Reverse Osmosis, Distilled or Black Berkey: Which water filter is best??

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In this article, Reverse Osmosis, Distilled or Black Berkey: Which water filter is best?, we zero in on the best water filtration system to prevent health problems — or allow the body to recover after exposure to bad drinking water.

Why do we need water filters, and which kind of filtration is best?

We need water filters because our ground and tap water are polluted with toxins.

But in a sea of products and claims, it’s hard to know which kind of water purifier is best.

We want a filtration system that will thoroughly remove all of these toxins.

More specifically, what compounds are we trying to filter out?

Chlorine
Fluoride (sadly linked to a lower IQ in children in 64 studies)
Microorganisms
Heavy metals
Pharmaceuticals
Unhealthy minerals
Microplastics

Years ago, water filters like Brita and PUR became popular. While these filters are better than none at all, they fail to filter certain contaminants (like hormones, fluoride, arsenic, microbes and medications!). What they do filter, they don’t filter as well as we need them to for best health.

So let’s look at three top contenders. Up first, Berkey …

Why Berkey isn’t a great choice … and worse

For years, it seemed Berkey was the name to trust, when it came to reliable water filters.

But then word got out that Berkeys with a bottom filter contain aluminum.

And worse than this alarming revealed detail, many faithful Berkey users started to put two and two together. They realized that symptoms with unknown causes — even hard to diagnose behavioral symptoms — traced back to the purchase of their Berkey.

1. Exposure to aluminum

If the aluminum filter really is a concern, then Berkey is exposing buyers to a heavy metal in every glass of water they drink — instead of just the opposite.

Berkey defends their use of aluminum, saying the form it’s in is inert. But in fact, lab tests show aluminum in Berkey drinking water. And it’s suspected that the human body does the same thing the water tests do: It breaks down the form of aluminum used in the filter (aluminum oxide), thus exposing the body to aluminum.

Crystal experts, as an added side note, consider aluminum oxide (also called corundum) toxic.

And this .gov site considers it hazardous — an irritant to skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs.

If you have a Berkey regular filter, not the bottom filter, here are additional concerns:

2. Unwanted minerals

Another reason Berkeys aren’t best: unwanted minerals.

This debate is not new, and proponents for each purifying system exist. So, of course, Berkey as a company believes they exclude the minerals we don’t want, minerals like copper (good, true, we don’t want copper). But their filtration system allows through other minerals (which they call “good minerals”), minerals like calcium and boron.

In fact, we all have different needs. But it could be argued that no one needs extra dietary calcium. Dietary calcium goes into the bloodstream and throws off the unique balance of magnesium, Vitamin D and Vitamin K. Dietary calcium also leads to stroke and death.

Other minerals like boron are not for everyone. It’s likely most people should not have extra boron in their diet.

3. Other controversies

From others who’ve explored why Berkeys aren’t best (1, 2), a few additional issues are repeatedly mentioned:

Berkeys don’t remove nitrates from water.
They have no 3rd party certification proving their lab results!
Third party testing showed Berkeys to be ineffective at removing chloroform and flouride.

How do we get minerals

If not in our water, from where do we get our minerals?

I used to think the answer was mineral-rich salt, or mineral drops. But both of these sources also provide unwanted minerals.

Supplementing a few minerals separately, based on our unique bodies, allows individualized nutrition. We can also choose mineral-rich foods and Potassium Salt.

Most people do well supplementing zinc, selenium, magnesium, potassium and molybdenum. For those who react to zinc (because it detoxes copper), a great dietary choice is to eat more grass-finished beef, which is high in zinc, or smaller amounts from chicken.

Conclusion: Better to take a few specific mineral supplements, or eat foods high in these minerals, than to use the shotgun approach of mineral drops or salts that provide minerals we don’t need and that may be harmful.

It’s hard to retrain our brains from what we’ve formerly been told. But here it is: We drink water for the water, and we eat food (or take good supplements) for minerals.

Is home distilled water the best choice

We’ve scratched Berkeys off the list.

Next up: Is distilled water the best, the way proponents say it is?

Distilled water is pretty great, actually!

Its steam process removes dangerous VOCs, all minerals, microplastics and toxins like chlorine.

What’s left behind is just water. Great!

But some advocates claim that distilled water flushes out more toxins than other waters, even Reverse Osmosis. Unfortunately, this type of claim is just conjecture and can be used as fear-mongering to make readers trust a source (so they’ll eventually buy something) — even though no proof or testing is provided!

Distilled water is great, but there is no foundation on which to say it’s better than Reverse Osmosis.

That being said, distilled water may remove slightly more microplastics.

