Drinking alkaline water may not be all it’s cracked up to be. There’s been a lot of talk lately about alkaline water and in particular a variety of water treatment systems known as alkaline ionizers, some quite expensive, that make your water – and your body – alkaline. There are inherent dangers to this fad that the wise consumer will want to be aware of.
My name is James P McMahon. I am an ecologist with over 40 years experience with a focus on water. I am also the owner of Sweetwater, LLC. I write about health related issues pertaining to water quality. And I have written this article to express concern about alkaline ionizers.
Here’s the premise – some natural health practitioners suggest that maintaining an alkaline body is the key to good health. Some go even farther, suggesting that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline body. Different parts of your body have different levels of pH – your blood maintains a constant pH of 7.4 while your stomach is acidic with a pH of about 4 in order to digest food. People measuring their pH use test strips obtained from health food stores which measure the pH of either their saliva or urine.
As with all topics of relative scientific complexity, opinion on this topic varies widely. A number of health practitioners endorse these ‘alkaline ionizers’ while just as many endorse drinking treated water or even distilled water. And the sales people presenting this equipment to you are only going to tell you one side of that story. When I see discrepancies in endorsements that vary this widely among health professionals I conclude that no one really knows and what we’re looking at is a matter of opinion. So I’ll share my opinion with you in this document.
From what I am able to discern by reading the literature and speaking with health professionals there appears to be validity to the fact that pH is an important element of good health. And I would suggest to you that your body is perfectly capable of adjusting the pH of any water you drink whether it is alkaline or acidic.
Drinking alkaline water may not be all it’s cracked up to be
I view the sale of alkaline ionizers as a fad with potentially dangerous impacts on the health of users. Here are the potential dangers associated with buying a water alkaline ionizer:
1) Alkaline Ionizers do not adequately filter your water. The filters included with these systems are not adequate for even the best city water.
2) These systems rely on the contents of your water to produce ions. So, it’s important to know what’s in your water.
3) If your water contains metals these will be concentrated in the alkaline water produced at higher levels than in your untreated water. Concentrations may be two to three times higher than the levels in your untreated tap water. This can be extremely dangerous as these can interfere with the function of glands such as your thyroid.
4) If your water contains unregulated contaminants such as pharmaceuticals these may be transformed by the ionizing process into unknown compounds with unknown health risks. Studies have shown that ozone converts some pharmaceuticals into other unknown compounds as opposed to removing them. The electrical process in alkaline ionizers produces peroxide which acts precisely the same as ozone.
5) Alkaline ionizers can interfere with digestion by raising your stomach pH. The stomach will react to an increase in pH by producing its own hydrochloric acid, but as we age some individuals have more difficulty producing this hydrochloric acid on their own.
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