WHAT IS IONIZED ALKALINE WATER? 

Alkaline water is water that has a pH greater than 7. pH is a physical quantity that indicates the acidity or basicity of gaseous or liquid solutions. Alkaline is synonymous with basic, meaning that the solution has a pH greater than 7. A neutral solution has a pH of 7, while an acidic solution has a pH of less than 7.

There are two types of alkaline water:

“Artificial” alkaline water”: This is generally tap water that is run through an electric ionizer to make the pH more alkaline. It is achieved through a process called electrolysis, in which acid molecules and alkaline molecules in the water are separated.

Alkaline “natural" water”: natural spring water that passes through rocks and soil and collects various minerals that affect its pH. Natural mineral water contains alkalizing compounds, such as calcium, silica, potassium, magnesium, and bicarbonate.

IONIZED ALKALINE WATER AND THE PH OF THE BODY

Our body's blood and tissues are slightly alkaline: they have a pH between 7.35 and 7.45. Our body finely regulates this pH through three mechanisms: lungs, kidneys and buffer systems. Many people claim that drinks and foods can change this pH. Fortunately, this is not the case, otherwise every time we eat or drink we would risk going into alkalosis or metabolic acidosis.

The pH of our stomach is very acidic, between 1.5 and 2.5. This acidity is essential for digesting food and “sterilizing” it from any bacteria. In nature, the animals that have such an acidic stomach are saprophages that feed on decaying corpses and therefore need to have a highly acidic stomach to eliminate bacteria in the food they eat.

When the pH in the stomach reaches 3, gastrin is secreted, which stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid until the pH drops below 3. So when alkaline water reaches the stomach, hydrochloric acid is produced until the pH of the stomach is below 3. At that point the alkaline water has become an acid solution.

CAUTION: pH is a logarithmic scale, so between one value and the next there is a difference of 10. Example: between 7 and 8 the difference is 10, while between 7 and 9 the difference is 100. This means that therefore pH 2 is 10,000,000 times more acidic than pH 9.

If there is still any doubt I point out the’article by AIRC Italian Association for Cancer Research “Can the alkaline diet fight cancer?” Short answer: no because foods are not able to change the pH of tissues, which is finely regulated by our body.

Unfortunately, several people who have gained visibility on Live Better have started selling a machine to produce ionized alkaline water containing molecular hydrogen. They are claiming that tap water and bottled water are bad for your health and that the only solution is to drink the water produced by the machine they propose. This is FALSE. To prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, we had live guest Dr. Temporelli, an expert in hygiene, regulations and water treatment technologies, a true expert on the subject. I report the live summary at the end of this in-depth report. In the near future, I hope to also organize a live broadcast with a company that manages water distribution.

WARNING: Lately these people have changed the narrative by claiming that ionized alkaline water changes the pH of the MEC, the Extra Cellular Matrix. This is not possible as we have seen that alkaline water when it reaches the stomach turns into an acidic solution. When it leaves the stomach it is no longer alkaline it is impossible for it to go to alkalize the MEC. The matter is different when we talk about natural alkaline water, which therefore contains “alkalizing” minerals. We will talk about this soon in a live broadcast with Dr. Alessandro De Vettor.

Last important thing: some of these people claim that the machine they propose is a “certified electromedical device” this is also false. I wrote to the company to ask for the certifications and they replied that “the machine is not a medical device and distributors know that it is strictly forbidden to sell it as such”. To verify the veracity of some claims, it is always good to write directly to the company.

SCIENCE AND ALKALINE WATER

I am not a bigoted person who always needs things to be proven by scientific studies: on the tank of the professional Chokkino dispensing machine there is a silkscreen print that says I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU in many languages. I did this for Masaru Emoto's fascinating (and also controversial) work on water.

The structuring of water is something I would call “metaphysical,” however, when it comes to alkaline water, it is quite different: if there were benefits, it should be possible to demonstrate the mechanism of action, as the alkalinity of water is a physical parameter.

Since 1985, research has shown several benefits associated with the consumption of fin alkaline water, and various hypotheses have been made as to what the mechanism of action was, that is, the one responsible for the benefits. Unfortunately, it has never been possible to scientifically prove any of them.

