If you Google for 'Alkaline Water' often the first page you get is by a retired chemist Dr Sttephen Lower.
He argues that alkaline water is snake oil; a water ionizer is a rip-off; water ionization is not possible because pure water does not conduct electricity. He says that even if water ionization were possible there would be no more health benefit from it then baking soda!
He calls the scientists involved with ionized water 'crackpots'.
If this were true, then the water ionizer manufacturers like Akai, National and Jupiter should be jailed for fraud.
However, in fairness, Prof Lower does raise good points, understanding of which will help one greatly in understanding water science, pH and health.
This is a summary of the points raised, the scientific myths and the truths about alkaline ionized water. It is a seven part article that gives detailed answers to every 'scientific' criticism raised. It would be also relevant to similar points raised by other web sites that set themselves up as 'Quack Busters' and attempt to rubbish natural health alternatives to Chemical Poisons.
Please read and judge for yourself.
1. Are Water Ionizers a rip-off?
UK Comparative Costs of Water Purifiers
Running Cost: £0.007 per liter
Compare £590 for 5 years of good drinking water for a family of 4 (£0.33 per day) to the average cost of insuring a car in the UK which at over £500/year is £2,500+
Bottled water at around £0.66 per liter, costs 10,000% per liter more then fresh ionized water.
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The manufacturer, Royal Water as been in water purification since 1970 and has been making water ionizers since 1984, and is the world's largest producer of water ionizers.
Does this company sound like a snake oil merchant?
The water purification business is not lucrative, unlike the chemicals and drugs prescription market, where margins are often 1000+ percent as compared to the cost of production, and the market is worth trillions of dollars.
2. Why purify tap water? What's wrong with tap water?
Tap water has been found to contain 100's of toxic substances from industrial pollution, significant levels of estrogen and other medications that we consume, as well as other chemical poisons that water authorities add to the water like chlorine and fluoride. This is a fact.
If prescription drugs end up in our drinking water, what about the countless tons of industrial pollutants that flow into our rivers and waters?
All water in the UK is chlorinated. Chlorinated water has been linked to bowel, bladder and kidney cancer, spina befida, infant heart problems and miscarriage.
Even a UK Government paper that references many studies admits to the link. Read between the lines, in particular paragraph 6, which admits to an association between spontaneous abortion and chlorination and recommends reduction of exposure to chlorine.
The relevant chlorination studies are listed in the Clinical Studies Section.
This is a very good article covering the common pharmaceutical drugs and household chemicals that are found in our drinking water: Drugs on Tap: what's in our water?
You be the Judge
Even if the Water Ionizer did nothing else except purify the water, it would still be worth the money and compares favorably to the other water purification products that are available on the market.
Considering the recent toxicological and epidemiological studies on our water supplies alone, one wonders if Professor Lower is well informed when he advises against a simple water purification device that so many independent experts are recommending, especially when health practitioners the world over are encouraging people to drink more clean water.
Serving the Public Interest or the Commercial Interests of the Giant Corps?
My colleague, Dr Ahson Umar has written to Dr Lower, discussing the commercial reality that drug companies are only interested in promoting products that can be patented, and academic institutions need funds.
As alkaline water is a naturally occurring substance, and can be produced by anyone by the simple purification and electrolysis of tap water, there will be little commercial interest for them to conduct extensive trials and publish them.
Dr Ahson suggested that as Dr Lower says that he is concerned with the public interest, he could specify tests that would satisfy him and encourage his contacts/colleagues at the University to conduct them. Perhaps this will persuade Dr Lower to evaluate the unit for himself, rather then base his views on information from web sites.
Call for Academic Study
I have written to academics in the UK, including Dr David Bendar of University College London, to evaluate the unit in the public interest, but they have said that clinical trials are very expensive and they do not have the funds.
Personally, I don't think you need more clinical trials; you just need tests to confirm that the unit does what it says (using scientific measuring devices and water tests). This would answer all questions about whether or not a water ionizer can actually ionize the water.
For the effects of alkaline water, academics could conduct a meta study of the studies that have been conducted mostly in Japan and Korea over the last 50 years. I suggested this to Dr Bender and that UCL could liaise with and invite the Japanese and Korean academics to the UK to further these studies in the public interest.
About Quack Busters: watch them!
Investigators have found that many web sites that attack natural remedies as 'Quacks' are actually funded by drug companies. This is a link to a court case ruling involving Dr Stephen Barret, the Quackwatch.com founder.
