this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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A ~~snake oil salesman would~~ mineral water salesman did have you fooled.
You presented your neighbor's hyponatremia as a result of drinking distilled water; the WHO did not mention hyponatremia being a risk of distilled water.
I have no idea what Tyson said on the subject. I suspect you're citing him about as accurately as you cited WHO.
From page 152
"Regular intake of low-mineral content water could be associated with the progressive evolution of the changes discussed above, possibly without manifestation of symptoms or causal symptoms over the years. Nevertheless, severe acute damage, such as hyponatremic shock or delirium, may occur following intense physical efforts and ingestion of several litres of lowmineral water (10)."
“The “intoxication” risk increases with decreasing levels of TDS.” (Bolded for emphasis.)
TDS is an acronym for Total Dissolved Solids. In plain English, the purer the water, the higher the chances of developing water intoxication, also known as hyponatremia. Neil DeGrasse Tyson's statements are in accordance to what the WHO said.
Bolded the relevant bit for emphasis. It's the "several liters" part that damages your argument. You also conveniently omitted the very next sentence:
Turns out that ingesting "several liters" of just about anything is going to affect homeostasis faster than the kidneys can correct it.
Go ahead and quantify that risk. When you do the math, you'll find that 1 liter of chemically pure water poses the same risk of hyponatremia as approximately 1.002 liters of tap water. Which makes the WHO statement technically true, but definitely misleading.
That's likely true, but you've misrepresented WHO, so I'm assuming it likely you've misrepresented Tyson as well.
It is recommended by Mayo Clinic that men drink 3.7 litres of water a day and for women that recommendation is 2.7 litres per day, which constitutes "several litres". https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256#:~:text=About%2015.5%20cups%20(3.7%20liters,fluids%20a%20day%20for%20women
That isn't my job and neither is it yours. If the WHO says that the risk of water intoxication is greater the purer the water is, then I'm inclined to believe that what they are saying is true, especially given that the topic in which those statements are said in concerns the health risks of drinking demineralized water. The additional risk is significant enough to warrant a mention. The difference between the percentage of H₂O of tap water and ultrapure water is very small and seemingly insignificant, and yet ultrapure water can do things that normal water cannot, such as dissolving metal. So I'm not sure I understand the notion that because there's a tiny difference chemically, that would translate to a tiny difference in how the solvent behaves physically.
What did I misrepresent?
They also recommend 2300mg of sodium, maximum. The average American consumes 3400mg a day.
I've replaced too many galvanized pipes for you to tell me that tap water cannot dissolve metal.
We aren't talking about galvanized pipes. We're talking about distilled water in large amounts being bad for you. If you feel that what the WHO and Neil DeGrasse Tyson said is inaccurate or misleading, then I'm sure there are various ways to contact them and see what they have to say. There's only so many ways I can explain things to people before it gets tiring. Have a good day.
You're talking about a carbon steel wrench that rusted away on the bottom of a stainless steel tank due to Galvanic corrosion. It is an extremely common problem for submerged metals. It is usually mitigated by sacrificial zinc anodes, which are slowly dissolved byb the water, protecting submerged structural and mechanical conponents of boats, ships, pipelines, and structures.
The claim from that article is bogus. It was written by someone who does not understand what they are talking about, for an audience that doesn't care.
Rust and corrosion ≠ dissolving. We don't say that we corrode table salt in water. Like I said, if you think that you know better than the World Health Organization and Neil DeGrasse Tyson on this topic feel free to contact them and see what they have to say.
Neither WHO nor Tyson claimed that pure water dissolves metal. That claim came from an article you linked about a Japanese science project, which uses a large tank of pure water as part of a neutrino detector. The entire article was a B-story to that neutrino detection project.
Between the author and the translator, the distinction between "dissolve" and "corrode" went missing. Context restores it for anyone who recognizes the conditions present in that tank. That was simple galvanic corrosion, not some mysterious property imbued on water by distillation or reverse osmosis filtration. The exact same process occurs within fresh water and within water in which considerable amounts of electrolytes and minerals are dissolved (salt water).