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Alkaline Water Nonsense
Joe Schwarcz
The words 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!”
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 coursem 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.
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.
The McGill Office for Science
and Society
(OSS) is a unique venture dedicated to the promotion of critical thinking,
science communication, and the presentation of scientific information to the
public, educators, and students in an accurate and responsible
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