Alkaline Water: If You Fall for This "Water Fad" You Could Do Some Major Damage
Clean, pure water is a cornerstone of good health. Your body is
mostly water, so the ongoing intake of water is essential to your every
function.
It’s common knowledge that most water sources are now polluted, but
there is tremendous confusion about what kind of drinking water is the
most health promoting, and what kind of home water treatment produces
the best drinking water.
Today, too many people are choosing soda instead of pure water as
their primary beverage, and the health of an entire culture is at risk.
The number one source of calories in the U.S. comes from high
fructose corn syrup primarily in the form of soda. Americans drink an
average of one gallon of soda each week, and this excessive fructose
consumption is a driving force behind obesity and chronic degenerative
disease in this country.
The most practical and economical strategy to combat obesity and
chronic disease is to replace all sodas and other sweet beverages with
pure water.
The trouble is, most public water supplies are loaded with hazardous contaminants, such as disinfection byproducts (DBPs), fluoride, and pharmaceutical drugs,
to name just a few. Nevertheless, you DO need to make water your
beverage of choice if you want to be healthy - but it should be purified
water.
But beyond water filtration, there’s also the issue of pH - alkaline
versus acidic water. There are quite a few astonishing health claims
being made about alkaline water, but are they true? Most of them are
not.
The theory behind alkaline water is, in a nutshell, that alkaline
(ionized) water is a powerful antioxidant with surplus electrons that
can “mop up” the dangerous free radicals you have coursing through your
veins. Marketers claim alkaline water can correct excess acidity in your
tissues, which can then prevent or reverse cancer, arthritis, and other
degenerative diseases.1
Above is my interview with Houston Tomasz on this topic. He's a
10-year veteran in the water filtration industry and this article
expands on some of the items that we discuss in our interview. The
segment is part of a much longer interview that we will air in future
issues. Additionally, I have interviewed two other experts on this topic
and they both agree that ionizers that produce alkaline water are not
your best choice.
'Snake Oil on Tap'
When I posted a comment on my Facebook page, announcing I was
interviewing Houston, I asked for questions and the most popular
question by far was whether or not to drink alkaline water.
Many alkaline water enthusiasts are convinced its powers are
unparalleled and will vehemently defend it. I am also certain that many
will post vigorous objections to my position, and that is their choice.
It is also my choice and responsibility to provide information on a
system that many people are relying on to provide health benefits that I
feel are unjustified.
One cannot look at the alkaline value alone to determine the value of
the water. While many of the best waters should be slightly alkaline, it
has much more to do tha pH alone.
There are a plethora of testimonials and so-called scientific studies
on the Internet claiming alkaline water will cure your every ill. Many
consumers, struggling to make sense of the scientific jargon, eventually
throw up their hands in frustration. The reality is, most of the
circulating information is distributed by clever marketers, with very
little scientific validity to back up their claims.
Complicating matters is the fact that most water alkalizers are being
marketed by multi-level marketing (MLM) companies with
less-than-stellar ethics. They sell you a very expensive machine, for
which you get a good discount if you sign up as a rep, and once you're
part of the MLM, you can't very well change your mind about its benefits
(especially if you're going to sell the units) - even if you realize
that the alkaline water is no longer "working" for you.
I have been personally approached many times and encouraged to sell
these systems and there would have been large revenue streams had I
chosen to do so, but I would never promote anything that I would never
use personally, and I can assure you that I would never use most of the
machines on the market that produce alkaline water as a regular source
of water.
Some people experience an initial “high” when they start drinking
alkaline water. This can easily be attributed to detoxification, and the
fact that they are likely just becoming better hydrated.
Detoxification is about the only benefit of this type of water, and
this benefit is limited to very SHORT TERM USE (no more than a week or
two). I will elaborate on what is known about alkaline water, but first
you’ll need a basic understanding of the properties of water and a few
definitions.
Types of Water Available to You
As I will review in a future interview with Houston, there are many
reasons why you want to avoid drinking tap water, or as Daniel Vitalis, a
raw water enthusiast, refers to it: “tap liquid.” He believes calling
what flows from your unfiltered tap “water” is being overly generous,
and I would have to agree. In terms of types of water, here are some
basic definitions to keep in mind:
- Purified water: Water that is physically processed
to remove impurities (e.g., distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis,
carbon filtration, etc.)
- Distilled water: Water that is boiled and evaporated away from its dissolved minerals, and then the vapor is condensed.
- Bottled Water. This water is typically from a
spring or has gone through reverse osmosis before it is bottled.
However, some brands are simply bottled tap water that may or may not
have gone through any additional filtering.
- Alkaline water: Water that has been separated into
alkaline and acid fractions using electrolysis, which takes advantage of
the naturally occurring electric charges found in the magnesium and
calcium ions; in the drinking water industry.
- Deionized or demineralized water: Water in which
the mineral ions (salts such as sodium, calcium, iron, copper, chloride
and bromide) have been removed by exposing it to electrically charged
resins that attract and bind to the salts.
