Drinking hard water seems to be somewhat protective against heart disease. Total dissolved solids (TTD) might also be. Hardness is the amount of calcium, magnesium, or calcium carbonate in water, while TTD includes all of the minerals. The problem is that, since there are dozens of minerals involved, it isn’t clear which minerals are doing what.
From my very brief skimming of the literature, my guess is that magnesium is an important variable, but not the only one. Fluoride and calcium also seem to help reduce the risk, while iron and copper seem to increase it. Also it seems to be simply a matter of conjecture as to why any particular mineral might be protective or harmful. Having said this, any health protective effects of hard water are small in comparison to such things as having a poor diet, not exercising, smoking, and heavy drinking.
In the end, I suspect that hard water might be closer to the ”natural” water our ancestors drank, so, unless I have good evidence to the contrary, that’s what I would prefer to drink. (I couldn’t find anything on the question of what the hunter gatherers drank, so if anyone knows about this please let me know.)
The big disadvantages of hard water are that clothes don’t clean as well (they can feel rough and turn brown), rinsed dishes can have a film, skin can feel dry and scratchy, the water can have an odor and taste bad (if it has a lot of the wrong minerals), and hair can appear dull. On the other hand, besides the health issue, soft water can make people’s skin and hair feel slimy, and the shower floor can become dangerously slippery.
So for cleaning clothes and dishes I would prefer soft water, for showers I would like the water more or less neutral, and for drinking and cooking I would prefer it hard (but the good smelling and tasting kind of hard). It sounds like my plumbing system would get a little complicated.
Here are a few articles on the topic: “Hard water stops heart attacks,” ”Why Hard Water is Healthier than Soft Water,” “Magnesium, Water Hardness, and Heart Disease,” and for a general discussion of the trade-offs between hard and soft water, “What’s the difference between hard water and soft water?”
Tags: Heart Disease, Water