Replacing Vitamins and Minerals in De-Sal Water

[tarian]

there is no significant mineral content in tap water do not listen to your GP
Highlights SEE MY ABOVE POST
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We collected tap water samples in 144 homes across the United States.

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The mineral content of the water samples was determined.

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The tap water provides only small amounts of minerals to the diet.

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Tap water provided more than 1% of the DRI for only four minerals, Ca, Mg, Cu, and Na.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...89157513000549

all mineral and vitamin content is gained via you food intake ,
I was a biologist in my youth

I also live in Scotland and from our Water supplier and which is some of the purest water in the UK.
Water that is hard contains dissolved salts of calcium and magnesium. Rain water may pick up these minerals as it seeps through soil and rocks. Chalk or limestone rocks contain the greatest amount of these minerals, but they are not common in Scotland, so most water supplies are classified as soft.

[friz]

Drinking water as a source of vitamins and minerals? Never heard of such a thing. Vitamins and minerals are contained in the food we eat. Very little ceases to amaze me any longer. Another good argument against universal suffrage.

[Dsanduril]

Yes, universal suffrage is terrible since the simple science tells us that minerals in our drinking water are absolutely necessary to good health.

...intake of distilled water or water with TDS ≤ 75 mg/L leads to: 1.) increased water intake, diuresis, extracellular fluid volume, and serum concentrations of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) ions and their increased elimination from the body, resulting in an overall negative balance.., and 2.) lower volumes of red cells and some other hematocrit changes (3). Although Rakhmanin et al. (6) did not find mutagenic or gonadotoxic effects of distilled water, they did report decreased secretion of tri-iodothyronine and aldosterone, increased secretion of cortisol, morphological changes in the kidneys including a more pronounced atrophy of glomeruli, and swollen vascular endothelium limiting the blood flow. Reduced skeletal ossification was also found in rat foetuses whose dams were given distilled water in a one-year study. Apparently the reduced mineral intake from water was not compensated by their diets, even if the animals were kept on standardized diet that was physiologically adequate in caloric value, nutrients and salt composition.

Reading further on the subject, it appears that while the quantities appear insignificant, if the minerals normally found in drinking water are absent it results in osmosis within the gut. This results in minerals that are in our bodies exiting them through our urine because the water we drank was so 'clean' that osmotic pressure drives them out of the body and into the demineralised water we drank. The WHO and nearly every other major health science organization recommend drinking water with a minimum TDS of 100ppm. This has generally been found sufficient to keep the water we drink from leaching minerals from our bodies as it passes through our gut. Curiously enough, that's about the best removal level that can be obtained by our small seawater RO systems. The composition of the various minerals in RO'd seawater is slightly different than recommended, but not so much so that I have concern over drinking water from our watermaker for years.

[tarian]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

Yes, universal suffrage is terrible since the simple science tells us that minerals in our drinking water are absolutely necessary to good health.



Reading further on the subject, it appears that while the quantities appear insignificant, if the minerals normally found in drinking water are absent it results in osmosis within the gut. This results in minerals that are in our bodies exiting them through our urine because the water we drank was so 'clean' that osmotic pressure drives them out of the body and into the demineralised water we drank. The WHO and nearly every other major health science organization recommend drinking water with a minimum TDS of 100ppm. This has generally been found sufficient to keep the water we drink from leaching minerals from our bodies as it passes through our gut. Curiously enough, that's about the best removal level that can be obtained by our small seawater RO systems. The composition of the various minerals in RO'd seawater is slightly different than recommended, but not so much so that I have concern over drinking water from our watermaker for years.

Please qoute your scientfic link so it can be looked over
Also the amount of minerals in a healthly diet is more than the body needs and if you have a good diet and take supplements you are wasting your money as the body can only hold so much minerals as designed and it will flush out , just like proteins etc, the body does not have a mecanisim for storage unless its fat
IF you are worried about water and minerals eat fish and veg and other products because they also contain WATER and all the minerals you need Science is never absoulute that is why we keep learnig new stuff
Yes, both distilled and reverse osmosis water are devoid of minerals, but ingesting mineral-free purified water is not harmful to your body. A majority of third-world countries still drink rainwater. Warm, moist air rising up into the sky from evaporation of natural large bodies of water including rivers, lakes, and oceans builds clouds. Condensation of water vapor forms larger water droplets, and when the droplets are heavy enough they will fall from the clouds as rain. This process of water evaporation and condensation is the largest distillation process on Earth!

Rainwater is not "dead water!" Minerals are essential to our cellular metabolism, growth, and vitality, and we get majority of them from eating food, not drinking water. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, and you will be optimally mineralized and alkalized.

[oleman]

While I was in the USN, ships used a low temperature vacuum distillation process for potable water. They used BROMIDE to treat the distillate because in seriously contaminated raw sea water (basically within 25 NM of land) the temperature of the evap was not high enough to sterilize. Never saw any reference on additives except the sterilization of the distillate. Believe we are chasing a red herring!