VE Irons, a pioneer of fasting and cleansing, was imprisoned as have many, many other natural health practitioners simply because the profits of the drug companies are threatened by natural remedies like alkaline water, juicing and fasting.
Lets now look at the criticism; I have underlined Dr Lowers comments.
Summary of Arguments
My responses are prefixed [JK}
1. Dr Lower: "Ionized water is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists."
JK: Not true - Ionized Water is an emerging science. In 10 years time Ionized Alkaline and Ionized Acid water based systems will be common in most homes.
2. Dr Lower: "Most water that is fit for drinking is too un conductive to undergo significant electrolysis."
JK: No true. Test the water for yourself using litmus paper or pH meter and you will see for yourself.
3. Dr Lower: "Pure water can never be alkaline or acidic, nor can it be made so by electrolysis....pure water can be considered to be ion-free, as evidenced by the fact that it will not conduct an electric current."
JK: Not true. Again, test the water for yourself. All tap water and any natural water does conduct electricity. If it didn't then you would be able to pour it onto your TV or computer, and it wouldn't do any damage!
4. Dr Lower: "Groundwater's containing metal ions such as calcium and magnesium can be rendered slightly alkaline by electrolysis, but after it hits the highly acidic gastric fluid in the stomach, its alkalinity is gone"
[JK] Yes, but this is true for all tap water, all water, not some mysterious "ground water"!
This is how water ionizers work in 99% of household water supplies, they separate the acid and alkaline ions that exist in the water.
The second point is also misleading; the stomach produces gastric juices on demand depending on the food you eat, generally not when you drink water. This is why its good to drink alkaline ionizes water in the morning, so that gives the body an alkaline boost, and washes away some of the surplus acidity of the stomach lining.
However, there will be stomach acidity left, which might cancel the alkalinity of the water. In practice this does not happen completely because water molecules shelter the negative ions and minerals from stomach acidity. Nature has a way of doing this, if this didn't happen, then you would not be able to assimilate any minerals from water as they would be neutralized.
You will still get clean drinking water with bio-active ionic alkaline minerals. Other measurable features things like low ORP and low NMR and so on are a plus.
5. Dr Lower: "The claims about the health benefits of drinking alkaline water are not supported by credible scientific evidence"
[JK] Again, not true. This judgment depends on what one labels credible.
Alkaline ionized water is just tap water with the poisons taken out of it and reduced by mild electrolysis so that the water is in a pure natural form, very similar to high altitude mineral spring water.
I think that any 'science' that says that water without poisons does not have any health benefit is questionable.This page shows pictures of health benefits as well as lists 100's of clinical studies and reports, they are all credible:
These sites (of the late Dr Batmangheldj) look at some proven health benefits of water: watercure andwatercure2.
We will now examine the above points in detail, looking at the points that Dr Lower brings up.
Detailed critical look at ionized water science, body pH, and stomach acidity |
>> Dr Lower: "Ionized water is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists"
Not true.
In the 1950's Japanese water researchers studying the properties of high altitude spring and glacier water discovered that electrolysis could be used to improve the quality of tap water. This water ionization discovery became a part of Japanese Functional Water technology, which also includes the use of magnetic fields. Since the early 1950's some thousands of Japanese and Korean scientists have been working with ionized/electrolyzed water. The first water ionizers built were very large units, first used in Japanese hospitals in the early 1950's, commercial units became available over a decade later, so you can hardly call that 'sales fiction'.
Are we to believe that these people don't know anything about chemistry, or that these countries don't have any chemists? In the UK high street Chemists do stock water ionizers. The term 'ionized water' may be meaningless to chemists that don't know anything about the technology, or don't want to know, but not to all scientists.
Chemists are far removed cutting edge science in any case!
See our Clinical Studies Section for some 100+ published studies. Much of the early work has not been translated into English.
Some 15% of Japanese households use ionized water. Alkaline water is available in hospitals and clinics throughout Japan and Korea and is registered as a medical device by the Governments of both these countries. The combined output of the major water ionizer manufacturers (Toya Industries, Panasonic, Akai, Royal Water/Jupiter Science and Ion Farms) is over 1 million units per annum. Sanyo has announced a washing machine that uses electrolyzed water which will not require any washing powder. Just think of the cost savings and environmental benefits of using just ionized water instead of chemicals for most household things like detergents, antiseptics, shampoos, etc. In 10 years time electrolyzed water and devices will be available in every home.
