Is Alkaline Water Snake Oil? Part7: Conclusion
This concludes the 7 Part section looking at Dr Lowers 'scientific' criticisms. Dr Lower has certainly gone to a hell of a lot trouble to rubbish Alkaline Water, and one wonders why? I am, however, grateful for his contribution as it has given me the opportunity to respond to the criticism.
My Experience
I had been drinking filtered water for some 12 years and switched to a water ionizer some 3+ years ago after hearing about it from the author Daniel Reid, who has been drinking it for 8+ years. I'm glad I switched as I now virtually live on ionized water. I have done several 7 day water fasts with it, and find ionized water is much better then the previous 7 day fasts with charcoal filtered water.
I find this water much easier to drink, I drink a lot more of it and I wouldn't give it up for anything.
My family (a very large family!) all drink it, and won't drink anything else.
I have introduced 100's of people to it, who all say that they are drinking a lot more water then they used to, and feel better for it.
As for any health benefits, these are always difficult to quantify with total accuracy. I feel certain that my health has benefitted from drinking Ionized Water, but I don't really know as I have always been in good health. But when I'm abroad, as I often am, and don't have access to ionized water, I feel that my health suffers (sore throats, etc).
As water is the main substance consumed during detox, fasting and cleansing programs, Daniel Reid devotes much of his new book 'The Tao of Detox' to it. Dan Reid is a living Taoist master and has over 30 years personal experience of such things, and some 20+ published books on a wide range of topics.
Many other health practitioners, particularly those that take up Detox, Fasting and Cleanse programs and those concerned with Peak Performance such as Tony Robbins have also switched to using alkaline water for their water purification needs. So have experts that have looked into Longevity and how to reverse the natural process of aging.
Science and Pseudo-Science
Dr Lower explains Science as what is agreed by the general scientific community, and pseudoscience as something that is on the fringes, not generally agreed upon. This makes sense academically, however, in practice with vested interests and large corporations that have an interest in the status quo this distinction is often not as it would seem.
Dr Lower says that only research published in the top western scientific Journals is credible. This is just misleading, any research is credible if it can be repeated. If an experiment can be repeated, then it becomes scientific fact. What you then get is a campaign to suppress the scientific fact by those that feel threatened by the fact becoming generally accepted.
This has happened throughout the years, and continues to happen today.
The Horses mouth: You can't argue with observed phenomena
In 1984 I worked at the Middlesex Hospital in Professor Ekins what was then Molecular Endocrinolgy Department within Nuclear Medicine. My supervisor and friend Dr Phillip Edwards told me a story about the importance of getting it straight from the horse's mouth in any true scientific endeavor.
Several centuries after Socrates two experts were discussing the number of teeth there are in a horses mouth.
One said it was 'X' because the horses evolution (and he explained this line).
The other guy followed the line of argument, but disagreed at a point and said it was not 'X' but had to be 'Y'.
He then and explained what he thought was the mistake in evolutionary line that the other had explained.
This argument continued for several months when a third guy, who was passing by said:
'You're both wrong, the number of teeth in the horses mouth is "Z"'.
Both the experts laughed out loud, 'who ever heard of 'Z', where did you get that number from?' they asked laughing.
'I got it from the horses mouth'
replied the third guy. End of argument.
This has been the basis of true scientific endeavour over the years. You conduct simple experiments, and see the results.
A universal indicator comes with every water ionizer, so everyone can test for themselves. You can also take the water to labs to have other measurements such as ORP, TDS, NMR and compare these with the Manufacturer Specifications.
With Alkaline Water, if the 'litmus test' from the horses mouth indicates that the water is acid at one end and alkaline at the other, then that is the end of the argument.
Similarly, if 95% of the people that drink it say that it feels lighter, they can drink more of it and that they don't get the 'bloated' tummy feel from drinking it, then it suggests that the water is better absorbed.
If you take tap water water, pass it through an ionizer to separate water into acid and alkaline. Then feed acid to one plant, alkaline to another and after a while the acid fed plant degenerates, while the alkaline fed plant flourishes then this is clear evidence that alkaline water is beneficial. If you get the same results with rats, chickens, cows then that's also clear evidence. If your chemistry, physiology textbooks or philosophy says that this can not happen (when it clearly does), then you need to change your chemistry and text books.
Conclusion
I have shown that in the UK/EU the cost of a water ionizer compares favorably with other water purification systems and it can be easily tested that it does indeed produce acid, alkaline and purified waters. The units have manufacturer specifications (for example ORP, acid and alkaline levels) which have been independently tested to be accurate.
Any health benefits are difficult to quantify as people are very different, and any benefits from the water would be gradual, imperceptible over the short term.
The reported benefits may not be 'credible', but I think there is enough evidence to suggest that there are some benefits; there is no harm from drinking water that has all impurities, chemicals and acid elements taken out of it.
Drinking pure, clean water in it's ideal state (which is alkaline water) is good for your health, and anyone that says alkaline water is not good for your health is not telling you the truth, and you would need to question why he wants you to believe that.
A water ionizer is not a 'snake oil' scam, some 15 Million Japanese people use it.
Dr Lower discredits himself when he suggests that it's a scam and that every expert would concur, when every expert that I know clearly does not.
As a chemist Dr Lower should not rubbish world renowned experts on Nutrition, Health and Longevity, especially not in their own fields of expertise.
A chemistry professor coming up with basic chemistry equations to try to prove that acknowledged world experts on health, nutrition and longevity 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 others are wrong is a bit like the 'scientists' that reasoned that the earth was flat.
What is needed here is a Paradigm change that the late Dr Batmangheldj called for since his breakthrough in Medicine at the Evin prison. He got it straight from 3000 horse's mouths, each crying out in pain, that the body needs water, not drugs.
You can't argue with this evidence - not with basic chemistry equations, not with pseudo science allegations, not with 'germ theories', not with anything.
This site has the translated transcript and some parts of a TV documentary called 'Miracle Water', which was made after urging by the Japanese Minister of Health. I wonder if such information would ever be made public in the west. I wonder if Dr Batmanghelidj message will ever reach the general public that's crying out in pain or the physicians who's job it is to alleviate the pain.
Maybe you can help?
by James Khan