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by tarian

Please qoute your scientfic link so it can be looked over

Hmm, lots of assertions that I'm wrong and yet no links for your assertions For mine, you can start with these:

Safe Drinking Water From Desalination

Health Risks From Drinking Demineralised Water

Note specifically the recommendation to blend back in 1% seawater to return calcium, and more importantly magnesium, to treated water, especially for cardiovascular health.

[billgewater]

And so what about the flouride content of the water? I know that some will insist that it is the devils work and that we will all die if we use it and others will quote the extensive studies showing the positives, but whatever your stance, does anyone actually add flouride to their water supplies if it comes from town water that is not flouridated or if the water comes from any form of desalination system?

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by bstreep

Don't worry about it. It's an internet myth. RO/DI water, from a home system, runs 0-5ppm. Rainwater, 5-10ppm. Typical watermaker? 300-400ppm. People have been drinking rainwater for centuries without adverse effects. You get plenty of minerals in your diet, unless you have an unusual diet.

Eat the lobster shells. Extra crunchy.

[rmlarson1098]

Originally Posted by PADISail

I read here a while back that a steady 'diet' of WaterMaker water with the minerals and vitamins leeched out of it is NOT healthy - I guess our bodies need those, as it will eventually cause bone deficiency and other physical maladies.

Where should I look for equipment to re-inject these items back into the De-salinated water ? Preferably automatically into the 'drinking water' path ?

While we don't actually have a watermaker, we 'freshen' stale tank/shore water the same way we make our own 'Sports Drink': a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of honey (preferred) or sugar, per liter. Thats it. When offshore we use an ounce of seawater in place of table salt. If I did have a watermaker. I probably wouldn't re-inject anything into the system - just add minerals/vitamins to a liter or gallon bottle of drinking water drawn off from the de-salinator. Just one way of thinking about it. KISS.

[thinwater]

Not internet myth. It started with investigation of heart disease and stroke in comunitees served by RO water. These are WHO studies.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation...entschap12.pdf
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/...B08?sequence=1

As I recall, the EPA and others now require remineralization of RO water.

That said, watermakers and utility RO systems are not the same thing; they produce water with MUCH lower TDS than boat units.

And apparently, diet supplements are not quite the same as having the correct minerals in your water. But unless you drink almost entirely watermaker water, it's a non-concern. Mix it up with some tap water or swim (and swallow some seawater--you always get some) and you'll be fine.


What are the standards? I thought you would never ask.

But not internet myth. You should NOT install an RO in your house for drinking. It is provably not better. On the boat, I wouldn't worry.

[belizesailor]

Ive been discussing this subject with a friend recently and doing some related research. In the end most of the published research is inconclusive and dated. There is not a lot of solid current research on the subject. There is a lot of questionable research published or funded by organizations who ultimately want to sell re-mineralization systems. These same organizations quote existing research of context.

My interpretation of the research: It often uses the term "deminieralize" to refer to water below 50ppm. It also recommends water as safe for human consumption between 250-500PPM. This is about the range most cruising boat RO desal systems produce. My interpretation of the report is that there may be potential (note: "may be potential") health issues with long term consumption of demineralized water as your only water source, but that water in the 250-500PPM range is a non-issue (provided of course it is otherwise santitary).

There is a seperate issue of what Ive heard called "hungry water" (demineralized water) leaching from metal components in plumbing systems. I know of ships engineers who re-mineralize water due to this issue.

My take is that water in the 250-500PPM range is a non-issue in either case.

A link to one often quoted paper on the subject below. Its a lot to wade thru, but you can jump to the "Conclusions" section...which is not so conclusive.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...FvFXNemBET2oZy

If it concerns you and you want to re-mineralize water for drinking purposed, just buy the base minerals and add them yourself. We do this to make carbonated mineral water. I do this for brewing specific styles of beer...its easy (though it is a complex subject) and dirt cheap. There is even some research that suggests, again not conclusively, that there may be health benefits to consuming water with elevated mineral content.

The bottom line is that the jury is still out.

[fivecapes]

I'd like to think taking regular and conspicuous doses of vitamin beer renders this a moot point.

[AndyEss]

Drink enough Vitamin Beer, and you can become a mute point

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by fivecapes

I'd like to think taking regular and conspicuous doses of vitamin beer renders this a moot point.

Originally Posted by AndyEss

Drink enough Vitamin Beer, and you can become a mute point

If you drink enough vitamin beer to become mute then you are moot. [emoji6]

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by AndyEss

Drink enough Vitamin Beer, and you can become a mute point

And for sailors, this hints at the point.



The WHO studies where for communities where they drunk NOTHING but RO water made from fresh water. In reality, we only drink watermakre water that for a week or so on passage. It is not nearly as low in minerals as the water in the studies. The rest of the time we visit shore, we swim, drink beer, and do plenty of stuff that breaks the cycle.


I presented the info because it explained that the dangers of drinking distilled/DI water were not just internet myth, but as a practical matter, it does not matter to sailors. I also think it is interesting that all of those old wives' tales about healthful mineral water were in part, true. The study also says there is no upper bound where you can have too much Ca or Mg in your water. I wonder how the myth of mineral water started, a century or more ago.