Monday, August 15, 2011

What Does Reverse Osmosis Do That's So Bad?

What does reverse osmosis do that's potentially so bad for you and your family? Reverse osmosis used to be a very common water filtration technology--still is. But reverse osmosis has a problem. It can actually create water that's bad for your health over the long run. Let's discuss why.

osmosis

To understand why water filtered by this method might be bad for you, let's talk about what is reverse osmosis in the first place. It's a method of separating water from its impurities by pressing the water through a porous membrane. The pure water molecules are small enough to go through the membrane. The impurities are larger and get caught by the membrane.

OSMOSIS

Here's the problem. The best water for you to drink is not just two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (H2O). There's a little more to it. Specifically, there are several trace minerals that are naturally found in pure water. These trace minerals are essential to our health!

Calcium and potassium are two minerals that are commonly found in pure water in its natural state. Calcium is central to many of the most important chemical processes in our bodies. So much so, that if your body doesn't have enough calcium, it will take the necessary calcium from your bones! I think we're all aware of the problems we can have with bone density and osteoporosis as we get older. That's one answer to the question of what does reverse osmosis do.

There are better ways to filter your water. Although you might have heard about it for quite a while, I mean what is reverse osmosis in the first place? Reverse osmosis accomplishes nothing that other water filtration methods can't accomplish.

Some other water filtration technologies include ultraviolet light (UV), distillation, and carbon and ceramic filtration. UV works great for ridding your water of living impurities. If you're not worried about things like industrial pollutants, then UV would be a good choice.

Distillation has it's own set of problems. If you're distilling chlorinated water, you can actually be creating carcinogens in the water you drink.

Carbon and ceramic filters work very well, especially along with other technologies. Actually, these "two step" water filtration systems are usually the best. They can filter out the bad, while leaving in the minerals.

So to sum up: What does reverse osmosis do? Well, it filters out trace minerals that are central to your ongoing health. And, by the way, it makes the water taste flat. You hear about it quite a lot. So, what is reverse osmosis actually used for? It's mainly used for industrial and commercial applications like car washes and soft drinks. Places where taste doesn't matter and health is not an issue.

What Does Reverse Osmosis Do That's So Bad?

OSMOSIS

No comments:

Post a Comment