbon filtration. The results are shown below:

</STRONG>Volatile Organic ContaminantsPARAMETERQuantity Spiked mg/l*EPA limit mg/lTimes EPA Limit Spiked% of Removal with FilterBenzene0.500.00510097.0Trichloroethylene 1.00.00520095.7Trihalomethanes66.70.1066799.85 * EPA- Environmental Protection Agency
As you can see, these test results were spiked tremendously beyond the EPA limits to show how the distiller with carbon filtration can remove an extreme amount of contaminants.
Today, carbon filtration is standard with all home distillation systems on the market, making it a complete system by removing a wider range of contaminants, including VOC'S.
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References:
Fit For Life II, Living Health: The Complete Program by
Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, pg. 101.

About The Author:
Joe Letorney Jr. is Vice President of Marketing for Durastill Export, Inc. and President of The Water Pro in Weymouth, MA. He received his B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Massachusetts. Letorney has over 15 years' experience in the distillation field and is a Certified Water Specialist (CWS-V). Comments may be directed to Letorney at P.O. Box 163, South Weymouth, MA 02190.
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jfischer
03-29-2008, 11:15 PM
What type of water should be used?. I have been using bottled drinking water in a one gallon container from Walmart. I have a water-well. which has alot of iron in the water.

When my peanut was being feed esbalic, I used the Infant bottled water, but later realized it contained flouride.

Gabe
03-30-2008, 06:45 AM
I don't know. My husband uses distilled water in his plating business. It does have a flat taste. Kind of like drinking air. He uses it because he needs to keep the minerals out of the plating. Distilled water is good for ironing also as there is no mineral build up in the iron. That would make me think that distilled water has no trace minerals. In the hospital we always used distilled water in the vaporizors to keep the minerals from blocking the system.