I received an email from my sis-in-law about a newspaper article saying that reboiling water is harmful. Being a bit dubious about this, a quick check in the net, I found out why reboiling water may be harmful and why it is not as harmful as one thought, why it is not harmful at all and that one should shoot the editor who never check out his sources before regurgitating information and publishing it on national newspaper.

Here’s the scan that was sent to me.

Water, is basically just H₂O, technically chemically harmless. However water do not stand alone in this world and though our tap drinking water has impurities and minerals in it, some added and some may have seeped in from unwanted sources.

Why would reboiling water has a likelihood of being harmful? If the water source contains nitrates (chemicals found from fertilizer) or arsenic, reboiling water increases its concentration as more water evaporates.

According to About.com:

Consuming water contaminated with nitrates can cause a blood disorder called methemoglobinemia and some research shows that nitrates in drinking water may be associated with some types of cancer. Exposure to arsenic may result in arsenic poisoning and increased risks of several types of cancer.

On the other hand, if you have a water filter installed, and not just those simple non-woven fabric types, yarn types or carbon filter type but those top of the line many layers able to filter all the way down to molecular level as well as those reverse osmosis types, the harmful chemicals like nitrates and arsenic would be removed.

And thus reboiling water would not be harmful at all. Though it would make the water taste flat because the oxygen has been removed, but you can let the oxygen absorb back by letting the boiled water stand for awhile. Some said that placing it the fridge would make the oxygen be absorbed faster.

Anyway, somebody should shoot the Sin Chew editor for publishing news that would cause unease and panic to the public and also for not checking their information and reconfirming their source. Hah if Malaysia can put politician into prison for something that they didn’t even say or do or even something they felt might cause problem to the public so why not Sin Chew also for publishing this misleading information and causing panic to the public?

Ref:
http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/tapwater.htm