Should I be buying distilled bottled water over regular bottled water? What is the difference?!
Spring or drinking water is filtered, purified, water, with naturally occuring minerals. It may have been, or not, "fortified" with floride or other additives...read label.
Distilled water has gone through a process where water is boiled, the steam is captured as condensate and is water only, no naturally occuring minerals, nothing but H2O. The minerals and other impurities are left behind in the "boiler". If you have had a pot of plain water boil dry, you know that there is a crusty white residue left behind...minerals such as calcium, magnesium, most commonly.
Water is very temperamental. It is always going to be "balanced". That is why acid/base levels are important in a swimming pool. Regular drinking water is balanced with minerals, natural or added.
Distilled water has had no chance to become balanced, so if you drink it, minerals in your body/bones/teeth are leached into it the water as it seeks its natural balance in the body.
Do not make a practice of drinking distilled water for this reason. Use drinking, spring or mineral water for consumption. Distilled has its own function for use in steam irons, for example, where mineral build up can be harmful in the body of the iron.
While I am not a proponent of bottled water, I prefer it while traveling. I use tap water, and when living in an area with bad tasting water, I use a Brita or other charcol filter to remove the bad odors, chlorine and possible harmful chemicals.
Hope this helps.
Answers: This is lenghthy but not difficult chemistry type answer...bear with me
Spring or drinking water is filtered, purified, water, with naturally occuring minerals. It may have been, or not, "fortified" with floride or other additives...read label.
Distilled water has gone through a process where water is boiled, the steam is captured as condensate and is water only, no naturally occuring minerals, nothing but H2O. The minerals and other impurities are left behind in the "boiler". If you have had a pot of plain water boil dry, you know that there is a crusty white residue left behind...minerals such as calcium, magnesium, most commonly.
Water is very temperamental. It is always going to be "balanced". That is why acid/base levels are important in a swimming pool. Regular drinking water is balanced with minerals, natural or added.
Distilled water has had no chance to become balanced, so if you drink it, minerals in your body/bones/teeth are leached into it the water as it seeks its natural balance in the body.
Do not make a practice of drinking distilled water for this reason. Use drinking, spring or mineral water for consumption. Distilled has its own function for use in steam irons, for example, where mineral build up can be harmful in the body of the iron.
While I am not a proponent of bottled water, I prefer it while traveling. I use tap water, and when living in an area with bad tasting water, I use a Brita or other charcol filter to remove the bad odors, chlorine and possible harmful chemicals.
Hope this helps.
no difference its a conspiracy
Buy bottled SPRING water if you want bottled water. Buying anything else is simply drinking tap water, which you get for free!
I buy only distilled, with distilled you know there is no additives it is pure water. Spring and other water contains minerals and chemicals
Distilled water would be the safest, but you decide:
Distilled:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=...
Spring Water:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=...
Tap Water:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=...
Distilled water is missing minerals that are good for the body.
Also, since distilled water is "pure" with no imperfections, it's a perfect candidate for becoming superheated (and unable to boil). So if you ever happen to heat up a mug of distilled water in the microwave so you can make tea or instant coffee, the moment you agitate the water, it will violently explode. --hopefully not in your face.
Bottled water is one of the WORST ways of getting water that there is for the environment. You are paying to have water shipped in possibly non-reusable bottles from one place to another - wasting energy, resources, fuel, production costs, etc. It is a myth perpetuated by the water bottlers that their water is somehow 'healthier'. For goodness sake, get a water filter jug.
I like spring water the best as it is naturally buffered and won't leach out the plastic like distilled water will do. I will buy distilled once in a while if I can find it in the clear plastic bottles but never in the cloudy plastic. I wish it still came in glass bottles.
The "Drinking" water that they make has buffers added to it to prevent the leaching but they are adding stuff I don't like to accomplish this.
EDIT Distilled will tend to leach out some bad stuff in your body, but water, being the universal solvent, will also take along the good stuff in your body, like essential minerals and vitamins. It is ok once in a while but a full time diet of it might work against you.
A few hundred $$ a year. Unless you live in
Africa
Belgium [I do, our water is harder than BUBBLED MINERAL WATER... people have gotten food poisoning from it, so we buy spring water]
Anywhere else known to be high in rates of water borne diseases
STOP KILLING THE ENVIRONMENT AND WASTING YOUR MONEY.
Bottled water is a waste of energy and resources because you are paying for what comes out of your tap.
Distilled water is technically ONLY for use in chemical labratories as it doesn't 'work' for kitchens- it doesn't boil normally, and when you put something else in it it froths or worse, explodes, but I won't bore you with the chemical details.
When it comes to bottled water, spring water is the best choice but should ONLY be a last resort if your tap water is not drinkable. It wastes resources and energy and is a disgusting, useless way of killing the environment.
Basically, buy a Brita water filter and attach it to your sink and you'll be fine, unless you have water like mine where you KNOW people have gotten sick from it/can taste the calcium/clogs up your shower and drain every month/etc.
I bought bottled water once and still use the bottle.
I fill it from the tap and put it in the fridge.
Why would you pay for water when you have a tap full that tastes better.
We all grew up on tap water. bottled water only came to UK in the late 80's or 90's. Nobody used it before that.
distilled water has no minerals in it. It's dead water.