The health industry focuses on the importance of the benefits of being alkaline (pH over 7.0) because disease can’t exist in an alkaline environment. 

pH is the measure of the acidity (hydrogen rich H+ ions) or alkalinity (hydroxyl rich OH- ions) of water.  The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 with 0 being the strongest acid, 14 being the strongest alkaline.  A pH of 7 is neutral (neither acidic or alkaline), as in the case of distilled or pure water.  The pH scale is logarithmic, which means that a pH level of 5.0 is ten times more acidic than a pH level of 6.0

The primary discussion about pH revolves in the health industry is focused on the pH level of blood because of the vital role  that pH plays in your health and survival.   The pH level of your blood will remain in a very tight range of 7.35 to 7.45, or the results can be very profound and dangerous.  As a result, your body has very sophisticated acid-alkaline balancing mechanisms that will ensure that your blood level will remain in the required range.  Your body will beg/borrow/steal anything available in the body to make sure the pH level remains in the very tight range mentioned above.  A good discussion of the acid-alkaline balance of your blood can be found at  http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec12/ch159/ch159a.html. 

Your body contains other fluids such as urine, saliva, and cerebrospinal fluid.  It is easy to test the pH of your urine and saliva with pH test strips.  When you test your urine or saliva, you should do so first thing in the morning before eating.  You will likely find that the pH levels are much lower than the pH level of your blood.   The pH level of advanced cancer patients can be in the low 5s while vegetarians often have a pH values in the high 6s.  When alkaline ionized water is added to the diet, most people will notice a significant increase in their urine and saliva levels.   Vegetarians often find that their pH levels will finally move into alkaline territory after drinking alkaline ionized water, as it appears that the water is the final ingredient in helping them become alkaline.

I’m aware of three individuals that post on the internet that alkaline ionized water can’t possibly work because the acidic level of the stomach neutralizes the alkaline properties of the water.  None of the naysayers actually drink the water, and they refuse to test it.  You may find it useful to check out the following link which is a technical (and somewhat dry) article written by Sang Whang.  The article explains how drinking alkaline water causes the body to produce important alkaline bicarbonate buffers in the blood when the stomach produces hydrochloric acid to neutralize the alkaline water:  http://alkalineworld.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/alkaline-water-stomach-acid/

Mr. Whang, the author of Reverse Aging, concludes the above article with the statement: “What is diminishing, as we age, is the alkaline buffer.  To maintain the alkaline–acid balance in the blood, we must recharge the alkaline buffer in the blood.  Drinking alkaline water is the best way.  This is better than any alkaline food”

I agree with the summary provided by Mr. Whang, as it makes sense.  However, I believe there is more to the water than the simple alkalinity argument.  Mr. Whang believes that ORP (oxidation reduction potential, which is measured by milivolts) doesn’t play an important role in the health benefits of alkaline ionized water.  My experience and research tells me that ORP also plays an important role in removing acid buildup and helping the body become more alkaline.

Virtually all substances that you consume end up in your stomach for a prolonged period of time to be processed.  However, it is well documented that sugar, alcohol, and ionized water pass directly through the stomach into the intestines, and into your blood.  We are all aware that police officers use this fact to test blood alcohol levels, as a two or three quick drinks can end up in DUI charges, as alcohol passes through the stomach immediately.

Having witnessed my father (a physician) pour maple syrup down the throat of my uncle during a diabetic seizure, I can tell you from experience that the results are very rapid and effective. The glucose from the maple syrup obviously bypassed the stomach.

You can easily prove to yourself that ionized water passes through the stomach immediately into the intestines.  If you attempt to drink 3 sixteen ounce glasses of tap or bottled water (48 ounces in total) in 2 minutes, you will find it very difficult to do so.  In addition, you will feel bloated and uncomfortable for hours.  If you drink the same 48 ounces of ionized water in the same two minute period, you will find that it is much easier to drink the water and you will not feel the unpleasant bloated feeling. 