Japanese and Korean research in things like 'Functional Properties of Water' is far more advanced then anything in the west. This is because research funding is allocated differently over there - less controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and what are called the government-industry revolving doors that we have in the west.
A doctor at the prestigious Seoul National Medical University, Dr Choi says that 'the effects of alkaline water are both a scientific fact as well as medical fact'.
In connection with this Korean University, recently there has been much media interest on the level of Korean scientific advancements when Professor Hwang Woo-suk, who reportedly produced the world's first cloned dog and human embryos and stem cells tailored to be used on individuals was judged by a Seoul National University panel of fabrication of the stem cells data. They confirmed though that Snuppy was a clone.
>> Dr Lower: "Most water that is fit for drinking is too un conductive to undergo significant electrolysis."
Not true. Try it yourself on your tap water. Measure the pH of the tap water, the acid water and the alkaline water using a pH meter or universal indicator. Measure the ORP values with an ORP meter. If you don't find any significant pH change, then return your unit and most suppliers from reputable manufacturers like Royal Water will give you your money back. In 99% of cases we find that tap water does undergo significant electrolysis, particularly with the latest Jupiter models that add beads of coral calcium and tourmaline to the filter which aids the ionization process.
>> Dr Lower: "Pure water can never be alkaline or acidic, nor can it be made so by electrolysis....pure water can be considered to be ion-free, as evidenced by the fact that it will not conduct an electric current."
Not true. What I assume Dr Lower means is that pure distilled H2O is neutral, but chemically pure H2O does not exist in nature; even when you make distilled water it soon absorbs atmospheric gases and its pH becomes slightly acidic. Chemically pure H2O is not pure water, but an artificially created substance - it does not have any ions and cannot conduct electricity. But such water does not occur anywhere outside the chemistry lab, so this argument is not relevant to anything. The statement is totally misleading.
Try telling an electrician that tap water doesn't conduct electricity, so you can pour it on electric power sockets!
Virtually all the water in the world and all the water in your body contains ions, it is the ions that allow the water to be used for life. Without the ions the water would not sustain life - fish, for example, die when placed in distilled water. Even rain water is not distilled water.
>> Dr Lower: "Groundwater's containing metal ions such as calcium and magnesium can be rendered slightly alkaline by electrolysis, but after it hits the highly acidic gastric fluid in the stomach, its alkalinity is gone."
As we discussed, any tap water (not counting lab distilled water) contains ions, which is why it conducts electricity and can be electrolyzed Yes, if your stomach contains a lot of food that it is digesting with strong acids, then the alkaline pH would be gone because the stomach acids would be several thousand times more acid then the slight alkalinity of the ionized water.
But this doesn't mean anything - the purified water will still be hydrating, provide alkaline minerals and all the other benefits, and zero toxins - you just won't get the slight alkaline boost for your blood pH that's all. This is a minor benefit in any case, but you should drink water first thing in the morning and in-between meals, not during or after meals to get the most benefits. When the stomach is empty, the water or freshly squeezed juices will flow straight through, and not be significantly effected by the acid stomach pH.
The actual pH (i.e. the measurable pH, 8-10 usually) is not the major benefit of this water - 'alkaline' is just a label used to describe the water, one of many labels.
You could call it natural water, pure of contaminants, or pure natural water, pure mineral water . If you analyze natural spring water from the Alps or better still Glacier water, you will find that it has all these properties: alkaline pH, high colloidal alkaline mineral content, low acid mineral content, low ORP (i.e. reduced), low NMR (small clusters).
What is important is what is contained in it. In health circles alkaline water is also called Microwater, Light water, Micro-clustered water, Reduced water, Electrolyzed Reduced Water (ERW), Ionic mineral water and even Miracle Water in this Japanese TV documentary.
Our Clinical Studies section lists abstracts from 100+ published papers that give an indication of the diverse uses of ionized water and terminology used.
When sensible nutritionists and naturopaths talk about an 'alkaline diet' they are NOT talking about neutralizing the acidity of the stomach acids that are needed to digest our food with chemicals!