Drawbacks to distilled water

Here are the only downsides to distilled water, if you plan to buy a home distiller:

The heating element can break or add toxins to the water.
- Potential breakage is a consideration for many of us when making a decent-size upfront investment, because we don’t want the hassle of having to: replace, mail in our machine for a repair or buy expensive replacement parts.
- Regarding toxins, companies that claim their machines distill water faster do so by using larger heating elements. The boiling water splashes too much and mixes with VOCs and toxins already purified out of the water. (Splash guards don’t necessarily prevent this.) It is better to choose a slower distiller.
Water distillers can cost more money than RO filters.
- The evaporation process uses a lot of energy.
Most home distillers are made in China and have parts you can’t trust to touch your water.
- But there is one affordable and good option: That’s the H2o product, which is made in the U.S., and consciously uses all stainless steel parts. Find this good choice here. (Warning, one reviewer complained of terrible customer service.)
- I would choose the above linked to product for my family, but I would also hesitate because of the customer service.

Theoretically, I do like the concept of distilled water.

In the end, I follow my doctor’s preference, and what he purchased for his own mother, and that’s Reverse Osmosis, which I’ll discuss momentarily.

What about store bought distilled water

If you buy distilled water, it is usually packaged in plastic, which is best to avoid.

Even if you find distilled water that is not packaged in plastic, no 3rd party certification exists on the packaging to guarantee the quality or care with which the water was produced. As discussed above, if the distiller had a large fast heating element, the purity of the water is in question.

So home distilled water is better than store bought, if you choose this water purification method. That way you can be sure the water is slow distilled in stainless steel parts.

What is Reverse Osmosis

RO systems press water through a semipermeable membrane with tiny holes. The holes are so tiny that only water molecules can fit through them. The pollutants are held back, where they’re forced to a different side of the tank.

The process is more complex than that, as it also includes several filters, each of which filters out different toxins.

Is Reverse Osmosis water better than distilled

So the final question is: Are Reverse Osmosis water filters superior in any way? Is RO water better than distilled water?

Reverse Osmosis water removes all of the same impurities as distilled water, including: chlorine, VOCs and all minerals.

(Note: We are talking about the best products in each of these categories. Competitors like to show their charts about why they are superior. But assuming each product is the best version of that system, they both remove impurities very well.)

So really, Reverse Osmosis water is not necessarily better. It’s a matter of preference and weighing some of the points I share above and below.

That being said, there are some staunch advocates for both RO and distilled water, and when we weigh all their claims, I do think there are some issues that put RO filters on top.

RO filters do not have a heating element that can break, one concern for home distillers.

If you have any other breakage issues or challenges with your RO machine, just be sure to buy from a company that you KNOW has great customer service, so you have the immediate support you need to keep great drinking water on hand.

Reverse Osmosis models to consider

Read carefully, because I do not recommend the most highly rated RO product.

Reverse Osmosis model #1

Here’s the most highly rated 5-Star Reverse Osmosis product, which also gets 5 Stars for customer service, speed of filtration and price. They also brag: “NSF Certified Components meets or exceeds NSF standards for material safety and performance. NSF listed company. Made in USA.”

CONS: This product adds calcium (and magnesium) back into your water. Without biannual hair mineral analyses to check calcium levels, it seems unwise to me to buy a filter that doesn’t give you the option of removing the re-mineralization feature.

I personally would not buy this model because of the calcium added to it after it’s been purified. I think it would be much better to drink distilled water than to use this machine and take in extra calcium.

Reverse Osmosis model #2

In our case, we purchased our portable RO water filter in 2022, and it’s still working well. We’ve had two times when we needed questions answered or customer support, and both times, we got great customer service, super polite, kind and helpful, that was immediate.

This is the Reverse Osmosis counter top model we have. I would buy this machine again.

Reverse Osmosis model #3

A good permanent RO product (here) also provides instant hot water.

Reverse Osmosis option #4

You can buy RO water from a natural food store, and use your own (ideally) non-plastic container for bringing it home. This works well for singles, who don’t need a lot of water and who don’t want to invest in the hassle or financial commitment of buying or setting up an RO filter.

Just be sure to ask about re-mineralization. If they’re remineralizing the RO water, it would be better to buy distilled.

What about shower filters for copper

Since copper is one of the main metals we’re talking about filtering out, I know a lot of you will wonder next about copper pipes also affecting your shower water.

It’s true that copper is absorbed transdermally, just like magnesium is.

To reduce copper in your shower or bath water, consider a shower head like this one. Based on 3rd party testing, it removes 33% of copper, as well as chlorine and other heavy metals.