If you Googlefor 'Alkaline Water' the first page you get is by a retired chemist Stephen Lower.
He says 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 'crackpots'.
If this were true, then the water ionizer manufacturers like Akai, National and Jupiter should be jailed for fraud.
However, Mr Lower does raise good points. This is a summary of the points raised, the scientific myths and the truths about Alkaline Water. We simply give detailed answers to every 'scientific' criticism raised by Mr Lower. It would be also relevant to similar points raised by other websites that set themselves up as 'Quack Busters' and attempt to rubbish natural health alternatives to Chemical Poisons.
We Invite You To Read For Yourselves And Make Your Own Conclusions
Purchase and 5-year running cost: $0.05 per litre or 5 cents per liter
Compare $1125 for 5 years of good drinking water for a family of 4 ($0.6 per day) to the average cost of insuring a car in the US which at over $829/year is $4,145+ (Data from the Insurance Information Institute)
Bottled water at around $1.38 per litre ( data from The Green Guide) , extremely much more expensive than fresh ionized water.
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?Chlorinated water has been linked to bowel, bladder and kidney cancer, spina befida, infant heart problems and miscarriage.
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?
Bottom Line: You and only you can be the final judge as to if these (and others like these) claims are valid. We offer a 90-day money back policy to bring alkaline water to your life. We can assure you that alkaline water works! It has ans it always will. So...here is what we offer as an answer to all the Mr Lower's of the world. Check them out!
This is true for any tap water, that's how Water Ionizers work in 99% of household water supplies.
The second point is misleading; the stomach produces gastric juices on demand depending on the food you eat.
However, even if the slight alkalinity is cancelled out, you 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.
This judgment depends on what one labels credible.
Alkaline 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.
These sites (of the late Dr Batmangheldj) look at some proven health benefits of water: watercure and watercure2.
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.
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.
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!
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 Studoes 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]
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, weeny 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?
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.
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.
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.
This is very true about belief, but the effects of ionized alkaline or acid water have nothing to do with the placebo effect.
The first Japanese Government tests in the 50's were conducted on plants and animals. Plants and animals are NOT subject to placebo effects. Read the Livestock results from 27 dairy farms. The Clinical Studies section lists 100 published studies on the effects of ionized water, are these effects due to a placebo?
Try a simple experiment yourself - take 3 seedlings and daily feed them tap (control), acid and alkaline waters. See what happens after a fortnight/month. Plants are not subject to placebo, but to to make it more 'scientific', make it double blind by, say, getting a supplier to provide the water in batch labeled water bottles and giving them to someone else to administer. That way, neither you or nor the feeder knows which water is fed to which plant. At the end, check the growth levels in the 3 plants. Repeat the experiment 100 times for statistical accuracy.
What results do you think you'll get? These and other experiments on the effects of alkaline and acid ionized water have been repeated time and time again, with the same results.
These are true scientists that are presenting the evidence, which others are invited to replicate.
Just because there are challenges in the experimental procedure does not mean that it does not have 'scientific validity'.
You are welcome to make your own interpretations. Dr Emoto is just presenting the evidence, the pictures of Water Clusters speak for themselves.
Calling Dr Emoto's pioneering work "pseudoscientific rubbish" is insulting, and tells you more about the attitude of accuser then the accused.
n the linked article Prof. Paul Shin admits that he confirmed Dr Jhon's experiments:
'Sure enough I was indeed able to replicate his data precisely!'.
This is not exactly 'demolishing this nonsense', but rather confirming that NMR does give an indication of the cluster size of water molecules, and that it is different for different waters.
Prof. Shin seems to have an axe to grind, probably because a commercial device is being marketed on the back of the translated book, but this is not scientific attitude, and the late Dr Jhon probably was not aware of this product.
Prof Shin mentions that the NMR results for other waters like Urine, Distilled, Strawberry Juice, etc was the same as the Hexagonal water, and therefore implies that Dr Jhon's work or translation is flowed - i.e. hexagonal property is not unique to a particular water. But this does not mean that the research is flowed - Dr Jhon and people like Dr Hyashi show that the water in the body is ideally hexagonal, this is the case for all water in the body - urine, blood - and the water in nature and water existing in plants. This is confirmed with NMR readings. Lab tap water, on the other hand (from Dr Shins results), shows cluster sizes of twice this size, i.e. 12-13 clusters. If you take this water and pass it through an ionizer, you'd find that it will then give lower NMR/cluster size values.
There are a number of products, often sold via multi-level or pyramid marketing schemes that make various claims about producing such 'Structured Water', which seem to be dubious, as Prof. Lower explains. But this does not mean that the research by people such as Dr Shik Jhon and Dr Emoto is flawed by association. In connection with this, it can be demonstrated that certain naturally occurring substances like certain ceramics, tourmaline and even the natural flow of water along streams results in a water with lower surface tension and smaller clusters as compared with 'dead' tap water.
Remember, your thoughts are able to change the water cluster patterns - and this for me is the most important aspect of the water clusters work and the messages from water that are contained in the patterns.
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