Alkaline foods like super greens and carrot juice are not particularly alkaline if you measure the pH with a meter, but they will have an overall slight alkalizing effect (or less acidifying effect) when you change your diet to eat more of them. An important point to note is that if you are eating live, alkaline foods like fruits, freshly squeezed juices you should do so on an empty stomach to help the digestion process and get the most benefits (i.e. nutrients, enzymes and energy) from the food. This is less of an issue with alkaline water, since there is nothing to digest in water. JK]
>> Dr Lower: "The claims about the health benefits of drinking alkaline water are not supported by credible scientific evidence"
Health benefits are difficult to quantify with any natural substance like clean water, fresh air or live food; this does not mean that there are no health benefits. Common sense tells us that good clean water would be more beneficial for our health then dirty, poisoned water. Pure natural water from high altitude mountain springs and glaciers is alkaline water.
If you were to go to the Alps and live there, you'd find after several months an improvement in your general health.
Researchers that have looked at the heath of high mountain people have traced it to the local water that they are drinking.
There is plenty of credible evidence to suggest there are some benefits from alkaline water - seek and you shall find. Our clinical studies section lists abstracts from some 100+ published papers.
Is not one of them even a teeny, wee ny bit 'credible'?
Do we need something labeled as 'credible scientific evidence' to know that clean water or clean air or clean food is good for our health? Isn't a little common sense enough?
I would be very interested in any evidence (credible or incredible, published or not published) that pure, unpolluted water is NOT good for your health, and polluted water is.
Take 2 glasses of water, one tap water which has chlorine, fluoride, female sex hormones and 100's of other toxic substances in it; the other glass has the same water, but with all those poisons taken out of it. Which would be better for your health?
Do you need credible scientific double blind studies published in prestigious journals to prove that drinking toxic sludge is NOT good for your health before you stop drinking it?
Who decides what is credible, high priests behind modern medicine: The New World Religion?
Surely if world renowned experts like Dr Gabriel Cousin's, Daniel Reid, Sang Whang, Deepak Chopra,Tony Robbins, Ray Kurzweil, Dr Terry Grossman, Dr Theodore Baroody, Dr Sherry Rodgers, Dr Susan Lark, Dr Robert Young and countless others worldwide are drinking alkaline water and recommending that you should drink it too, then it's worth considering?
Do these people have anything to do with water ionizer manufacturers?
Do they benefit in any way from the water that you drink in your home?
Do you really think that these people are snake oil peddlers?
Could it be that these experts are giving honest advice, based on their personal experience?
>> Dr Lower: "There is nothing wrong with drinking slightly acidic waters such as rainwater"
Yes, slightly acid water is harmless, but it's not particularly beneficial either. By definition, acid water if deficient in alkaline minerals and has harmfully acid elements in it. This study of "Cola beverage consumption induces bone mineralization reduction in ovariectomized rats", of rats fed cola (acid, pH 2.5) suggests that calcium from the bones is used up in maintaining an alkaline blood pH balance, so your better off not drinking it.
Body pH
>> Dr Lower: "Body pH is a meaningless concept; different parts of the body (and even of individual cells) can have widely different pH values."
Not true. Body pH doesn't become a meaningless concept just because different parts of the body and cell have different pH values. We are like alkaline batteries, the polarity between acidity and alkalinity could the key to many bodily functions - like acid-alkaline batteries, we need the cellular polarity, otherwise we'd be dead.
What do Clinical Studies of Alkaline and Acid water suggest?
This study of "Cola beverage consumption induces bone mineralization reduction in ovariectomized rats" (the rats were fed cola - acid, pH 2.5 - and the effects on bone density measured) suggests that calcium from the bones is used up in maintaining an alkaline blood pH balance. The researchers concluded: "These data suggest that heavy intake of cola soft drinks has the potential of reducing femoral mineral density".
This study on the effects of alkaline ionized water on milk yield, body weight of offspring and perinatal dam in ratstentatively concludes that "higher calcium concentration of AKW [alkaline water] enriched the mother, serum calcium which was transferred to the fetus through the placenta and to the offspring through the milk."
This study on the Influences of alkaline ionized water on milk electrolyte concentrations in maternal ratsstates "These data suggested that the Ca cation of AKW enriched the Ca concentration of the milk and accelerated the postnatal growth of the offspring of rats given AKW"
In 1996 Dr. Lynda Frassetto at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered that as we age, starting around age 45, we lose the alkaline buffer bicarbonates in our blood. By the age of 90, we lose 18% of bicarbonates in our blood. This loss was shown to be diet induced. This is from the published abstract
Stomach Acidity
>> Dr Lower: "If you really want to de-acidify your stomach (at the possible cost of interfering with protein digestion), why spend hundreds of dollars for an electrolysis device when you can take calcium-magnesium pills, Alka-Seltzer or Milk of Magnesia?"
