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Monday, August 12, 2013
Alkaline Water "Alka-Lies"
Don’t Buy These 7 Alkaline Water “Alka-Lies”
By Jack Barber
Imagine if you could hook up a device to your faucet that
would transform your kitchen sink into your own private fountain of youth.
According to the manufacturers and distributors of alkaline
water devices, you can do just that . . .
With alkaline water, they claim, you can cure cancer . . .
absorb more nutrients . . . hydrate with the wettest water around . . . .
rejuvenate your body and change your life!
This is not only a load of bunk – but potentially harmful.
After drinking alkaline water for 10 years, blogger David
Niven Miller says he developed severe acid reflux, GERD/GORD, blockage,
heartburn, and infection of the lower esophagus.[1]
And that’s only some of the health problems alkaline water
may cause.
The alkaline water zealots would have you believe that
guzzling alkaline water is good for you. And that pure distilled water – which
can be slightly acidic - is bad for you.
However, as you’ll soon find out, “acid” is not another nasty four letter word. In fact, not only is it not bad for you – it’s just
the opposite.
If you’ve been drinking in the alkaline water debate, wondering
what to believe, read on. Below you’ll
find the 7 most common alka-lies debunked as well as some refreshingly
clear guidance on water and health based on solid science and research.
But before we get into the actual debate about whether or
not acid is good for you, let’s dispel the myth that distilled water is
horribly acidic . . .
Alka- Lie #1: Distilled water is horribly acidic
As nationally-known nutritionist, author and Founder of the
Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Arizona, Dr. Andrew Weil,
explains, “For reasons I don’t understand, any number of myths – and some quite
extreme- have grown up over the years about distilled water. As far as acidity
goes, distilled water is close to
neutral pH and has no effect on the body’s acid/alkaline balance.”
Here’s why Dr. Weil says this so confidently . . .
To measure acidity, we use the pH scale which measures the
concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. This scale runs from 0 to 14. A
pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic and a pH greater than 7 is
alkaline.
Pure distilled water is at a neutral pH of 7. Distilled
water also has no solids dissolved in it to buffer it. For this reason, adding
the slightest amount of acid or base will change distilled water’s pH.
[Design note: include
graph with pH scale]
The pH scale is logarithmic. This means every change in the
pH level signifies a tenfold change in acidity. Pure distilled water is at a
neutral pH of 7. Orange juice with a pH of 3 is actually 10,000 times more acid
than neutral distilled water.
Because purified distilled water has no dissolved solids,
just a small amount of carbon dioxide from the air will lower distilled water’s
pH to a slightly acidic pH 6.5. Just a pinch of an alkalizing substance like
baking soda will move it in the other direction, up to a pH over 7. In other words, the pH of distilled
water is like a pendulum that can easily be moved with a feather. In
comparison, water with dissolved solids requires a sledge hammer to move the
pendulum.
This means, distilled water’s acidity level – after mixing
with carbon dioxide - is negligible.
Alka-Lie #2: Pure water can be separated by electrolysis to produce alkaline water
Along with the myth of distilled water’s devastating
acidity, alkaline water fans also contend you can make tap water alkaline
through ionization or electrolysis. They argue you can shoot an electric
current through water (H2O) and separate the positively-charged
hydrogen ions (H+) from the negatively charged hydroxide (OH-) ions. According
to their marketing, a good alkaline water device will then keep these separated
into streams of acidic water and alkaline water.
Clearly they don’t know enough about the power of ionic
attraction. Or they’re slipping salts into your water to stabilize these
charged particles.
[Design note – it would be great to have a diagram of this]
Water may shift into these two specialized forms at very
localized points near the positive and negatively charged electrified plates.
But just a hair’s breadth away from this spot, the charged H+ and OH- ions will
seek out the oppositely charged ions and reform the standard form of H2O.
At most, you’d produce hydrogen and oxygen gas as the ions recombine and leave
excess hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
So the creation of alkaline water with only the help of
electricity is not possible. But even if you did create some alkaline water or
settled for some water with baking soda in it to make it alkaline . . . would
it really have much of an effect on your body’s pH?
This brings us to the next Alka-Lie . . .
Alka-Lie #3: Drinking alkaline water can change your body’s pH
Fundamentally-speaking, it doesn’t matter whether your drinking water is
slightly acidic or alkaline.
Because when you drink water, within seconds it mixes with the extremely
acidic gastric juices in your stomach. And then shortly after, as it exits the
stomach, your pancreas releases alkaline bicarbonate into the
partially-digested slurry to neutralize the stomach acid.
