Can you drink distilled water? — Explainer video

Transcript

Can you drink distilled water? Dangerous or just unnecessary?

Distilled water is produced by evaporating water and condensing the vapour again. Minerals and salts are left behind in the process. It is usually sold as technical-grade water for household appliances. That alone suggests it was never intended as a drink.

Is drinking it dangerous? Small amounts are harmless for healthy adults. Things would only become critical with very large quantities in a short time. That applies to any water, though. Anyone who has health concerns or is unsure, for instance in the case of kidney disease, is best advised to ask a doctor.

The oft-cited “bursting cells” are a myth with a kernel of truth. In the laboratory, red blood cells in pure water take up water through osmosis and can burst. Drinking it never leads to this: within seconds, the water mixes with saliva and stomach contents. The laboratory observation is correct; transferring it to a glass of water is not.

Even so, it is unsuitable as an everyday drink: it lacks all minerals, and with them any taste. And water from a DIY store or chemist’s is a technical product, not made as a foodstuff.

Natural mineral water is, in a sense, the opposite: on its way through the rock, it absorbs minerals that shape its profile and its taste.

The Castels spring in Mels shows this. Its water is filtered through rock for around 12 years. The result is Piz Sardona, with 87 milligrams of calcium and 35 milligrams of magnesium per litre. In total: 540 milligrams of minerals per litre. The difference from distilled water can be measured and tasted.

More on this in the Piz Sardona Academy.