Does Water Purification Remove Healthy Minerals?

You must’ve heard that different water purification systems don’t just eliminate harmful chemicals and other contaminants, but they also get rid of healthy minerals found in water. 

Is this a myth, or is that actually true? 

Well, some water filters like reverse osmosis may get rid of healthy minerals from your water. Still, they generally come with a remineralizing filter to ensure that you consume water rich in minerals. 

In this article, we will discuss the importance of minerals, and we’ll further discuss whether water purification remove healthy minerals or not. 

Let’s get started…

All About Minerals 

Minerals are necessary to ensure that you have healthy skin, teeth, bones, and hair. Minerals are also responsible for the overall development of your body.

Essential minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium can be found in your tap water. When rainwater meets soil, it flows through our Mother Earth and becomes rich in vital minerals. 

Along with these minerals, the water gets contaminated with toxic substances as well. The contamination may take place due to several reasons, such as pollution. The contamination of water makes it unfit for consumption, and hence, we use water purification systems at our homes to eliminate these components and chemicals. 

Water filtration systems ensure that you consume clean drinking water. However, most RO water filtration systems also get rid of vital minerals. This happens because the molecules of most vital minerals are larger than those of water. 

As a result, the minerals get filtered out when the water is forced to pass through the semipermeable membrane of a reverse osmosis water filter. So, how can we retain these minerals in our drinking water? You can choose other water filtration systems that don’t eliminate the minerals but successfully get rid of all the contaminants.

Moreover, necessary minerals can also be consumed through dietary supplements and good food. 

Water purifiers are a long-term investment. It would help if you chose to invest in a filter that gets rid of toxic particles and allows you to drink mineral-rich water. 

Does Water Purification Remove Healthy Minerals from Tap Water?

The location and source of municipal water impact the number of healthy minerals it has. You should not rely on water to be the sole source of essential minerals your body requires. However, it does come with certain healthy minerals that your body needs. 

Different water filtration systems come with unique technologies, and they are capable of getting rid of unwanted components effectively and efficiently. The question that arises is whether all of these water filtration systems eliminate minerals too? 

In this section, we will answer this question in detail as it depends on the technology used by the water filter. 

1. Water Filtration Systems That Eliminate Healthy Minerals 

A reverse osmosis water filtration system is known to be the most popular and effective water filter available in the market. RO filters can turn bad-tasting water into pure and clean drinking water.

Multiple stages are involved in the filtration system of an RO filter, and they are well-known for eliminating impurities as well as essential minerals from the water. 

RO filters effectively remove dangerous heavy metals and chemicals such as Aluminium, Arsenic, and Lead, among others. If not removed, these hazardous contaminants can cause reproductive problems, nausea, brain damage, seizures, and various other health issues. 

RO water is usually a little more acidic and less palatable than water filtered using other water purifiers or tap water.

However, most reverse osmosis water filters come with an additional filter known as the remineralizing filter, which magically works at the last stage of the process and fills the water with all the necessary minerals that were removed at the initial stage. Another name for a remineralizing filter is an alkaline filter. 

2. Water Filtration Systems That Don’t Eliminate Healthy Minerals

Water filtration systems such as Ceramic Filters and Activated Carbon Filters don’t eliminate essential minerals from drinking water. Hence, these filters remove harmful particles while retaining healthy minerals in the tap water. 

Usually, activated carbon-based purification systems effectively eliminate hazardous components attracted to carbon. This process is named absorption. As a result, carbon filters effectively remove THMS, VOCs, and chlorine. Carbon filters may not successfully remove heavy metals and salts.

As carbon does not attract essential minerals, ceramic and carbon filters don’t require alkaline filters as a part of their filtration systems. 

Some carbon filters come with ceramic filters to successfully remove pathogens and viruses from the tap water as well. 

Final Thoughts 

We recommend you not to bank on the water for your total mineral intake. Filtration of minerals from your drinking water should not be a huge concern as filters like reverse osmosis that do remove minerals usually come equipped with a remineralizing filter. 

Moreover, most water filters available in the market for residential purposes do not remove healthy and necessary minerals from the water.

If you are planning to invest in a water filter for your home, we advise you to buy one that either doesn’t remove minerals in the first place or comes with an alkaline or remineralizing filter. 

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