A short guide TO STOP you poisoning your body by using tap water
This article will be a bit long, so grab the cup of your favourite drink and enjoy the reading!
If you follow us on Instagram you came across our post about Fluoride. Fluoride is a mineral that's found in plants and water. It is thought that fluoride is useful in preventing tooth decay thus most toothpaste are rich in fluoride.
Is Fluoride good for you? NOT really.
Fluoride is well known to displace iodine from the thyroid, thus halting its activity, which is producing thyroid hormones T4 and T3. For this reason, in the past fluoride was the treatment of choice for hyperthyroidism. However, the side effects were so severe that nowadays fluoride is not used.
Fluoride can also induce autoimmunity so contributing to the development of Hashimoto's and Graves diseases.
You may already know that in almost all countries tap water contains fluoride along with other noxious organic and inorganic molecules and microorganisms.
What to do? How to STOP the intake of Fluoride?
Apart from buying water bottles, you must also have another option, which is: Water Filters.
Are all filters effective at removing Fluoride? NO. Not only that but not all systems remove fluoride in the same percentage. Here we made a summary of all the possible choices you have. There is not a perfect choice, but rather the one that would suit you the most. When making our search for you, we saw that all systems retain some pros and cons.
Let's start...
Does activated carbon or water softeners remove fluoride? NO.
They are used only to make water taste better. Certain models can eliminate microorganisms from water.
Most 'famous' water filter pitchers like Brita, PUR and LifeStraw, in fact, do not remove fluoride.
--> DO NOT USE THEM if you are interested in removing fluoride from your tap water.
What other filtering systems can you choose?
Reverse Osmosis (RO): It's a filter system that you hook up to your plumbing. It has several filters and a reverse osmosis membrane, which is the part that works on the fluoride. It is the most efficient at removing fluoride. Not only that but also all the microorganisms. Now, you can have a variety of brands depending on your preferences.
Before jumping into brands, however, let us take you through some basic characteristics of RO models.
When choosing your next RO system you will come across some features:
- Stage: go from 5 to 9. What does it mean?
It refers to the numbers of filtration your device is capable of. They all provide you with a minimum of 5, why? This is because at least 5 cycles are needed to clean your water from minerals organic and not + microorganisms.
Devices with 5 stages will provide you with a type of water that may taste, let's say, 'different' from the ones you are used to. Water is flavourless.
Is it just about the taste? Again, NO. At stage 5 your water has a lower pH and has no minerals.
You may guess that at this point, stage 6 is to add some minerals (the ones that are good for you, like sodium, calcium, etc) and increase the pH.
Stage 7 is for UV filtration reduces the number of micro-organisms including viruses and bacteria in the water.The UV light is provided by a UV bulb that uses an electrical outlet or a battery as its source of energy. Thus, a downside is the electrical consumption.
Stage 8 and 9 depends on the manufacturer; Some manufacturers divide the re-mineralization process into various steps to ensure more effective removal.
Generally, the more the number of stages, the purer your water will be. Most manufacturers claim that their system can remove 99% of all impurities. We recommend you properly research their claims before giving into them.
- Gallons Per Day (GDP): this is the other feature you can find when choosing your RO filtering system. You’ll be surprised to find that your system typically generates only 50 to 75% of the GPD rating.
A GPD Rating is used to rank the system. We suggest you go for higher GDP. Why?
These ratings are based on tests that manufacturers perform under ideal water conditions, including concentration and temperature. However, the water conditions in your kitchen may differ widely. Cold water, such as in winter, can reduce productivity by almost half. Moreover, as time passes, RO membranes tend to clog with contaminants. Certain particles can ruin filters faster.
If you wish to use the system for residential use, we recommend you go with a 50 GPD system. This ensures that your entire household can enjoy safe and fresh drinking water. Plus, the higher GPD does not cost significantly more than a lower one.
- Rating and Pricing are the last two things you have to take into considerations. Regardless of this article, if you decide to go for RO, you must check customer reviews.
In terms of price: the cost is probably the first factor you need to consider. Most reverse osmosis machines cost anywhere between $250 and $500. We suggest you not to go to cheap but stay somewhere mid-range of price. You want to make sure the filters are actually of good quality.
Are there other things to consider? YES.
As anticipated this is a long reading....
You can choose between a Counter top RO or Under-Sink RO. This is totally up to you.
Of course these two have differences.
----> You must consider space, is it easy to use? (under-sink are easy), is the installation easy (counter top are easy), will there be any water waste? (under-sink have a greater water waste).
We brought up an important point: Water waste. After filtration some water, let's say the 'dirty' one, will be removed, thus wasted. However, you could redirect that water to something else like gardening. Would you consider it as waste now? Maybe not. Again depends on you, depends on your needs.
What models to choose?
For sake of simplicity, I used a table from the web. However, do make your research when it comes to buying your RO filtering system.
RO is not the only filtering system, in fact, here we will list other 3 methods (gravity filters, water filter pitchers and distillation).
Gravity filters: These are Counter top Filters. They exploit gravity as the energy of movement.
The disposal is made of 2 parts divided by a filter.
Activated alumina filters are good at removing fluoride from tap water.
You can go for ceramic if you are doubting whether the alumina filter can release aluminium in the water. Research shows that according to the brand there could be the possibility of finding some aluminium, but in very small quantities that should be harmless.
If I were you, to be honest, I would not risk it... who can we trust at the end?
The problem with ceramic is that they do NOT remove fluoride but there are some companies which have Fluoride reduction cartridge (like this company https://doulton.com/information-centre/faqs-help/). Again it is up to you.
As said at the beginning, there is not the best approach but rather it is up to you to decide based on your preferences.
When buying it you should consider chamber size and material (go for stainless, plastic could release some chemicals like BPA in the water), frequency of filter substitution.
The best for fluoride removal is:
-Big Berkey BK4X2 Countertop Water Filter System
The best for filter life is:
- Alexapure Pro Stainless Steel Water Filtration System
The best for filter's capabilities is:
- Propur Big with 2 ProOne G2.0 7″ Filter Elements
--> Only these 3 remove fluoride. This is a guide according to 2019 products.
Water filter pitchers: The best brand removing as much as 98% of fluoride is Clearly Filtered.
Distillation: this is the last method and probably the least used at home. It works by boiling the water and thus removing all the noxious substances. When the steam cools down it will make water.
The problem with this system that you do NOT know precisely how much fluoride you get rid of, it is a slow process, requires electricity and a small amount of water every time.
For the same benefits, you could just opt for one of any of the aforementioned options.
With this, we reached the end of the different options you can choose from when it comes to drinking safely tap water.
Let us know about you:
Are you already using any of these methods?
Which one would you choose?