In a recent Men’s Health Journal
article, well-known author and nutritionist, Dr. Bob Arnot, explained, “Your body is designed to adjust to its
optimal pH balance no matter what you ingest. For instance, once alkaline
water enters your stomach, your body simply pours in greater amounts of acid to
neutralize it.”
In other words, your body already has a good system of shifting the pH of
the water you drink along with the food you eat. You don’t have to add a thing.
But let’s say you still wanted to try to shift this system with the water
you drink.
Consider that the hydrochloric acid in the stomach has a pH of 1. This is
one million times more acidic than pure water with a neutral pH.
Since you understand how the pH scale works, you can see it
would take extremely alkaline water to change the pH of your stomach acids and
influence the pH of body fluids further down the line. Sure, it might take just a pinch of baking
soda in your water to move it above pH 7. But it will take more than 100 times
that amount of alkalinity to move the pH to above 7 to 8.
·
You could
try seawater with a pH of 8 . . . But it probably wouldn’t be alkaline
enough to shift the pH once it mixed with the stomach’s hydrochloric acid. And
any sailor knows you can’t drink seawater long without getting profoundly sick
and eventually dying a painful death . . .
·
You could
try eating straight baking soda at a pH of 9 . . . Or maybe swig some water
straight out of the Great Salt Lakes which has a pH of 10 . . . But given that
many of the Oregon trail pioneers in the 1860’s (and their horses and cattle)
died trying to drink the water in the Great Salt Lakes, this flies in the face
of good sense!
“Say no to alkaline water,
it’s a scam,” says Arnot. As you’re starting to see, the myths
perpetrated by the alkaline water mongers are not only false – but dangerous! Which leads us to the next Alka-Lie . . .
Alka-Lie #4: Alkaline water is good for your health
According to the alkaline water advocates, alkaline water
will improve your health. However, science demonstrates just the opposite is
true.
Let’s start with digestion and immunity. There’s a reason
your body produces the extremely strong hydrochloric acid with a pH of 1 in
your stomach. Your body uses this powerful
acid to destroy bacteria, fungi and other pathogens that take a ride on the
food you eat.
When you shift the acidity of your stomach, you encourage
infection by allowing the pathogens to get through your stomach unscathed. One
Italian study found that 50% of patients who took acid-reducing proton pump
inhibitors (PPI’s) ended up suffering from overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in
their small intestines as compared to only 6% of patients not using antacids.[2]
[3]
To add insult to injury, the protein-digesting enzymes your
stomach secretes are specially designed to work in this acidic environment.
When your stomach doesn’t break protein down properly, the proteins can cause
intestinal injury and inflammation. Several studies have demonstrated that
these poorly-digested protein particles trigger the development of allergic
reactions. For example, when mice were fed fish after decreasing their stomach
acid with antacids, they developed allergic reactions to fish protein. [4]
Even when it comes to acid indigestion and heartburn, the
conventional wisdom is wrong. Several studies published in the peer-reviewed
journal Gastroenterology have shown
that antacids actually make the problem worse. After two months of Nexium, 44%
of the healthy volunteers developed heartburn, acid reflux or dyspepsia.[5]
Instead, most people
find relief from these digestive problems by increasing the acid in their stomach with supplements or simply
taking apple cider vinegar. As we age, our acid production declines giving rise
to bloating and other digestive discomforts. Both my wife and I take
hydrochloric acid to help us with these digestive problems. Since we started
supplementing, we’ve regained digestive peace.
But playing with acid doesn’t stop at affecting your
digestive system. It can affect your heart and even increase your risk for
cancer . . .
Alka-Lie #5: Alkaline Water Can Cure Cancer And Other Diseases
Alkaline water proponents cite several studies showing
cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment and die in an alkaline
environment. Consequently, they argue that drinking alkaline water will help
you fight cancer.
Yet, they fail to acknowledge that this research has only
studied cancer cells in test tubes. If you ran this experiment on a living
organism you’d likely get a very different result. As Dr. Gabe Mirkin explains
in an article on QuackWatch.org, cancer cells are not the only ones that thrive
in acidic environments and die in an alkaline environment – all of your other cells respond the same
way.
Research has shown that exposure to an alkaline environment
can lead to nerve cell injury and eventually stroke.[6]
Severe buildup of alkalinity – known as alkalosis – can lead to convulsions,
heart failure and coma.
