Alkaline Water Benefits

What is Alkaline Water?

You may have heard various health claims about alkaline water. Some say it can help slow the aging process, regulate your body’s pH level, and prevent chronic diseases like cancer. But what exactly is alkaline water, and why all the hype?

The “alkaline” in alkaline water refers to its pH level. The pH level is a number that measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is on a scale of 0 to 14. For example, something with a pH of 1 would be very acidic and something with a pH of 13 would be very alkaline.

Standard drinking water generally has a neutral pH of around 7. Alkaline drinking water typically has a pH of 8 or 9. Alkaline water has a higher pH level than regular drinking water. Because of this, some advocates of alkaline water believe it can neutralize the acid in your body.

Research has shown that drinking alkaline water or eating alkaline food does not specifically alter your body’s pH balance, however an alkaline diet may assist your body in being more easy able to regulate and maintain its own required pH balance, reducing the strain on the body.

However, pH alone isn’t enough to impart substantial alkalinity to water.

The alkalinity of a substance measures it’s ability to neutralize an acid – the higher the alkalinity of a substance, the less of it is needed to neutralize the acid. Some alkaline (pH greater than 7.0) liquids have a much higher alkalinity than others.

Another key measurement is the Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP). The ORP value shows the liquid’s ability to either reduce oxidation (anti-oxidant) or increase oxidation (oxidant). The more negative the ORP value, the more antioxidizing the water is.

For more on pH and ORP, click here.

Is All Alkaline Water Equal?

There are two types of alkaline water, chemically created alkaline water, and electrolyzed-reduced water known as “ionized alkaline water”.

Chemically Created Alkaline Water
(aka: Bottled Alkaline Water)

The typical alkaline water that you can purchase in stores is water that has been chemically changed to increase its pH. The water’s pH level has been inorganically raised above 7.0 by the addition of synthetic chemicals and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and baking soda. If you are buying bottled water that is labeled “Alkaline”, you could very easily just be drinking expensive baking soda water, which can actually be harmful in large amounts. What’s worse is that this type of chemically created alkaline water actually has little to no proven health benefits.

Electrically Created Ionized Alkaline Water
(aka: ERW, Alkalized, & Kangen Water)

Ionized alkaline water starts out as ordinary tap water, but it is transformed through an ELECTRICAL process to increase its pH balance.

This electrolysis process raises the pH of the water above 7.0, and produces ionized, alkaline, hydrogen rich water by using electric currents to change the natural molecular structure of the water, without the addition of chemicals or synthetic compounds.

Water produced thru this process is also known as electrolyzed-reduced water (ERW). ERW is electrolyzed-reduced hydrogen-rich water. Typically ionized alkaline drinking water will have a pH of 8.5 to 9.5.

In this electrolysis process, regular tap water becomes water that is micro-clustered and super hydrating. It becomes hydrogen-rich water that is loaded with anti-aging antioxidants. And it becomes water that aids in detoxification, flushing toxins and acidic wastes out of our cells like true nature’s water was intended to do.

For more about the Electrolysis Process, click here.

Ionized alkaline water delivers a massive amount of molecular hydrogen molecules, which attract and & neutralize the free radicals causing daily damage & premature aging within our bodies. (FACT: Free radicals are the result of poor diet, stress, pollution, chemicals, medications, and more.)

For more about Molecular Hydrogen and its incredible benefits, click here.

Does it Really Work?

Like so many things that are not widely understood, alkaline water by itself is somewhat controversial.

Many health professionals say there isn’t enough research to support the many alkaline water benefits and health claims made by users and sellers.

Differences in research findings may be related to the types of alkaline water studies, the differences between chemically created alkaline water and electrically created ionized alkaline water (Kangen Water®), and a general misunderstanding by the public that they are in fact different.

Often people just refer to “Alkaline Water”, yet they have no idea which kind of water they are referring to, and may not even be aware that there is a difference.

As with many “new” and emerging ideas and technologies, this general lack of education and a common misunderstanding between the two different types of alkaline water has lead to a large number of skeptics concerning the actual alkaline water benefits.

One easy way to know which type of “alkaline” water you are getting, is to be aware that ionized alkaline water does not have a long shelf-life, and so it cannot be bottled or sold commercially.

If you are buying water in a store that is packaged or bottled as “alkaline water”, you are simply buying water that has had chemicals added to it to increase it’s pH level, and for this type of water, there are little to no known health benefits.

In order to drink ionized alkaline water, you will need to use a water ionizer machine to produce it. Because of it’s short shelf-life, it is not commercially bottled or sold in stores.

While the health benefits specifically related to the alkalinity factor and pH levels in ionized alkaline water are still being studied, the main focus of most studies concerning ionized alkaline water benefits are looking at the changes in its molecular structure through the electrolysis process and are focused towards the specific benefits of the Molecular Hydrogen created in that process.

In the electrolysis process, the ionized alkaline water becomes infused with molecular hydrogen – and many of the water’s hydrogen-rich health benefits are scientifically proven and medically endorsed for a wide range of uses.

