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---
  layout: post
  title: Alkaline Water Nonsense
  author: Joe Schwarcz
  source: McGill Blogs
---
  HYPERLINK
"http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2014/03/20/alkaline-water-nonsense/" 
Alkaline Water Nonsense 

  It is not often that I’m left speechless.  But sometimes you run
into a situation where words just fail you.  Absurd, ridiculous,
ludicrous, preposterous, comical, and farcical come to mind, but they
still don’t quite seem to capture the extent of the mind-numbing
nonsense.  And what nonsense is that?  “Ionized Alkaline Water!” 
People, seduced by the outlandish promotional drivel, are spending
thousands of dollars for a device that produces this liquid malarkey.

Some promoters just blather mindlessly about increasing energy, reducing
weight, reversing aging, boosting immunity, controlling blood pressure,
cleansing the colon or eliminating body odour.  More disturbing are the
ones who speak of preventing cancer and increasing life expectancy. 
And how is alkalized water supposed to accomplish these miracles?

Well, you see, “all electrons in water either spin to the left or the
right and high speed of the left spin of electrons is considered to
substantiate that the water is vital and alive.  Only ionized water has
this quality.” Uh huh.  There’s more.  “Ionized water oxygenates
the body via an increase in the oxygen-hydrogen angle.  All other water
is void of this benefit.”  Yeah, sure.  “Ionized water has
positive polarity.  Almost all other waters are negative in their
polarity.  Only positive polarity can efficiently flush out toxins and
poisons in the body at the cellular level.”  There’s still more. 
The amazing water ionizer produces “smaller water molecule clusters
which enables every nook and cranny of your body to be
super-hydrated”  Makes you head swim.

All this rubbish does have an effect.  It makes anyone with a chemistry
background want to tear their hair out.  Of course, the promoters of
ionized alkalized water have an answer to that too.  They claim the
water has a calming effect and can even grow hair.  Not only is there
not an iota of scientific evidence for any of the claims, the notion of
“ionized alkaline water” having any therapeutic effect is beyond
absurd.  In fact, the term “ionized alkaline water” is
scientifically meaningless.

What then does an “ionizer” actually do?  The same thing that high
school students do in chemistry labs when they stick a couple of
electrodes in water and pass a current between them in a classic
“electrolysis” experiment.  Some of the water molecules break down,
forming hydrogen gas at the negative electrode and oxygen at the
positive electrode.  Electrolysis, however, cannot be carried out with
pure water since water cannot conduct an electric current.  For
electrolysis to proceed, some sort of charged species must be dissolved
in the water.  Atoms, or groups of atoms that bear a charge are called
ions.  Tap water contains a variety of dissolved ions such as calcium,
magnesium, sodium, bicarbonate or chloride, so it is amenable to
electrolysis.

As water molecules break down at the negative electrode to release
hydrogen gas, they leave behind negative hydroxide ions.  This is what
makes a solution “alkaline.”   Basically what this means is that
as electrolysis proceeds, a dilute solution of sodium hydroxide
(negative ions are always paired with positive ones) is produced around
the negative electrode and can be drawn off as “alkaline” or
“ionized” water.  But you don’t need an exorbitantly expensive
device to produce a dilute sodium hydroxide solution.  A couple of
pellets of drain cleaner in a liter of water will do the job.  So will
a spoonful of baking soda.  Of course these solutions will not produce
any medical miracles.  But neither will the posh alkaline water.

What this expensive water does produce is a bevy of daft claims.  Here
is the most popular one: “It is well known in the medical community
that an overly acidic body is the root of many common diseases, such as
obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure and more.” 
Poppycock!  There is no such thing as an “acidic body.”  That,
though, doesn’t stop the hucksters from treating it.  How?  By
neutralizing the acidity with their alkaline water.  “The alkaline
water will restore your body to a healthy alkaline state,” they say. 
“It counteracts the acidic food you eat and the effects of the harsh
elements in your environment in order to bring about the natural balance
your body needs.  Change your water and change your life.”  The only
thing you’ll change is your bank balance.

Now, even if there were such a thing as an acidic body, and even if this
signaled illness, it could not be countered by drinking alkaline
water.  To “alkalize the body” one would have to alkalize the
blood.  But our body maintains the pH of the blood between 7 -7.4,
which is already alkaline.  If you were to alkalize it further, you
would not have to worry about illness because you would be dead. 
Don’t worry, though, about alkaline water killing you.  Our stomach
is strongly acidic and any base that enters is immediately
neutralized.  The still acidic contents of the stomach then pass into
the intestine where they are neutralized by alkaline secretions from the
pancreas.  So all of the water we drink ends up being alkaline anyway!

Another seductive claim is that alkaline ionized water is an antioxidant
and neutralizes free radicals.  This is often demonstrated by immersing
an Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP) probe into the water and pointing
out that the needle moves into the negative millivolt region, while
ordinary water shows a positive reading.  An ORP probe is useful in
determining water quality in a swimming pool, but is meaningless for
drinking water.  The slightest amount of dissolved hydrogen, as you
have in alkalized water, will result in a negative reading.  This has
absolutely no relevance to any effect on the body.  Oil may not mix
with water, but it seems snake oil surely does.

 

Joe Schwarcz – March 20th/2016