DI water is water that is striped of all minerals and electrolytes. It is not healthy to drink DI water under certain circumstances. For instance, if you were running a marathon (not this past NYC marathon
) and all you drank before the race and during the race was DI water. You stand a good possibility of serious health risks. What happens is your body is exhausting electrolytes and minerals through excessive sweating. When you drink DI water you are no longer replacing any minerals you're losing through sweat. Conversely, what's happening is the DI water is pulling more minerals and electrolytes FROM your body basically to re-ionize the water.
Listen, the likelihood of a reefer dieing because they drank DI water is slim. However, if you are a hardcore, hard training, world class athlete, you absolutely run the risk of severe medical complications. This is the exact reason why we're told to rehydrate during and after training or competition. DI water does exactly opposite of what you're trying to do.
Infants & children: Just think Pedialyte
Another potential problem outside of the athlete is when you're sick. If you're upchucking, have diarrhea, you can cause
very serious health complications if all you're drinking is DI water.
Hope this helps to clarify the mystery. Bottom line, it is unhealthy for children, especially infants to drink DI water even more than for adults since the essential minerals and electrolytes can be sucked from their little bodies much faster due to less reserves. I do not drink DI water nor do I recommend it.
Russ