People who purchase reverse osmosis systems for water purification often express concerns regarding the pH of reverse osmosis water. Most of you may think that reverse osmosis water is alkaline or the process of RO purification removes nutritional content from the water. In this post, we’ll clear some misunderstandings regarding water pH level after reverse osmosis and how it impacts your health.
Understand Water pH
pH is the measurement of acidity or alkalinity of water, and it ranges on a scale from 0 to 14. Water with a 7 pH is neutral, less than 7 acidic, and higher than 7 is a base. Your body naturally maintains a slightly basic yet controlled pH level. The drinking water’s alkalinity or acidity alone does not impact your body’s alkalinity level.
Is Water From Reverse Osmosis Alkaline?
Yes, water from reverse osmosis has a slightly higher alkalinity (around 7.5) than pure water. Generally, the water which reverse osmosis produces has a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Various drinks like tea, coffee, carbonated drinks, and fruit juices have low alkalinity than reverse osmosis water, making them more acidic than RO water.
However, the consumption of acidic water can be harmful to your health over time. This happens when the acidic content of water interacts with different contaminants and metals that might be present in your drinking water. So when you treat drinking water with a reverse osmosis process, it may make it slightly acidic, but this does not have much impact on your health because it does not contain any metals or contaminants.
The reverse osmosis system removes healthy as well as unhealthy metals and chemicals such as chloride, calcium, iron, lead, sulfate, and fluoride from water. These are listed as the common contaminants present in water by Water Quality Association. If you consume them consistently over a certain period, they can cause chronic health conditions such as reproductive difficulties, kidney and liver diseases.
Does Consumption of Reverse Osmosis Water Harm Your Health?
No clinical or proven evidence exists which shows consuming reverse osmosis water is harmful to your health. If you are taking a healthy and balanced diet and don’t have any health conditions related to acidity, such as gastrointestinal problems and acid reflux, RO water consumption won’t impact your health.
Reverse Osmosis water filtration removes microbes, toxins, debris, minerals, and lead from your regular water supply. The pH is within healthy ranges of 5 to 7, which provides the best tasting and superior quality water for drinking.
How to Improve the pH of Reverse Osmosis Water?
If you need water having higher pH with greater mineral content, you can find RO systems with optional filters fortified with electrolytes and minerals. This helps increase the mineral content and pH while reducing the effects of health conditions related to the consumption of acidic drinks.
How Alkaline Water Consumption Helps Your Body?
The alkaline water mineral content quickly absorbs in your body and helps improve your body’s pH balance. Research studies indicate that alkaline water enhances calcium uptake by your body, so it’s considered a good source of calcium, especially for those who don’t like dairy products.
In a nutshell, reverse osmosis water may have a slightly higher pH level, but it’s not harmful to your overall health. However, if you want to have healthy minerals and chemicals in your reverse osmosis water, you can add optional filters rich in these elements to enhance mineral content.