The alkaline pH is an awesome byproduct, but the main benefit of drinking ionized alkaline water is truly the molecular hydrogen and ALL of the proven health benefits that go along with it.

For more on molecular hydrogen and hydrogen rich water click here.

Aside from the molecular hydrogen, one of the additional benefits of the alkaline water is that it works as an osmotic, assisting the water molecules to be more easily absorbed through the cellular membranes and assisting with cellular hydration.

Our cell membranes use a gateway system to allow the diffusion of water molecules and other specific nutrients into the cell. These are called aquaporins. The aquaporins can choose to be open or closed, and when open, facilitate the movement of water into the cell.

It has been shown that pH is directly connected to the function of these aquaporins, and when the pH is increased to an alkaline state, these aquaporins “open up”, allowing the water molecules to pass into the cells. [13]

If you are curious to learn more about this, dive into the research on aquaporins, it’s quite fascinating!.

Alkaline or Acidic – Popular Foods

While drinking ionized alkaline water is obviously recommended to maintain your optimal health, here are some other idea’s which can help you maintain an alkaline-conscious diet and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Some proponents of an Alkaline Food Diet suggest that eating healthy diet consisting of alkaline foods, and avoiding acidic foods can help your body maintain its health.

While an alkaline food-based diet has not been actually been tied to any specific health concerns, or linked to the treatment of any specific diseases, when you look at many of the foods that are “acidic” by nature, it’s no wonder that cutting them out of your diet, or significantly reducing them would lead to overall an increase in your health.

When you drink Alkaline Water, doesn’t your stomach acid just neutralize it?

This is an extremely popular question and the short answer is YES, your stomach acid DOES neutralize it – but understanding the process will probably surprise you, so let’s look a little closer at what happens when you consume a high pH alkaline water.

The stomach’s resting pH is around 4-5 on the pH scale.

What you put into the stomach effects it’s pH level – but each situation varies, so let’s look at these two considerations.

1.) How much alkaline water is being consumed (in one period)
2.) Is the stomach empty or not

Consuming a tablespoon (sip) of 9.5pH ionized alkaline water will have little effect on the pH of the stomach’s pH, especially if consumed during or immediately after eating. The alkalinity of the water will react with the acidic stomach acid and the alkaline water will be neutralized.

However, consuming 16-20 oz of 9.5 pH water on an empty stomach will temporarily dilute the stomach acid as it passes through.

Since water is the only thing that the stomach does not need to break down or digest, this just allows the alkaline water to either be absorbed by the body from the stomach, or to pass thru into your small intestine, which loves the alkalinity (it’s ideal pH is 8.8). [1]

In the small intestine, the water passes through about 20 feet of intestine and the surface area of a tennis court (~250 sq. meters) where it is readily and easily absorbed into the blood, cells, tissues and organs throughout the body. What is not absorbed continues to pass thru the body until it reaches the bladder and is expelled. [1]

Because the ionized alkaline water in large amounts has the ability to temporarily increase the pH of the stomach, and raising the pH of the stomach during digestion can be mildly disruptive or slow the digestion process, it is not recommended to drink ionized alkaline water during a meal. Dr. Parker’s water protocol suggests limiting the consumption of large quantities of ionized alkaline water to 45min prior and 30 min following any meal, and drinking only 7.0 (neutral) clean water during your meal. [2]

Some have found that it can be beneficial to drink water with your meal and suggest that drinking small amounts of water with your meals is a good way to speed up overall digestion.

One study showed that water consumed during or after taking in solid food mixes in with the food and aids digestion more quickly.

The study recruited volunteers to drink ordinary water that included deuterium, a hydrogen isotope, that enabled researchers to track each gulp throughout the body. The water started showing up in the bloodstream within five minutes; half was absorbed in 11 to 13 minutes, and the remainder was completely absorbed within 75 to 120 minutes. [3]

Another study done in 2012, indicated that ionized alkaline water is not immediately neutralized by the stomach acid, in fact, when consumed in larger amounts (a glass of water rather than a sip), it is the ionized alkaline water that actually neutralizes the stomach acid temporarily. [3]

This lab research study found that water with a pH of 8.8 did seem to inactivate pepsin, an enzyme related to the production of hydrochloric acid (the kind found in your stomach). The ionized alkaline water also had a buffering effect against hydrochloric acid itself. “These in vitro data suggest that alkaline water may be a useful, risk-free adjunctive treatment for reflux disease”. [4]

Once the water has passed thru the stomach and into the small intestines, the stomach pH returns to its normal resting pH awaiting the arrival of its next digestion project.

In order to lower the pH in the stomach, Hydrochloric Acid is released. But just like any reaction, creating the acidic release of HCl into the stomach, causes a release of alkaline chemicals into the blood-stream.

