Xref: utzoo sci.bio:1633 sci.med:7974 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!mtuxo!mtgzy!norm From: norm@mtgzy.att.com (n.e.andrews) Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med Subject: Re: Drinking water Summary: Correlation between death rates and water supply hardness? Is continuous use of distilled water for drinking unsafe? Keywords: distilled Message-ID: <4467@mtgzy.att.com> Date: 2 Dec 88 20:53:06 GMT References: <3065@ingr.UUCP> Distribution: na Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Lines: 19 In article <3065@ingr.UUCP>, murray@ingr.UUCP (Douglas Murray) writes: > Because of concern about the quality of the tap water in our area, I have > been buying distilled water for drinking and cooking. I have heard (Pearson & Shaw tv appearance) that there is a significant correlation between water supply softness and death rates -- that death rates looked at in different geographic areas seem to be strongly related to water supply hardness or softness. IF I remember correctly, soft water areas (mostly in the East?) had much higher death rates (due to cancer?), and the correlation with water supply hardness or softness was more significant than any other observed correlations. Does anyone out there have any references for studies to support this? I wouldn't drink much distilled water for fear of leaching minerals out of my body. Is there hard evidence that continuous use of distilled water for drinking is dangerous? --Norm Andrews, attmail!mtgzy!norm