Distilled water
Categories: Forms of water | Distillation
Distilled water is water that has had virtually all of its impurities removed through distillation (boiling the water and collecting the steam).
Properties
Because of its relative purity, some of the properties of distilled water are significantly different from those of the water most people consume and use in everyday life.
A potentially dangerous property of distilled water is that it can be heated in a microwave oven above the boiling point without actually boiling. Only when the superheated water is disturbed or has impurities added will it come to a sudden, explosive boil, possibly causing serious injury by scalding. However, this is true of all water and water-based solutions, not just pure distilled water.
Health Effects
Distilled and deionized water lacks fluoride ions which are normally added at a water treatment plant for the effect of the inhibition of cavity formation it produces and thus the drinking of distilled water may conceivably increase the risk of tooth decay. However most people continue to cook with common tap water and this likely provides sufficient fluoride to maintain normal prophylaxis. Any other minerals present in tap water such as calcium and magnesium are present in such miniscule amounts that their absence is compensated for many hundreds of times over by other dietary sources.