Are Minerals in Your Water Important?

Tap water naturally contains dissolved minerals that make your water taste and smell a little funny. That’s why some people like to use filtration systems: to filter those minerals out. But if you’re supposed to get some minerals in your water it seems like a reverse osmosis filter- or most water filters, really- get rid of the important ones. It makes you wonder if it’s worth getting a water filtration system if you actually need to consume the minerals that a system filters out?

The truth is minerals are important to your health, and supplementing your diet with mineralized water is a great idea. It's a little tricky when it comes to reverse osmosis, so in this article we'll go over what minerals are, what they do for your health, and how to put them into your water without breaking the bank.

What are minerals?

Minerals are inorganic substances that can come from organic materials from rocks to fruits and vegetables. There are many kinds of minerals that are necessary for human health: they keep your main organs functioning, your bones strong, and take part in enzyme and hormone production.

Some of the most essential minerals for humans to consume daily are:

• Calcium for strong teeth and bones
• Iron for protein and blood cell production and enzyme activation
• Zinc for an immune system boost and production of protein and DNA
• Potassium for fluid balance and muscle contraction
• Magnesium for the regulation of blood pressure

While these minerals are helpful, they can be harmful to our bodies if consumed in large enough amounts. At the very least, too many of these minerals will make water hard and difficult to drink as it will smell and taste funny. 

Water can also pick up additional harmful substances. Lead, arsenic, barium, aluminum, and chromium can be introduced into your water through treatment centers and the pipes going to your sinks. This makes water not just unpleasant to drink, but dangerous, too.

The Best Source for Minerals 

The best way to get minerals is through an organic source; humans can best process the minerals found in food and water. Our intake of dairy, fruits, vegetables, grains, and water is the main way we digest all our minerals and nutrients.

We should be getting around 1,000 mg of calcium, 400 mg of magnesium, and 3,500 mg of potassium each day. If simply relying on water, you would need to drink gallons and gallons of remineralized water each day to reach these specified amounts. By supplementing your diet with mineralized water- water with minerals in it- you'll have the best chance of getting all of the minerals your body needs.

Filtered Water

The fact is that filtration systems are not that selective, nor do they completely get rid of all the substances in the water. There will most likely still be traces of nontoxic substances such as calcium and magnesium in filtered water. The quantities are small enough that they cannot hurt you, but they will not do you any ample good either.

Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration takes your water from dirty to almost pure water with no contaminants left behind. But with no contaminants also comes no helpful minerals. So how are you supposed to get minerals in your water?

Instead of purchasing bottles of expensive mineral water, you’ll want to reintroduce minerals back into your filtered water by running it through a remineralizer. For example, the NU Aqua 5 in 1 Alkaline Filter will help give you back some of the helpful minerals (calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, and selenium) you lost filtering.

Are minerals important in your water? You won't die without them in your water, but adding minerals into your water has plenty of health benefits. When you combine a diet rich with minerals you need with water that contains an added dose of minerals, you’re on the right track to complete nutrition.