We will now go on to analyze the most famous ones:

• Alkalinity
• Water microcluster
• Negative ORP

I quote the text of an article (1) by Tyler LeBaron, professor of chemistry and physiology at the University of Utah and director of the Molecular Hydrogen Institute.

ALKALINITY

Even if we accepted the hypothetical premise that it is necessary to ingest alkaline components to help the body maintain or raise blood pH, this could not be done with alkaline water produced from ionized alkaline water. This is because although this water may have a high alkaline pH (e.g., ≈ 9.5) it has a very low buffering capacity (i.e., the ability to resist pH changes). In fact, an alkaline pH and buffering capacity are independent properties. For illustrative comparison, sodium bicarbonate with a pH of ≈ 8.1 is an effective buffer, which means it can resist pH changes. From a stoichiometric point of view, 1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (4.8 g) can neutralize the same amount of acid (H+ ions) as ≈1800 L of alkaline water with a pH of 9.5.

These water ionizers do not add alkaline buffering agents to the water, which means that although they have an “alkaline pH,” the actual “alkalinity” (ability to resist acidification) is only slightly higher than that of the tap water from which it comes. Consequently, the alkaline property of ionized alkaline water will not significantly affect the body's pH any more than the original source water and, therefore, will provide neither beneficial nor, most likely, harmful effects.

On the other hand, it is plausible that naturally derived alkaline water has significant health benefits. However, this is not due to the alkaline pH, but rather to the higher concentration of minerals. In particular, natural alkaline water typically contains higher levels of calcium, magnesium, and other trace elements essential for health, and these are highly bioavailable when dissolved in water.

In addition to the facts mentioned above, in all in vitro cell culture studies, alkaline pH is always neutralized, otherwise the high alkaline pH would damage the cells, since a high pH is incompatible with our cellular structure and function.

WATER MICROCLUSTER

Elena's note: sellers of ionized alkaline water claim it is more moisturizing/absorbable because in “microcluster".

Those who advocate the benefits of alkaline water believe that normal water aggregates into groups (clusters) of fifteen or more water molecules, which being too large cannot easily penetrate cells. They argue instead that ionized alkaline water being “electrically restructured” is composed of smaller clusters, only three or five molecules, and this makes it more hydrating. (Elena's note: Because the groups of molecules are smaller, they are called microclusters).

The concept of this type of micro-clustering in water is refuted by basic principles of chemistry and biology, as well as by specific studies that have tested micro-clustering claims.

• water molecules do not exist in groups, and any transient association is fleeting (on the order of a billionth of a second) and without any memory
• water molecules enter cells linearly and separately, “not in groups,” through aquaporin protein channels
• the observed changes in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) bandwidth, tea preparation, and mixing with oil are all a function of pH, not the size of the water molecule groups.

ORP OXIDATION-REDUCTION POTENTIAL

Solutions containing highly oxidizing chemical species give a high and positive ORP reading (example +1000 mV), while solutions containing reductive chemical species give a negative ORP reading (example -1000 mV). The ORP value of biological fluids is generally reductive, and ingestion of some highly oxidizing substances (e.g., peroxides, perchlorates, permanganates, etc.) can be harmful to the body. The idea that a solution with a negative ORP is healthy and a positive ORP is harmful is reasonable but erroneous.

The negative ORP reading in ionized alkaline water can be completely explained by dissolved H2 levels and pH, so no further enigmatic explanations such as “free electrons” or “stored energy” are needed.

CAN ALKALINE WATER BE HARMFUL?

Information contained in a second article (2) by Prof. LeBaron

Regulations on ionized alkaline water state that the pH of ionized alkaline water should not exceed 9.8, but the World Health Organization and EPA recommend not to exceed pH 8.5.

It is recommended that those with impaired renal function avoid using ERW without medical supervision.

SO MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IS GOOD FOR YOU?

In the production of ionized alkaline water, molecular hydrogen is also always generated, but until 2007, research had not paid attention to the role of molecular hydrogen because being an inert gas (one that does not react or reacts minimally with other substances) it was thought to have no function. Then in 2007 a study by Dr. Ohta (3), one of the leading researchers in the field, came out showing that with very strong radicals, molecular hydrogen acts as an antioxidant.

