Sieve through the jungle of information and observations on health and cures and you will soon see one of the common denominators - body acidity is bad and alkalinity is good. Take your fruits and vegetables and say no to meat. Take alkaline supplements, alkaline water and negative ions.

Hold on a minute, negative ions?

Let me briefly take us back to our chemistry class. Dissolve common salt in water (pH 7) and it will "dissociates" into Na(+) and Cl(-) ions. Now forget about these, they are not the types of ions we are interested in here. Now run a high voltage (electrical potential) through a wire circuit with a small gap and you will see a spark or electric arc jumping across the gap.

The electrical arc is caused by electrons jumping from the cathode (-) to the anode (+) often assisted by the air (or gas) molecules surrounding the electrodes. A break down of the gas particles (mostly air O2, N2 and H2O etc) resulting in their losing an electron which travels to the positive pole and completes the circuit leaving behind a chain of reactions of positive and negative ions (including possible formation of ozone). This set up gives you an idea of how anions are generated in an air purifier or a dedicated negative ion generator.

It has been observed that environment rich in negative ions can result in a positive mood change. A more relaxed disposition, better sleep etc.

Yet another 'source' of negative ions is from alkaline water which is formed by the ionization of water via electrical or 'radiative' means. This is akin to electrolysis of water with the collection of OH(-) rich alkaline water at one of the electrodes while the acidic portion at the other electrode is discarded. The alkaline water is ingested as a drink but one would wonder if the strong acidic bile in the body would just as soon render the alkaline water neutral. Still much positive testimonies were reported and taken seriously.

While air ions from a negative ion generator are ingested through breathing, negative ions from under garments made of Chlorofibre are said to penetrate through the skin.

Now before you think this article is getting to be too bizarre, know that there is really such a clothing fibre produced by Rhovyl of France and Teijin of Japan since the 1950s. Being an excellent (negative) static generator, the fabric does produce an abundance of negative ions when friction is applied.

What is most interesting is that back in the '50s, it was observed that Chlorofibre garment has a positive effect on providing reliefs to Rheumatism sufferers. Also observed is that the Calcium level in the blood stream of those who use the fabric moved to a higher level (as reported in the Handbook of Fibre Chemistry By MENACHEM LEWIN).