- Hard and soft water: Hard water is any water
containing an appreciable quantity of dissolved minerals; soft water is
treated water in which the only cation (positively charged ion) is
sodium.
Understanding PH
The concept of the acidity or alkalinity of your body - or of water -
is based on the pH scale. So it’s necessary to have a basic
understanding of what pH is. PH is simply a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions.
In fact, the acronym “pH” is short for “potential of hydrogen.” The
higher a liquid’s pH, the fewer free hydrogen ions it has; the lower its
pH, the more free hydrogen ions it has. One pH unit reflects a tenfold
change in ion concentration - for example, there are ten times as many
hydrogen ions available at a pH of 7 than at a pH of 8.2
The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, and a pH of 7 is neutral. Anything
with a pH below 7 is considered acidic, with battery acid being the most
extreme example, around 1. Anything with a pH above 7 is alkaline (or
basic), with lye at the top of the scale, around 13.3
Natural water on our planet ranges in pH from 6.5 to 9.0, depending on
surrounding soil and vegetation, seasonal variations and weather, and
even time of day responses to sunlight. Human activities further
influence the pH of our water, from the barrage of toxic industrial
pollutants. According to an educational website called Water on the Web :
“Pollutants in water can cause it to have higher algal and plant
growth, as a result of increased temperature or excess nutrients,
causing pH levels to rise. Although these small changes in pH are not
likely to have a direct impact on aquatic life, they greatly influence
the availability and solubility of all chemical forms in the lake and
may aggravate nutrient problems. For
example, a change in pH may increase the solubility of phosphorus,
making it more available for plant growth and resulting in a greater
long-term demand for dissolved oxygen.”
Most aquatic animals and plants have adapted to life in water with a very specific pH, and will die from even slight changes. A pH below 4 or above 10 will kill most fish, and very few animals can tolerate waters with a pH below 3 or above 114
With living systems being so sensitive to changes in pH, it should come
as no surprise that YOU, as another living organism on this planet,
would be sensitive to your water’s pH as well.
Guidelines for the PH of Your Drinking Water
So, what are the recommendations for optimal drinking water pH? The WHO has published a nearly-600 page document called “ Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality.”5
In this voluminous tome, you would expect to find everything you’d ever
want to know about your drinking water, right? Well, everything EXCEPT a
pH recommendation - there are no health-based guidelines for pH!
They state that pH usually has “no direct impact on consumers,” yet
they also write pH is one of the “most important operational water
quality parameters.” They do recommend your water pH be in the range of
6.5 to 8.0 so as not to corrode your pipes - and they’re NOT talking
about your body’s plumbing:
“Alkalinity and calcium management also contribute to the
stability of water and control its aggressiveness to pipe and appliance.
Failure to minimize corrosion can result in the contamination of
drinking water and in adverse effects on its taste and appearance.
Failure to minimize corrosion can result in the contamination of
drinking water and in adverse effects on its taste and appearance.”
It appears that the WHO is more concerned about the pipes in your
house than the pipes in your body. Most likely the optimal pH of the
water you were designed to drink is somewhere between 6.5 and 8. Above
or below this level may have other purposes, such as disinfection, but I
would be careful drinking water outside of these ranges.
Alkalinity Research I: Flora and Fauna
Although the research is clear that highly alkaline water has
detrimental effects on plants and animals, there are not many studies
with humans. A review of the literature turns up a variety of anecdotal
evidence about the importance of pH to various living organisms,
however, and as you might expect, optimal pH varies, depending on the
organism. The scientific literature indicates pH is important for
nutrition and vitality. For example:
If you are a gardener, you can view a helpful illustration of the
environmental effects of pH in your own garden. If your pH is low, your
hydrangea produces pink flowers, but if your pH is high, you’ll get blue
flowers. But what about us bipeds?
Alkalinity Research II: Humans
There has been a great deal of debate about battling cancer by making
your body alkaline. This has become a focus of interest as cancer rates
have skyrocketed (along with many other chronic, debilitating
diseases), while our bodies have become more acidic from our
processed-food diets. The scientific research about the benefits of
alkalinity is by no means conclusive. PH appears to have a major
influence on cell mitochondria:
There are some scientific studies that really argue against alkalinity, at least with respect to preventing or treating cancer. Consider the research by Robert Gilles, who has studied tumor formation and acidity.12
According to Gilles, tumors, by their very nature, make themselves
acidic - even in an alkaline cellular structure. In other words, they
make their own acidity. Scientists who are in the process of developing
prototypes for potential new anticancer agents that selectively kill tumor cells by interfering with the regulation of intracellular pH , have found that alkaline treatments do NOT have the desired effect - but strongly acidic treatments do.13
Talk about fighting fire with fire - they are fighting acid-loving
cancer cells with acid! LESS alkalinity inside a cancer cell seems to be
what you want, not more. So, all of those salesmen promising alkaline
water will lower your cancer risk are completely clueless when it comes
to what the scientific research actually shows. Even more interesting is
a 2005 study by the National Cancer Institute
, which revisits the use of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to treat cancer.
