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Crohns and reverse osmosis drinking water

We recently had a reverse osmosis system installed for our drinking water. I thought I was doing something healthy for my family. Since then I have read quite a bit of information about how bad RO water is for your health. My understanding is that the RO water is "aggressive" and because it has no minerals it leaches minerals from the body. It is also more acidic than natural water and can leach materials from pipes.

Does anyone know if RO water is unhealthy or damaging for people with IBD?

Would installing a unit to add minerals fix this problem?
 
This is so confusing! I was just researching this actually because we have one that adds the minerals back in but doesn't take the fluoride out (nikken). The water tastes great but I'm worried about the fluoride. Berkey filters take out the fluoride but don't replace minerals. Thanks for posting this, it's very timely actually, I would love some more info before I through out even more money.
 
Oh, don't thank me, thank David :).

Interestingly, even our dog stopped drinking the water. She'll only drink it from the non-RO faucet.

Not to scare you and this could purely be a coincidence, but since installing the RO, it has been DS's sickest year since dx. I try not to read into it too much and the rest of the family has been fine, but I have filed this little observation away in the back of my mind.

I should probably call to. We were just waiting for the first filter to run its course and save a service call.
 
Does David's link refer to RO water or purely distilled water? They're not the same and I was reading distilled (I know that the WHO advises against it etc). Does anyone have a link specific to the dangers of RO water?
 
I didn't know about the risks of RO water! Our well water has too much uranium and arsenic (due to granite rock-we live near the coast), so we have always bought our water... which is RO municipal water! So what do we do now? I'm not even sure if bottled spring water is really natural spring water. Probably filtered municipal water... or at the very least RO spring water!
 
I called the person who installed the RO system. He said that they use all plastic lines after the RO system so that nothing is leached from the pipes. (Good news). He said they can put in a tank after the RO system that adds minerals but just calcium bicarbonate. I was actually surprised how little he knew about drinking water. The woman who tests our pool water at Leslie's pool store knows more about water.

I hear what you are saying Mehita. This is the best Johnny has been since diagnoses. We had an RO system at our old house and moved here in August. He has been getting better since. I am sure it could all be coincidence but I will feel better once I can get some minerals in and acidity out of the water. I can just see his GI rolling his eyes now....:yfaint:
 
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