Who said anything about de-acidifying the stomach?
You can never 'de-acidify the stomach' simply because the body produces acids on demand, and without this acid you won't be able to digest your food so you shouldn't try to de-acidify it.
Alkaline water is much too mild to have any significant effect on stomach pH. Ant-acids are a billion dollar business, but a total waste of money, and actually harmfully as they reduce our ability to digest protein foods.
When you drink alkaline water, two things are possible:
Acid-Alkaline, Stomach Acids and Food
Yes, after a heavy meal alka-seltzer might help disguise indigestion, but the badly combined food that you've ingested will need to be processed by the body, and this is not easy. If you artificially add Alka-Seltzer, you're not helping the body.
My suggestion would be to follow simple acid-alkaline food combining guidelines, and don't eat so much, so you won't get this problem. I know this from personal experience as I've been doing this for the last 15+ years.
Remember the Pavlov experiments with rats - a protein-starch mixture takes 3-4 times longer to digest then the same things eaten separately. "In rodents!" you might say.
Yes, but it could be an indication of what may happen in our stomach. Our body is quite intelligent; it can handle up to some 70% mixtures, particularly of natural foods, but that's no reason to continuously abuse basic dietary principles.
Try a little experiment: one day for lunch eat a steak with chips, and monitor how you feel after an hour or so. Next day eat the same steak, but with a simple vegetable salad. Which day did you feel more tired, drowsy? Which day did you feel less tired drowsy? You ate the same amount of food on both days, so what could account for the difference? Try a Mcdonalds diet for a month; then try an alkaline diet of fruits, vegetables and juices and super greens for a month. Notice a difference?
The level of acid on the stomach is related to the type of food that you consume. This is a fact: eat lots of proteins and the body manufactures a lot of acids, and enzymes that require an acidic environment. Salads and fruits produce much less acid and require enzymes that function in an alkaline environment.
What about acid fruits?
This includes acidic fruit like lemons and oranges. The pH is not relevant for here; what is important is how the body treats the food. There is an intelligence native to the body, that tells it what enzymes, gastric juice concentrations, and other factors will best digest what you eat.
If you eat two opposing foods like protein and starch in the same meal then the food combination will be harder to digest, no matter how intelligent the digestive system is. Fruits, which are digested not in the acidic stomach, but in the duodenum, will start to ferment in the acid stomach environment.
Isn't alkaline mineral water neutralized by stomach acid lining?
Is the stomach lining always acidic, even with no food in it? Ray Kurzweil and Dr Grossman and many others believe that the very slight acidity of the stomach lining when the stomach is empty is easily by passed by alkaline water.
Would the stomach lining of someone who has been fasting for 7 days on Alkaline Mineral Water alone be acidic?
I don't know the answer, but either way nature will have found a solution because we do absorb minerals from the water that we drink.
Korean research, for example, suggests nature may well have a mechanism for transporting essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium to the cells where they are required through the acid stomach and the stomach lining.
According to Dr Moo-Shik Chun, professor at the Korea Science and Technology Institute, ionized calcium atom forms hexagonal water structures around it. They surround the ions, as if to ensure that it is delivered to where it is needed.
Prof Chun says that one protein molecule is surrounded by 70,000 water molecules, which form 3 different layers called X, Y and Z layers. These layers have different properties and different structures according to Dr Chun, and about 60-65% of this water is hexagonal water, which is most suitable for our body.
It is as if the Water Structures form around the colloidal mineral to protect it on its journey through the stomach and fluid system.
Dr Chun says: "It can be said that hexagonally structured water is the water that living organisms like. This may explain the fact that snow melted water is good for the growth of plankton, green algae, etc. The water from snow has high contents of hexagonal structures."
You don't drink ionized water to neutralize stomach acidity - evidence suggests that the minerals in alkaline water do reach the cells where they are needed.
>> Dr Lower: Electrolysis devices are generally worthless for treating water for health enhancement, removal of common impurities, disinfections, and scale control
Again, not true. See the Clinical Studies. I think that in 10 years time electrolysis devices will be used used for all these things, and more. All the medical people that use alkaline water say that it helps enhance general health. Just removing the chlorine is a significant health benefit.
Water Tests show that a water ionizer removes all common impurities; the 0.01 micron filter units, for example, filter to the same purification level as kidney dialysis machines.
Alkaline or acid water kills most if not all known microbes within seconds.
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Watch this amusing look at the drugs culture: 
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