Japanese researchers demonstrated that rats given alkaline
water over a period of time develop lesions on their hearts and elevated
potassium levels in the blood. Both of these developments can lead to fatal
heart problems.[7]
[8]
[9]
Sure, alkaline water may kill cancer cells. But it is also likely to kill you.
Alka-Lie #6: Alkaline water gives your body mineral nutrition
It’s true what they say – many of us are short on minerals
that build our bones and keep our heart beating properly. An estimated
one-third of American adults are deficient in magnesium, essential for over 300
metabolic processes in the body.
Some alkaline water systems add minerals in order to
increase the alkalinity. However, water is not the best source of these
minerals. In fact, mineral-rich water may even be bad for your health.
First, simply by diluting the acidity of your stomach with
alkaline water you prevent adequate mineral absorption. Stomach acid helps
break bonds between proteins and minerals as well as within mineral salts.
Numerous studies have shown that low stomach acidity can interfere with the
absorption of essential minerals like iron, zinc and calcium.
Secondly, research demonstrates your body cannot do much
with the inorganic minerals dissolved in water. Instead, your body seems to
absorb minerals better when they are chelated, forming a bond with what’s
called a ligand, a complex organic molecule containing amino acids. These
ligands seem to help shepherd minerals through the initial stages of digestion
and then release the minerals in the cells after absorption.
As Ron Kennedy, MD explains, “In order for a mineral to be
of any use to the body, it must be presented in a form in which it can be used.
That form involves an association with an organic (carbon-based) molecule. Carbon-based molecules are found in living
systems and are not found in the ground which is where mineral water comes
from.”
The best way to get this form of minerals is through your
food. Plants do the work of binding these minerals with ligands as they take
them up from the soil.
Dr. Kennedy goes on to explain that the inorganic mineral
salts found in water not only are hard for the body to absorb, but can wreak
havoc with your health. The inorganic mineral salts found in water separate
into isolated ions. These ions go on to precipitate other minerals in
circulation, forming new salts in the body. These precipitated salts are found
in the lens of the eye in the form of cataracts. Or in the kidneys as kidney
stones. Or in the walls of the arteries causing arteriosclerosis.[10]
So in fact, by trying
to mineralize your water you may be causing more harm to your body than good.
Which brings me to the next argument . . .
Alka-Lie #7: Distilled water leaches minerals out of your body
As part of their campaign, alkaline advocates like to
terrorize people with images of minerals leaching out of your bones after you
drink distilled water.
And it’s true, you can lose these minerals if you’re not
getting enough minerals in your diet. Your bones are like a mineral bank. If
your body needs more magnesium or calcium for nerve or heart functioning, it
will take the minerals stored in your bones.
But distilled water is not the problem. As explained above,
your best source of minerals is from your diet, not your water. If you’re
drinking distilled water – which is essentially pure water – it simply mixes
with the food in your stomach and lower down in your intestines. Depending on
the minerals in your diet, the mixture that eventually reaches the point of
absorption is no longer distilled water but a mineral-rich slurry of
nutritional building-blocks.
The pure distilled water you drank initially goes nowhere
near your bones to leach minerals out of them.
But the role distilled water plays in helping your body
manage minerals goes even further. In truth, distilled water does take minerals
out of your body. But as Dr. Kennedy explains, only the ones you don’t need
that may precipitate, contributing to arterial plaque buildup, kidney stones
and cataracts.
Your body gets rid of excess materials through the kidneys.
And to work well, these organs need lots of water – unadulterated water. The
more water you can add to your bodily fluids without additional mineral loads,
the easier it is for your cells to wash out junk, including inorganic minerals
your body can’t absorb.
In contrast, many
health experts describe drinking mineral water as similar to washing your
dishes in dirty water. It simply doesn’t do the job and just ends up making
more of a mess.
Bottom line, get your minerals from your food and let water
do what it does best in it’s pure state - hydrate and wash your body from the
inside out.
Save Your Health And Your Money - Don’t Believe The Alka-Lies
The Alka-Liars
ignore an important part of human physiology – Our body uses a wide range of pH
values.
In May 2013,
the Consumer Union, publisher of Consumer
Reports, published an editorial in the Washington
Post lambasting the promises made by alkaline water supporters: “The
evidence supporting any of the health claims for alkaline products is murky at
best.”
As the
Consumers Union notes, in order to maintain good health and function properly
our body maintains pH levels ranging roughly from a pH of 2 (similar to lemon
juice) to a pH of 8 (a bit below baking soda’s pH of 9).[11]
And these pH levels are exquisitely balanced by your body, primarily through a
complex system of buffering and breathing.