This is also referred to as an Alkaline Tide and occurs any time that the body releases alkaline ions into the blood stream, temporarily raising the pH. [5]

While the ionized alkaline water you drank is being neutralized by the acid in the stomach, the process of neutralization the body uses to lower the pH of the stomach, releases alkaline into the blood stream – so by drinking ionized alkaline water, you get a net positive alkaline effect on the body.

The pH of Your Body

It is important to note, that the body and blood pH are very closely regulated by the body – the range is 7.35 – 7.45 and the healthy body does an excellent job of maintaining this pH – so drinking ionized alkaline water or eating alkaline foods is not intended to upset the balance or change the actual pH of the body… it simply provides the body the additional alkalinity it needs to maintain balance rather than having to produce it all on its own – thereby reducing the stress on the body.

Alkaline or acid that is produced by the body must have an equal and opposite acid or alkaline produced by the body; therefore, there is no net gain.

However, alkaline supplied from outside the body, like drinking alkaline water, results in a net gain of alkalinity in our body. (PS – this is good!) [6]

When we are born, our bodies are fully hydrated and alkaline in nature, and as we age, our bodies struggle to keep up because we are often introducing more acidic (food/drinks) to our bodies than alkaline, and are more than likely not consuming the amount of water on a daily basis that our body needs to stay hydrated.

The body of a newborn is composed of more water (75%) than that of an elderly person (50%). Diseases thrive in acidic environments, and one of the best ways to prevent and reduce those diseases, is to change the environment they live in. [7]

One of the easiest ways to change the internal environment of our body, is to be drinking ionized alkaline water, and eating a nutritional healthy diet.

Water and Our Body

The average body of an adult human being contains over 60% water. Most of the water in the human body is contained inside our cells which is two-thirds of the water you drink. Did you know that our billions of cells must have water to live?

Key Facts:

• The total amount of water in our body is found in three main locations: within our cells (two-thirds of the water), in the space between our cells and our blood (one-third of the water). [7]
• The amount of water a body contains varies according to certain contexts: The body of a newborn is composed of more water (75%) than that of an elderly person (50%). [7]
• The body holds on to water when you don’t have enough or gets rid of it if you have too much. If your urine is very light yellow, you are well hydrated. When your urine is very dark yellow, it’s probably time to drink up. [7]
• Water act as a lubricant to organs, remove waste, regulate body temperature, and aid the body in nutrient absorption. [7]

How Much Water is Enough?

Because water is so important, you might wonder if you’re drinking enough to stay hydrated.

Staying hydrated is crucial to living a healthy and well-balanced life.
In order for the body to stay properly hydrated, it is recommended to drink the equivalent of 50-75% of your body weight in ounces of water each day.

50% is the recommended level for basic hydration.

75% should be used by those with a more active lifestyle, or in specific situations (high-heat situations such as outdoor labor, cardio or high-endurance workouts, fighting off a cold or sickness, etc.)

Example: Body weight = 140 lbs
50% = 70lbs = 70 ounces of water each day
75% = 105lbs = 105 ounces of water each day

How is Water Absorbed into our Bodies?

On an empty stomach, water can pass through your stomach, and small intestine into your bloodstream in as little as five minutes. When drinking water during a meal or after a meal, it could take the same amount of water anywhere from 45-120 minutes to absorb. [8]

When it comes to the digestion process, all foods and liquids are broken down by the digestive process into smaller molecules that the body can use.

Since water is already a very simple molecule, our body doesn’t have to break it down into smaller, simpler molecules. Digestion of water is not needed so it is able to be absorbed by the body as it is.

As a matter of fact, water molecules are so small that they diffuse through the phospholipid bilayer that forms the cell membrane of human tissues.

With ionized alkaline water this diffusion process is made even easier due to the osmotic (osmosis inducing) properties of the ionized alkaline water, which is able to speed the absorption process, and deliver hydration even more quickly on cellular levels.

This is one more of the incredible feats that can be added to the growing list of ionized alkaline water benefits.

This phospholipid bilayer, or cell membrane, (presumably) consists of small channels or pores through which water or water-soluble substances can enter, meaning that water is directly absorbed through the epithelial cells that cover humans’ intestinal tract.

In short, this means that the small intestine is responsible for the absorption of most of the water that we consume. [9]

Alkaline Water Benefits

The wide range of ionized alkaline water benefits are still being studied, with more and more information coming out every day.

What I think is both interesting and challenging with all of the ionized alkaline water benefits, is that it is difficult to separate out the individual attributes as far as what is related to the molecular hydrogen in the water, what is specifically related to the alkalinity and pH of the water, what is specifically related to the enhanced absorption properties of the alkaline water, and what is specifically related to the possibility of micro-clustering occurring within the ionized alkaline water.

I do know that there is something very unique and exciting about ionized alkaline water, and that all the studies I’ve found indicate some incredible results.

One of the best recommendations I have for people who are curious and really want to see how the ionized alkaline water benefits them specifically, is to try the water on a consistent basis for a few weeks and see what changes you physically notice.

To learn more about molecular hydrogen and the incredible antioxidant role it plays, click here.

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