They found that, in pharmacologic doses administered intravenously,
ascorbic acid successfully killed cancer cells without harming normal
cells.14 This is yet another example of cancer cells being vulnerable to acidity, as opposed to alkalinity
. It’s clear that the relationship between alkalinity and cancer has
been grossly oversimplified by those jumping to premature conclusions -
and of course by those trying to profit off your fear. The bottom line
is that alkaline water isn’t cancer’s magic bullet.
Balance Is Key
As is true with many things, in the end it’s a matter of balance.
Water that is too acidic or too alkaline can be detrimental to human
health and lead to nutritional disequilibrium. This was demonstrated in a
Swedish well water study,15
which found both pH extremes to be problematic. Your body simply was
not designed to drink highly alkaline water all the time. So I believe
it’s best to be VERY careful when it comes to something as foundational
as the water you drink on a daily basis. If you get it wrong, you could
really cause yourself some major damage. It makes sense that you are
designed to drink water that occurs naturally, which excludes alkaline
water with pH levels of 8 and above.
And if you drink alkaline water all the time, you’re going to raise
the alkalinity of your stomach, which will buffer your stomach’s acidity
and impair your ability to digest food, as low stomach acid is one of
the most common causes of ulcers. This can open the door for parasites
in your small intestine, and your protein digestion may suffer. It also
means you’ll get less minerals and nutrients over time - in fact, some
of these health effects can already be seen in hardcore alkaline water
drinkers. Alkalinity is also potentially a problem because it is
antibacterial, so it could potentially disrupt the balance of your
body’s beneficial bacteria.16
Living Water
What you want is pure water - water that is clean, balanced, and
healthful, neither too alkaline nor too acidic. Ideally, the pH of your
water should be somewhere between 6 and 8. And some of the most
healthful waters in the world - that which emerge from mountain springs -
are actually acidic in the range of 6.5 and would absolutely be my
preference if it were readily available. This mountain spring water is
'structured' in a way that is not well understood. I hope to have more
information about structured water in the near future.
If this is something that interests you there is a web site, FindaSpring.com, where you can find springs in your local area. That is “living water,” which is living in the same way that raw food is “ living food
.” One reason I am such an advocate for eating plenty of fresh, organic
raw food is for its biophotons. Biophotons are the smallest units of
light, which are stored in and used by all biological organisms -
including you. Vital energy finds its way into your cells from the
biodynamic foods you eat.
In the same way that raw foods are alive with biophoton energy,
natural water is “alive” in a similar way. If you really want to
alkalinize your body, it would seem wise to encourage it with the
highest quality water possible, which is obtained from vegetable juice.
Green vegetable juices will help your body normalize your body’s pH
naturally. If this is new to you and you are interested in more
information, you can review my juicing manual for free. I cannot think of “living water” without thinking of the visionary work of Dr. Masaru Emoto
, the Japanese researcher who experimented with the crystal forms of
water. What he discovered is that different forms of energy influence
water’s ability to organize into beautiful crystal forms.17
He demonstrated that water crystallization depends on the natural
health of the water. He found that water from natural springs, healing
water sources, etc., formed beautiful and complex crystalline geometries
- like snowflakes. Water that had been distilled or polluted lost its
inner order, and its ability to crystallize was profoundly disturbed.
You wouldn’t want to eat dead food... so why would you want to drink
dead water?
Optimizing Your Body’s PH: Back to Basics
The typical American diet is loaded with sugar
and processed foods, which throws off your body’s ability to optimize
your pH. Although your body has mechanisms to buffer your pH, many of
you are likely living in a state of low-grade acidosis from eating too
many low-quality processed, devitalized food. Our ancestors had no
problems with pH because they ate a pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer diet
, rich in plant foods and high-quality meats, and devoid of grains. You
can optimize your body’s pH by eating like your ancestors did - a diet
rich in raw, organic, whole foods - and this will help your body achieve
homeostasis.
Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all nutrition plan that works for everyone, which is why Nutritional Typing
is so helpful. Determining your nutritional type will help you narrow
down the foods that are best for YOUR body’s individual chemistry. A
diet that makes one person “acidic” may make another person “alkaline,”
so there is no one single universal food list for perfect pH. For
example, protein types can
“over-alkalize” their systems by consuming too many dark green
vegetables, which can worsen rather than improve their health, in spite
of the many beneficial phytonutrients in leafy greens. (I am very
familiar with this mistake as it’s one I made prior to understanding
nutritional typing!) I want you to be aware of just how important it is
to understand your body at a deeper level. Your body is a complex,
multi-faceted biochemical system that is unlikely to respond well to
shot-in-the-dark treatments, like alkaline water.
This is a nice article on alkaline water hydrogen rich alkaline water is good for health don't wait for cure because prevention is better
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