Does Water Purification Remove Healthy Minerals?

Have you ever heard that drinking water purification, such as reverse osmosis, removes healthy minerals that your body needs and that you will experience a mineral deficiency if using such purification?

This is an industry myth.

Keep reading to understand the full picture and gain a better grasp on this issue.

How Did Concern for “Mineral Water” Become a Thing?

Like stated above, it has become a widely accepted idea that drinking water purification removes healthy minerals, that your body needs, from the water. Despite the lack of research and evidence to support this claim.

Many water filtration industry companies have unfortunately added to this myth, how?

Producing water from filtration that doesn’t fully remove contaminants is much cheaper to produce. So what is the solution that they came up with to sell this low-quality filtration?

They had tests done and found a few common contaminants that are in municipal water, but are also used for mineral intake in your body. With this knowledge, they started forming marketing campaigns that pushed the idea that filtering water to a high-quality level was a mistake! Because the minerals that your body could use were also being removed.

That’s when the push for “mineral water” started showing up on bottled water. Faucet filter and pitcher filter companies also jumped on board. Their low-quality filters started being labeled as “Purifies without removing healthy minerals”.

The Minerals in Municipal (City) Water

Is there any truth to the “healthy minerals being removed” idea? Partially.

Here’s the research.

“The World Health Organization assembled a diverse group of nutrition, medical and scientific experts in Rome in November 2003, at the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, to address a number of questions relating to the nutrient composition of drinking water and the possibility that drinking water could in some circumstances contribute to total dietary nutrition.”

This is the most in-depth study, around 200 pages long, that we found covering the topic of water mineralization. Here is a summary statement that was very helpful:

“The meeting concluded that only a few minerals in natural waters had sufficient concentrations and distribution to expect that their consumption in drinking water might sometimes be a significant supplement to dietary intake in some populations. Magnesium and possibly calcium were the two most likely significant contributors to dietary intake in populations that consumed ‘hard’ water.”

Notice the wording, “only a few… to expect… might sometimes be significant… in some populations…”

View the World Health Organization Study PDF

Mineral Intake

Let’s talk about the two minerals mentioned in the summary statement, magnesium and calcium.

Even if these could provide some beneficial mineral supplication through water intake, the effects would be highly limited.

These minerals, when found in water, are not chelated minerals. What are chelated minerals?

“Chelated minerals are minerals that are already in a form the human body can easily absorb—unlike typical minerals. Chelated minerals are already bound/”chelated” to an amino acid, which makes it much easier for your body to absorb and metabolize them for critical functions essential to your health.”

The body’s ability to absorb the minerals is hindered when not chelated. But, mineral intake from plants such as broccoli, are already chelated and therefore are highly effective, helpful for the body, and easily absorbed.

Primary Mineral Intake Source

This is one of those “of course that makes sense” reasons when discussing mineral intake. Think about eating a fresh, healthy, and natural salad, full of veggies and fruits. Now think about the water you drink every day. Which one would you say is your primary mineral intake source? Do you think that water comes even close to contributing to your mineral intake?

Let’s take a look at calcium for this example. The bioavailability of calcium in milk is about 7%, the bioavailability in broccoli is about 85%, but the bioavailability in water is less than 1%. And like stated above, that less than 1% is very difficult for your body to use at all and will most likely get passed on through your system and sent out.

And like stated above, broccoli plants use non-chelated calcium and convert it to chelated calcium.

When Mineralized Water Counts

If mineralized water is a must for you and your diet, then the water should be purified and remineralized. That way it is controlled, and only good minerals are in your drinking water, NOT minerals and a host of other contaminants.

We wrote an article covering the contaminants that are found in municipal water – read it here.

Water can be adjusted to be on the higher end of the alkaline scale, and water can also be remineralized. But in either case, it should begin with pure water. Raising the PH or mineralizing contaminated water is counterintuitive.

Other Resources and Research

Here are two other resources that may be of interest. The first is a study done by the Water Quality Association, with a primary focus on the negative health effects of drinking RO water – (none found) and the second is an in-depth guide at the removal of minerals from the International Water Association Publishing group.

The Bottom Line

Don’t rely on minerals in water to be a significant source for daily mineral intake. If you do want mineralized water, purify the water first and control the types of minerals you add back into the water.

PerfectWater provides options for remineralization after purification if this option interests you. Contact our team of experts and certified Master Water Specialists to learn more.