Question:
The gist of this posting is that Distilled Water (or RO water or pure water) issaid by some experts to be damaging to the body, used in long term. Thatbecause pure water is so corrosive, so active in leeching out minerals and increating an acid environment that it prematurely ages and damages the body.

When I read this, I thought....probably that is nonsense. But, I got out my pHtester I used for my fish tank and I decided to check and see if Pure Water wasacidic or alkaline. I tried first my tap water and it was mildly alkaline at7.4 pH. Next I bought a gallon of distilled water and it tested acidic at a pHof 6.2. Then I tested the gallon of Reverse Osmosis filtered water which Iusually buy (and refill myself) at WalMart. It also tested quite acidic at 6.2pH. This got me thinking, "Is this guy onto something, here?" Btw, I have nothing to sell to you nor anything to buy. I suggest us folks getout our pH tester and test the "pure" water we are drinking. I tend to agreenow that our main drinking water source should be slightly alkaline anddefinitely should not be acidic. Here are some quotes from the above link,

Early Death Comes From Drinking Distilled Water

During nearly 19 years of clinical practice I have had the opportunity toobserve the health effects of drinking different types of water.

Distilled water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with air,it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. The more distilled water a persondrinks, the higher the body acidity becomes.

The most toxic commercial beverages that people consume (i.e. cola beveragesand other soft drinks) are made from distilled water. Studies have consistentlyshown that heavy consumers of soft drinks (with or without sugar) spill hugeamounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals into the urine.The more mineral loss, the greater the risk for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis,hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and a long list ofdegenerative diseases generally associated with premature aging.

A growing number of health care practitioners and scientists from around theworld have been advocating the theory that aging and disease is the directresult of the accumulation of acid waste products in the body.

There is a correlation between the consumption of soft water (distilled wateris extremely soft) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Cells, tissuesand organs do not like to be dipped in acid and will do anything to buffer thisacidity including the removal of minerals from the skeleton and the manufactureof bicarbonate in the blood.

Answer: The idea that 6.2 is quite acidic is actually quite...idioti....wrong. Thatis a very mild change in acidity. The little p in pH means "minus log of".That isn't even an order of magnitude disturbance in the naturalconcentration of [H30]+.

Although it might technically be true that pure water has a pH of 7.0, inreality, dissolved carbon dioxide in the water can have the pH as low asabout 5.5, though that value is dependent on temperature. In other words,only *degassed* pure water has a pH of 7.0.

You can calculate the pH if you know the CO2 concentration in the water,from the separate pKa's for carbonic acid and bicarbonate anion, in thefollowing reaction sequence:

3H2O + CO2 --> 2H20 + H2CO3 --> H2O + [H3O]+ + [HCO3]- --> 2 [H3O]+ +[CO3]--

Boiling drives out CO2, which shifts both equilibria to the left. If youboil long enough, pH goes to 7.0. The moment you let it cool, CO2 starts todissolve back in, and the pH falls anew.

Distilled water is not good for you because it contains no minerals. Hardwater is good for your heart. Soft water is not the same as distilled water.It is instead full of sodium as the cation, rather than the divalent calciumand magnesium found in hard water.

The rest of whatever that "doctor" said is hogwash. Your blood pH isregulated by the bicarbonate buffer system. You give off CO2 in your exhaledbreath as one means of avoiding excess blood acidity. If breathing alone isnot sufficient, there are other automatic processes such as kidney dumping,that keep the pH balanced.