Certainly, there are some things you can do to help your
body maintain the right levels of acidity and alkalinity . . .
·
Eat a lot
of good, mineral-rich foods like vegetables. As I explained earlier, plants
are the best source of the chelated minerals your body uses to alkalinize the
bloodstream after digestion.
·
Exercise. With its heavy release of excess acid in the
form of carbon dioxide , exercise helps your body regulate its internal acid
levels.
But alkaline water?
Well, at the very least it’s simply a quick fix with no real results. At worst,
it can endanger your health.
Your Body Thirsts For Pure, Distilled Water
Our bodies need water. Even mild dehydration will slow down
your metabolism as much as 3%. The
number one reason for daytime tiredness is too little water. According to Dr.
A. F. Beddoe, author of Biological
Ionization As Applied To Human Nutrition, just drinking 5 glasses of water
a day can decrease colon cancer by 45%, slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%
and reduce the risk of bladder cancer by 50%. [12]
But our body works best with simple, plain, pure water
– like the pure H2O nature
distills in the water cycle.
Dr. Cary Reams, known for developing the Biological theory
of Ionization, spent years (and his 3 Ph D’s worth of expertise) studying how
pH affects the body and health. He demonstrated that distilled water with its
free hydrogen ions, unoccupied by contaminants or mineral salts, is the best
water for the body’s hydration needs. Pure water - not the minerals dissolved
in it - is what your cells need to create the aqueous environments all
biochemical reactions take place in.
“Distilled water has an ultra-low viscosity,” explains David
Klein, BSCE, Ph D. This means it can slip into tight spaces and move easily
through membranes and capillaries. Because it’s so “slippery”, Klein explains,
distilled water makes removal of toxins and nutrient transportation a breeze.
In contrast, water with minerals or other impurities is “sticky”, harder to
move around the body.[13]
Dr. A. True Ott, Ph D, explains, “Alkaline water is actually
dehydrating. One should strive to consume the purest water possible – and that
is simply steam-distilled water. It is rich in free hydrogen ions. Why then are
people often tricked into thinking that drinking water with high total
dissolved solids (TDS) contaminants such as ionized water is actually a wise
and healthy thing to do? Science and logic screams otherwise!”
So don’t betray your body by falling for the alka-lies about
alkaline water.
As Dr. Weil advises, “The health claims for water ionizers
and alkaline water are bogus. Save your
money.”
[1]
Miller, D. “Alkaline Ionised Water”. Viewed 4/12/13 at http://www.growyouthful.com/tips/alkaline-water.php
[2] Lombardo L et al. Increased incidence of small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth during proton pump inhibitor therapy. Clin
Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010 Jun;8(6):504-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2009.12.022. Epub 2010 Jan 6.
[3] McColl K et al. “Evidence that
proton-pump inhibitor therapy induces the symptoms it is used to treat”
Gastroenterology 2009; 137: 20-22.
[4] Untersmayr E et al. Antacid medication
inhibits digestion of dietary proteins and causes food allergy:
a fish allergymodel in BALB/c mice. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003 Sep;112(3):616-23.
[5] Gastroenterology, Reimer C et al
“Proton-pump inhibitor therapy induces acid-related symptoms in healthy
volunteers after withdrawal of therapy” Gastroenterology. 2009; 137: 80-87.
[6]
Giffard R et al. Extracellular Alkalinity Exacerbates Injury of Cultured
Cortical Neurons. Stroke. 1992;23:1817-1821
[7]
Watanabe T et al. Influence of Alkaline Ionized Water on Rat Erythrocyte
Hexokinase Activity and Myocardium. Journal of Toxicological Studies. 1997;
22(2):141-151
[8]
Watanabe T et al. Degratdation of Myocardiac Myosin and Creatine Kinase in Rats
Given Alkaline Ionized Water. J Vet Med
Sci. 1998; 60(2): 245-250
[9]
Watanabe T et al. Histopathological Influence of Alkaline Ionized Water On
Myocardial Muscle of Mother Rats. Journal of Toxicological Sciences. 1998;
23(5).
[10]
Kennedy R. Distilled Water versus Mineral, Carbon Filtered, and Reverse Osmosis
Water. Doctors’ Medical Library. Viewed 7/13 at http://www.medical-library.net/content/view/228/41/
[11]
Consumers Union of United States. Alkaline products promise health benefits
with little proof to support such claims. The
Washington Post. February 2011.
[12]
Beddoe, A. “RBTI Insights on Distilled Water – The Elixir of Life.” Advanced
Ideals Institute. www.advancedideals.org
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