this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
1291 points (97.9% liked)

Microblog Memes

5927 readers
3648 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

Rules:

  1. Please put at least one word relevant to the post in the post title.
  2. Be nice.
  3. No advertising, brand promotion or guerilla marketing.
  4. Posters are encouraged to link to the toot or tweet etc in the description of posts.

Related communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

Tap water tastes different from bottled water, and the bottled water from Brazil tastes different from the bottled water I had in Chile, which came from glaciers.

And yeah it's the minerals that give taste to the water, but I don't think you're supposed to drink completely distilled water in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

but I don't think you're supposed to drink completely distilled water in the first place.

It'll harm you a bit over time if you're not getting those minerals elsewhere in your diet, but otherwise it's not that big of a deal.

I have some on hand for other stuff and I've drank it in a pinch when I didn't have other water (my tap tastes horrid and purifiers that don't cost shit tons of money don't filter out the reason why) and I'm still hydrated as fuck

Distilled water tastes empty, like the flavor is being removed from my mouth. Quite odd

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

The reason I've heard repeatedly is that distilled water isn't just harmful because it doesn't provide minerals, it's that it strips needed minerals from your body.

I don't know the exact mechanism and can't be bothered to look it up, but there was a WHO study years ago that reported this finding.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's because of osmotic pressure, the cells try to reach equilibrium with their environment so if the difference is too big then it leaks from one side to the other (in this case out of the cells which needs the minerals). It's similar to how salt hurts snails but in the reverse direction, it seeps in when there's so much more on the outside of its membranes.

This doesn't happen just from drinking one glass of water.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Googled it before commenting to make sure I wasn't forgetting something and that's not really what happens.

Common consensus is that you're fine drinking it so long as you get the minerals you lose through sweat elsewhere in your diet

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

That's a myth. A very commonly repeated myth, but a myth nonetheless.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Reverse osmosis filters produce pretty much distilled water that usually goes through remineraliser to add back some minerals. Fun fact is many of those remineralisers are sold as "improving water taste and smell", probably because they do improve taste and smell, but also not to make users too suspicious about adding back minerals after they just filtered the minerals out 😅

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

supposedly the only downside to drinking distilled water is lack of electrolytes and taste

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317698#risks

I drink predominantly distilled water at home since I have a tabletop distiller. Makes custom mineral water easier to mix up since you're starting from ~0 total dissolved solids. I'm often too lazy to add the minerals though, and the straight distilled water doesn't cause any digestive discomfort or anything

I have prescription fluoride toothpaste so I'm not too worried

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Completely distilled tap water also leeches minerals from your body

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

IF you drink too much without complementing the minerals from other sources.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

When I visited Massachusetts and tried tap water, I couldn't even drink it because it tasted evil.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Distilled water tastes like someone cooked pasta in it.