In 2007, we presented the concept that molecular hydrogen acts as a therapeutic and preventive antioxidant in cells by selectively reducing very strong oxidants such as hydroxyl radical (OH) and peroxynitrite (ONOO-), and that molecular hydrogen shows cytoprotective effects against oxidative stress. Since then, a large number of studies have explored the therapeutic and preventive effects of molecular hydrogen. In addition to the biological effects against oxidative stress in almost all organs, it has been revealed that molecular hydrogen has other functions, including anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-allergic effects, and that molecular hydrogen stimulates energy metabolism in most tissues of the animals used in the studies.

Molecular hydrogen acts as a selective antioxidant of ROS, this can be explained by the marked oxidative strength of OH. This means that OH is strong enough to react even with inert H2, while O2-, H2O2, and NO are not reactive enough to react with molecular hydrogen according to their activities. In other words, molecular hydrogen is gentle enough not to disrupt metabolic redox reactions nor to affect ROS that play a function in cell signaling.

But so are we certain that molecular hydrogen is good for you? I honestly don't know, I haven't gathered enough evidence to be certain. Certainly there are interesting results about it. I am always a bit reticent about these new approaches, though, as humankind throughout history has shown itself NOT to be forward-looking about the medium/long-term consequences of technological or scientific innovations (see what happened with asbestos, trans fats and so many other things).

I will certainly watch the development of the research with interest. For those who would like to learn more, I point out that in September the Molecular Hydrogen Institute is organizing a virtual summit on molecular hydrogen, attended by all the leading researchers in the field.

There are machines that produce only water with molecular hydrogen, without alkalizing it. I have not yet delved into what models are available. What I can say already at the moment is that you would have to buy a machine certified by the’IHSA International Hydrogen Standards Association, this association composed of leading molecular hydrogen researchers (including Dr. Ohta) has set standards that must be met by products that contain molecular hydrogen. These standards are based on the amount of molecular hydrogen that has been shown to have efficacy in published scientific research. For example: water with molecular hydrogen produced by machinery must contain at least 0.5 mg of molecular hydrogen per liter. 0.5 mg/liter is equivalent to 5 PPM (parts per million), which is equivalent to 5,000 PPB (parts per billion).

CULLIGAN AND ALKALINE WATER

Culligan is the global leader in water treatment and commissioned a research study (4) on alkaline water from the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology at the University of Bologna. My hypothesis is that Culligan did this to assess whether there were any extremes to enter the industry. I report some excerpts and the conclusion:

Barring diseases that prevent the normal functioning of the lungs and kidneys, or perhaps extreme excesses of acids (as in diabetes) or bases (as by taking in too much bicarbonate), the pH of the blood is constant and perpetually regulated, with no possibility of error. Taking organic acids such as fat or protein in the diet does not change the pH of the blood, because the mechanisms mentioned above prevent it. Similarly, taking alkalizing minerals with fruits and vegetables has no effect, because the lungs and kidneys work to cancel them out.

Alkaline water does not stay alkaline for long: it neutralizes in the stomach  

There are numerous reasons why the use of alkaline water does no good in terms of health:

1) Any non-caustic aqueous solution or alkaline dish, immediately after ingestion, comes in contact with the gastric juices in the stomach that have a pH around 1 therefore very acidic. Thus the alkalinity of basic water is neutralized8.

2) Even if there were a system capable of maintaining the basicity of the water after passing through the stomach (e.g., by adding bicarbonate in large amounts to the point of being able to change the pH of the blood), all the buffering mechanisms would be set in motion to immediately bring the pH back to its usual values.

3) Drinking alkaline water cannot be produced at a pH higher than 9.5 because of documented health risks: exposure to extreme pH values brings skin eye and mucous membrane irritation [...] Gastrointestinal irritation may also occur in sensitive individuals (WHO).

4) If a situation of metabolic alkalosis was created for too long, a serious pathological condition would be established.

