Is Alkaline Water Snake Oil? Part1: Summary
If you Google for '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, Prof Lower does raise good points. This is a summary of the points raised, the scientific myths and the truths about Alkaline 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 websites 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 litre 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 litre, costs 10,000% per litre 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 Govt 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 favourabably 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 QuackBusters: 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
1. Dr Lower: "Ionized water is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists."
Not true - Ionized Water is an emerging science. In 10 years time Ionized Alkaline and Acid water based systems will be common in most homes.
Dr Lower: "Most water that is fit for drinking is too unconductive to undergo significant electrolysis."
No true. Test the water for yourself using litmus paper or pH meter and you will see for yourself.
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 - test for yourself. Tap water and any natural water does conduct electricity.
Dr Lower: "Groundwaters 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"
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.
Dr Lower: "The claims about the health benefits of drinking alkaline water are not supported by credible scientific evidence"
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.
Click Next to Go to part2