So, what does this little drinking water experiment tell us? Negatively charged ionized water bypasses the stomach as advertised, just like the example of using maple syrup in the story about my uncle.  So, with all due respect to Mr. Whang and his logical argument, it appears there is more going on (as in the fact that ORP does play a role) than the simple creation of alkaline bicarbonate buffers when the stomach produces hydrochloric acid to neutralize alkaline water.   The stomach could not possibly create enough hydrochloric acid and the corresponding bicarbonates in such a short period of time.  Funny how a scary childhood experience would be part of this blog nearly 50 years later.   

As always, the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and those quoted in the article and are not intended as medical advice.  Always consult your health care provider with health issues.

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If you are investigating water ionizers on the internet, there is a good chance you are getting confused.  The confusion is understandable.  While every website tells you that the machines are great, they also try to influence your buying decision by focusing on the attributes of their particular machine.

Here is a list of things I think you should know about water ionizers before you consider buying a machine:

1)      All water ionizers work.  They use a simple process called electrolysis to separate tap or bottled water into two separate streams of water.  One stream is rich in OH- (hydroxyl ions)  which is for drinking, and the other is rich in H+ (Hydrogen ions) which is for external use on the skin or for disinfecting germs in its strongest form

2)      There is no such thing as the “best” water ionizer.  Different machines perform differently in different water conditions.  Before buying, you should focus on your source water conditions, what you want to use the water for (as they do more than simply improve your health), and your budget

3)      The high priced Multi Level Marketing machines are not superior, and in many cases are inferior to many lower priced brands

4)      Your source water conditions, the speed of the flow of the water through the machine, and the amount of power run through the machine are the primary factors affecting the performance of the machine.  Don’t be mislead by the “bells and whistles” offered by various brands attempting to entice you.

5)      Water ionizers are designed to ionize water.  They are not designed to work as filtration systems other than for removing chlorine.  While the filters of some brands offer somewhat better filtration, it is important to learn what is in your water supply and install a pre-filtration system.  It makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars on a water ionizer and not spend a couple of hundred dollars to remove harmful contaminants from your water.

6)      The “independent” review sites are not independent at all.  They are sophisticated marketing tools designed to lead you towards purchasing a specific brand of water ionizer.

7)      According to the engineers that I met in Korea, no machine for residential use needs to have more than 300 Watts of power.  In fact, adding more power is likely detrimental as it will act to corrode the platinum coating on the titanium plates.  More is not better.

8)      The engineers confirmed our findings that 7 plates provide up to 20% better results than 5 plates, but only under hard source water conditions.  In soft and medium water, there is very little difference.  However, 9 plates offer absolutely nothing more in terms of performance over 7 plate machines and can be viewed as a gimmick.  More is not better.

9)      In regards to pH levels, there is somewhat of a consensus among the scientists and engineers that I have spoken to.  It is recommended to start drinking alkaline water for about a week at a level of 8.0 to 8.5 so your body can detoxify slowly.  Starting with water that has higher pH levels will not harm you, but you are more likely to experience headaches, mild flu-like symptoms, and possibly diarrhea.  Once your body has adjusted to detoxifying, most healthy adults should drink water in a pH range of 9.0 to 10.0 

10)  The opinions among the scientists in regards to the effectiveness and level of ORP for drinking water are much more divergent.  Some medical doctors and scientists who have never tested the water believe that the acidic level of the stomach immediately neutralizes the negative ORP values, thereby rendering the effect of the ORP as worthless.   Others scientists claim that the antioxidant values of the negatively charged ions are life changing and can lead to sustainable good health.   

Ionized water, alcohol, and sugar, are the only known substances that pass immediately through the stomach.  You can prove this to yourself with a simple test.  Drink 3 sixteen ounce glasses of tap or bottled water within a five minute period.  You will feel bloated for hours.  However, it you drink 3 sixteen ounce glasses of ionized water in the same five minute period, you won’t feel bloated at all.  Based upon this test and the fact that ionized water helped me get rid of severe arthritis and acid reflux while several forms of pharmaceutical drugs failed, my vote goes to the beneficial effects of negatively charged water.