In conclusion should an individual decide to hydrate with large volumes of alkaline water, he would not be able to shift his blood pH toward alkalinity even for a very short time, so he would have no harm (drinking less than 10 liters per day) but certainly no benefit other than hydration with any water.

Since there is currently no solid scientific basis to motivate the use of alkaline ionized water, it is permissible to consider this technology, as well as the water produced by these plants, as a purely commercial action.

CONCLUSIONS

When I am faced with a topic that I do not know in depth, the first thing I do is to ask people I respect what they think: I don't want to name names, but the most respected and liked people in our community think alkaline water is useless and without any scientific basis.

In America, the fashion for alkaline water has long since passed-they were everywhere, especially in bottles, of all brands. So several high-caliber doctors and researchers have been talking about it. I bring you some videos

Dr. Ken Berry

Dr. Andrew Huberman

Dr. Eric Berg

All these videos are saved in the playlist INTERESTING on our YouTube page

Here is the live summary with Dr. Giorgio Temporelli. The live broadcast can be seen on our page Youtube (where you can also increase the playback speed, since it lasts two hours--sorry, but the topic was too important!).

A table summarizing what the most common treatment systems remove: activated carbon filter, reverse osmosis, and UV light is given at the end of this in-depth study.

What emerged from the live broadcast:

• water quality in Italy is very good, as 85% comes from underground sources, where water is more protected from contamination
• after being drawn at the source, the water is checked and if necessary undergoes processes to improve its parameters. The pipes are not in good condition and generate leaks of about 40%. In the coming years there will be interventions to improve the condition. Despite this, in most cases the water that reaches the tap is of good quality.
• water is continuously monitored, but the results of the analysis are not always updated on the website of the company that bills you for water consumption. You can email the company and ask for the latest analysis results.
• it is possible to conduct tests on the water that comes out of your home tap. Altroconsumo offers the service indicating which tests are recommended based on the reported problems. You can also contact a testing laboratory in your city.
• activated carbon filter is very effective for what are the main problems: chlorine, odor, PFAs, bisphenol A (BPA). It is indifferent whether the filter is on the sink, in a jug, or under the sink. The important thing is to replace the filter according to the indicated timeline. A charcoal filter that also contains silver is also antibacterial (with respect to bacteria that may form in the filter).
• reverse osmosis also filters out heavy metals and mineral salts, the resulting water is clean but free of mineral salts. There are machines that re-mineralize the water after osmosis. This is an unsustainable process because for every liter of osmosis water, one liter of waste water is produced. So in my opinion one should use this technology only if the source water has problems that require it.
• UV rays are very effective against any bacteria
• The maximum legal limits for chemical parameters imposed by regulations are VERY precautionary because they must ensure that the substance will not cause harm even if it is taken over a lifetime
• if chlorine is present in the water, simply pour the water into an open jug and it will evaporate.
• limestone in water is not a problem; it is a beneficial source of calcium for our bodies. It does not cause stones since most stones are composed of oxalate , while water contains calcium carbonate . Oxalates come mainly from vegetables look up which ones are highest.
• The fixed residue indicates the amount of mineral salts dissolved in the water. For healthy people, it is not true that water with low fixed residue is better; on the contrary, in summer when we sweat a lot (and thus lose minerals) it is poor water, which does not replenish lost minerals.
• alkaline water does nothing; when it reaches the stomach, the gastric juices make it an acidic solution, and it leaves the stomach as such. There is no scientific evidence on its benefits.
• water with molecular hydrogen could have benefits, but at present there is still no scientific certainty.

For the record: Dr. Temporelli himself drinks tap water filtered with an activated carbon jug even though he lives in Genoa, where most water comes from surface sources, which are potentially more problematic.

Dr. Tamporelli has written the very interesting book “The Water Handbook.” He also makes consultations to individuals, if you have a need you can contact him by email info@giorgiotemporelli.com

I hope this insight has been helpful in gaining more awareness.

Knowledge sets one free.
Be Aware, Be Conscious, Live Better

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9738607/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9736533/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163725814000941?via%3Dihub
• https://www.culligan.it/wp-content/pdf/Relazione-finale-acqua-alcalina.pdf

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EFFECTIVENESS OF THE MOST COMMON TREATMENT SYSTEMS