Can you believe a medical doctor made this statement? This statement by Dr. Joseph Mercola, a well-known “health expert and nutritionist,” can be found on the internet on the first page of search results Googling Distilled Water.
Jim Jones advocated an early death from drinking Kool-Aid; and his flock of 900 forfeited their lives as a consequence of following his teachings and proclamations. You may consider that shocking or hard to believe, but there are millions of people who will vote for a smooth-talking presidential candidate with a charming, addictive, trusting smile and a basket full of “false promises,” yet never bother to invest the time or energy to investigate his beliefs, goals, or background. They would rather accept whatever propaganda the media feeds them.
After publishing his statement on the internet that drinking distilled water will kill you, Dr. Mercola also dropped the names of two other “doctors,” Zoltan Rona, MD, and Pavlo Ariola, ND, who just happened to have quoted him, including many amateur “experts” in their articles, blogs and websites. None of these researchers or writers bothered doing their own research, such as:
- Checking out Mercola’s motives behind making such a ridiculous statement about pure water;
- Researching Mercola’s premise for stating, “Early death comes from drinking distilled water”;
- Seeking the opinions of renowned, respected experts from the science and the medical fields.
1. First Come the Motives
In my own personal research I quickly discovered that Dr. Mercola markets dozens of health products on his website and has been cited several times by the FDA for making health claims about certain products that cure diseases. He also sells a carbon water filter for a multi-level marketing company, Aquasana. What’s more, these carbon filters do not remove the total quantities of over 250 known toxic chemicals found in various municipal water supplies across the US. Now you can understand why Dr. Mercola would make a provocative claim about water that is pure and free of any type of contaminant, since he promotes a water purifier that does not remove everything from the water, in particular, inorganic minerals.
2. Second is the Premise
There have been scores of people quoting Dr. Mercola in articles, blogs, periodicals and websites.
Dr. Mercola claims that since distilled water is pure water, “Distilled water will leach minerals from the body and since it is ‘hungry water,’ it will absorb carbon dioxide out of the air and turn it acidic. And as an acidic water, it will dissolve even more minerals from the body.” This is not true! This ridiculous statement flies in the face of simple elementary science, chemistry and biology 101. First of all, a glass of distilled water definitely does not become acidic while simply sitting on the counter. As a matter of fact, after one day or one year, it is still pure distilled water with a pH of 7 (neutral). Furthermore, it is impossible for pure distilled water (H2O) to leach minerals from your body! Why? Because the water is quickly transformed into blood, lymph, digestive juices, lubricants, bile and other bodily fluids, and is no longer two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The major advantage of distilled water over any other water is that the body is not required to clean it up first, removing all its toxins, carcinogens, and inorganic (non-chelated) minerals that contribute to kidney stones, gall stones, plaque, and many other ailments. Incidentally, these are the same minerals that the Aquasana filters do not remove!
3. Third is the Other Expert Opinion
Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of The College of Medicine, University of Arizona, graduated with a medical degree, plus an undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard. He has been a frequent guest for many years on Oprah, Larry King, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, USA Today and the New York Times. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine; was on the front cover of Time Magazine three times, as well as Discover and Natural Health magazines. Dr. Weil says, “Distilled water is free from all contaminants, carcinogens, toxins, bacteria, viruses and all other organic and inorganic substances. Once water is distilled it is literally pure H2O. Even though all the organic and inorganic minerals are removed through distillation, I don’t see this as an issue since we don’t get our required minerals from water, we get them from food. As for acidity, distilled water is seven on the pH scale, which is neutral, and has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the acid-to-base balance of our bodies. Distilled water is safe and healthy to drink and it is what I use myself.”
As for Dr. Mercola’s statement, “Early death comes from drinking distilled water,” Dr Charles Bragg wrote, “The Shocking Truth About Water” and “The Miracle of Fasting,” both of which books I read in 1972 at age 25. As a result, I have been fasting every year since and drinking at least a gallon of distilled water daily for over 40 years, and I haven’t died an early death. In fact, I have never been sick or ingested one single medicine, not even an aspirin.
I guess that “A man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man [or a doctor] with an argument.”
