I have been watching with great interest the ongoing development of the strategy by the pharmaceutical industry to cast doubt of the benefits of an alkaline diet and alkaline water.

What are they afraid of?  Do you think that they might be concerned that if we eat properly and hydrate adequately, the need for pharmaceutical drugs will plummet like they did in Japan before the water ionizer industry was forced to shut down advertising for two years?

This article addresses a truly pathetic internet effort to discredit alkaline water.  The face of website in question is Dr. Stephen Lower.  At one time in his career, this man was a legitimate professor of chemistry at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, but it has been 11 years since he was terminated from his position. While a professor is allowed to maintain a “Dr” designation for life, this man has clearly lost all sense of the basics of scientific research.  His internet site, which is obviously backed by someone with a strong financial interest in seeing the awareness of the benefits of alkaline water suppressed, is based upon Lower’s (or the pharma industry’s) self-serving hypothesis that water can’t be ionized and that water ionizers are therefore a scam.  

How does his site, which doesn’t sell anything (therefore no revenues) constantly maintain the top ranking for the hotly contested keywords of alkaline water and water ionizers?  Riddle me that!

Lower’s website offers a couple of chemistry equations, and then he states that pure water can’t be ionized. His statement is true, but irrelevant, because there is no such thing as pure water in nature. The only pure water in the world is created through distillation. His site offers no scientific basis whatsoever, despite claiming that water ionizers don’t work based upon scientific fact. All legitimate scientific papers begin with a hypothesis, describe and perform accepted testing procedures and protocols in detail to insure unbiased data, generate and analyse data, and finally, discuss the implications of the study.  Lower refuses to even test the water or the machines that produce the water, and yet he triumphantly claims that ionized water is a hoax. Shame on him!

When a Vancouver distributor for one of the ionizer companies contacted the ex-professor to invite him to a demonstration to test the results of the ionization process, the ex-professor declined the invitation. The distributor then offered to bring a machine to the ex-professor’s home, or to any lab of his choosing for a demonstration. The distributor’s goal was to provide unequivocal evidence that the alkaline water ionizing machine does change the pH and ORP of water when the water is passed through the simple process of electrolysis. The ex-professor declined the offer.  The distributor then offered to have the water tested any scientific testing facility in the area, and have Dr. Lower choose the technicians and the testing equipment.  The process wouldn’t cost the ex-profession anything, but he refused to take part in scientific testing.

Why would somebody who claims to be an expert on a subject and publishes their beliefs, refuse to attend demonstrations that clearly invalidate his/her claims?

In a more recent email sent by Dr. Lower to a Doctor of Natural Medicine, Dr. Lower wrote: “ I do not test processes or devices, but merely assess the scientific credibility of the explanations given for how they work”.  He also stated: “I am prepared to admit the possibility that some of the dubious products I mention might be effective under the right conditions”.  So, we know he won’t test his theories, and he admits that there may be merit to the fact that ionized water may work, but it doesn’t suit his needs to put those statements on his website that sits at the top of the Google search engine for the subject.

Dr. Lower publicly states on his personal website that he can do without: God, cats, Microsoft Windows, sports, most tv and popular culture etc etc etc.   Probing a little further into his website, we find a list of favourite websites, which includes the blasphemous Jesus Dressup where you can dress up Jesus as a devil or in other outfits (see http://www.jesusdressup.com/ ) and the Periodic Table of Comic Books (see http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/index.html ) .

You may be wondering why I’m picking on a seemingly harmless 77 year old guy, who is clearly unable or unwilling to assess alkaline water or water ionizers. If it were all harmless fun, we could just have a good laugh. However, I have spoken to numerous people who have chosen to discontinue their investigation of the benefits of alkaline water because of their belief that the opinion of this charlatan has value. If I have personally spoken to dozens of people who have been influencecd by his website, imagine how many thousands of victims he has tricked with his gibberish.  It disturbs me that someone like Lower can destroy the legitimate efforts of people who are attempting to learn about a natural way to improve their health.

It is hard to believe that it can get worse, but it does.  A recent search of “alkaline water” on Wikipedia turned up the following statement:  “However, drinking ionized water would not be expected to alter the body’s pH, and there is no evidence of any claims made by manufacturers that drinking ionized water will have a noticeable effect on the body.[2]” .  Guess where the statement came from?  None other that our infamous Dr. Lower (see “Lower, S. “”Ionized” and alkaline water: Snake oil on tap”).   I’m not kidding!  This charlatan and his gimmicky website are quoted as a source for alkaline water on Wikipedia.

Enough is enough! Surely the pharmaceutical industry can come up with something better than this farce. 

It is time to take off the gloves and go after the people who pretend to know what they are talking about when it comes to ionized water.  I have been made aware of articles from a nutritionist from a famous medical institition and a couple of MDs in the States that claim that ionized water can’t and won’t work.  They haven’t tested the water and they have no research or ancedotal evidence to support their claims.  

Anyone that wants to help me expose unsupported claims from professionals that are just sounding off for notoriety or for hidden profit are encouraged to contact me.   This could get interesting!

 As always, it must be stated that the contents of this article are the opinions of the author and are not intended to be offered as medical advice. Always consult with your health care provider (preferably a Naturopathic Doctor) for health issues.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.