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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1882 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 26, 2026

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Can anyone comment on the dangers of drinking low total dissolved solids (TDS) reverse osmosis water on general health, especially with a baby in the home? I recently installed a reverse osmosis filter and then discovered that low TDS water can potentially be dangerous because of a lack of minerals like calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. My RO filter doesn't have a remineralization add-on.

One reverse osmosis study from India

Assume that me and my baby otherwise have the very best foods and baby formula available. Some random reddit comments indicate that eating a high quality diet filled with meats, fish, and vegetables accounts for 97% of mineral intake, so there's no need to worry. Or is there? Is reverse osmosis water unusually leeching of minerals in some way?

I'm not that worried for myself because I add in keto salts for my water while fasting, so my water is already remineralized. But is it bad for a growing child? I'm not feeding my family the typical SAD diet, they get the best home cooked meals made with fresh groceries that we can afford.

Absolute nonsense. The amount of minerals in water is very minimal, and most of what is there is sodium, which people generally have too much of.

Calcium and Magnesium are the two you might miss, and see below for how jack shit nothing it'd take to replace that with food. The health crazies conflate that pure water leaches minerals out of things (true) with the amount being relevant (false). You have plenty of minerals to spare in your body.

Below stats are for typical tap water. Double them if you have hard water.

The target is just two numbers: 120 mg calcium and 47 mg magnesium. Everything else the water gives you is nutritionally negligible, so ignore it.

Best single food: chia seeds, 19 g (90 kcal) — 120 mg calcium, 64 mg magnesium. Overshoots magnesium slightly, hits calcium exactly. Sesame seeds do it in even less mass (12 g, 70 kcal) but come with a bioavailability problem, below.

Best two-food pairing: 10 g parmesan + 9 g pumpkin seeds (90 kcal, 19 g total). Splits the job cleanly — the cheese covers calcium at 118 mg, the seeds cover magnesium at ~47 mg.

Calorie-minimal: 100 g skim milk + 6 g wheat bran (46 kcal). Milk delivers the 120 mg calcium in 34 kcal with dairy-grade absorption; bran is the densest magnesium source that exists at 610 mg/100 g, so 6 g covers 37 mg and the milk supplies the remaining 11 mg.

So: roughly a tablespoon of seeds, or a splash of milk and a spoonful of bran. Under 100 kcal any way you slice it, often under 50.

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