The scientists that do believe in the beneficial antioxidant properties of negatively charged water have varying opinions in regards to what level of negative ORP should be consumed.  The scientists from Japan and Korea who have been around working on the water for 25 years seem to be of the opinion that you should drink water with a negative ORP level of -10 to -15.  Others claim that you should drink water that has a negative ORP of -180 to -200, as that is the value of the juice of a live orange on a tree.   There does seem to be some consensus that drinking water should not have an ORP of greater than -400.  However, Dr. Robert Young has indicated that he has had success with using -800 ORP for cancer patients, but that of course is a more extreme measure.

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The culprit of so many of the nasty diseases and ailments that plague our society is “acidosis”, or the state of being acidic. It has become abundantly clear that getting our bodies alkaline is the key to good health. The question is how do we do it?

The alkaline diet pundits tell us that we should be eating a diet rich in alkaline foods… all that green stuff that our Moms told us to eat. We intuitively know that they are right, but it is a difficult task that is beyond the grasp of most of us, who are rushing around trying to survive in a busy world. However, there are people such as vegetarians and vegans who are much more disciplined with their pallet than I will ever be. They are able to turn the other proverbial cheek when it comes to taking the easy way out with food. But are they able to achieve a stable alkaline pH of 7.2 to 7.5 as measured by the saliva? In most cases, the answer is no.

So, if the health food nuts have difficulty achieving the promised land of a pH level of 7.346, how do people reach that lofty goal? According to the experts, it is a combination of food, water, exercise, and reducing the amount of stress in your life.

Let’s look at the components one at a time. While I find it admirable that vegetarians have the discipline to eat a predominantly alkaline diet, it will never work for me. So what can the average person do? For starters, reduce the amount of meat, sugars, flour, and processed food. Does that mean eliminate them? No. But 4 ounces of meat per day is plenty. Sugars are a killer. If you have a sweet tooth like me, trade in the chocolate and candy for fruits. Maybe they are not quite as satisfying, but they produce natural sugars that are much better for you. Reduce the amount of flour from breads and pasta. That doesn’t mean eliminate those items, but cut down. Another culprit is snacks. Most of the time that we eat snacks is to curb our cravings for salt. We need salt in our diets. Many of our junk food binges are sparked by a lack of minerals in our body. Consume the proper minerals, and a lot of your food cravings will go away.

Speaking of cravings and food binges, the cause of the problem is often created by dehydration. We often mistake our need for water as hunger. If you drink water with a proper balance of essential minerals, your need and consequently your cravings for will diminish. You should drink half an ounce of water for every pound of body weight each day to start working towards better health. That means that if you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 70 ounces of water. That is a lot of water. If you are working towards getting healthy, you should drink even more water.

Drink Water

Why water? Your body is made up of about 70% water, so water is the natural way to nourish your body. The greatest cause of aging is dehydration, so drink up. What should you drink besides water? Nothing else is required. It is as simple as that. What kind of water should you drink? Tap water from a city source is generally the best water around and it is free. Yes, tap water is better for you than virtually any bottled water. If you have the financial means to purchase a water ionizer, that is even better, but let’s leave that discussion for another day.

While it is essential to drink water, it is just as important to get off the sodas and coffee. If you drink one cup of coffee, research indicates that it takes 8 cups of water to cleanse the acid problems created by the coffee. If you drink a can of soda, it takes 32 cans of water to offset the damage done by the soda. Think about that for a minute. If you don’t take the Coke out of your fridges and pantries, you are just hurting yourself and your children. If you can’t do it for yourself, then at least do it for your kids. Alcohol is also bad, as it is very acidic. Hard liquor is worse than beer as it is more acidic – again, everything in moderation (except for soda, which is just terrible for you).

Exercise

What about exercise? We all know that we are supposed to exercise, but many of us find that we don’t have time. Take the time. Exercise gets your lungs working and your blood pumping. Exercise doesn’t have to mean hard physical exertion at a gym, or a long run. Get you exercise doing things that you like. Exercise doesn’t have to be torture. Get outside and work in the yard, or go for a walk, or let the dog take you for a walk. Go for a swim, or a bike ride around the neighborhood. You might find that you actually like your neighbors. Play with your kids, as they will give you a workout. Just make it enjoyable.

Exercise is simply a matter of moving around and using your body. It might seem like a huge undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be. Just start doing things and you will be amazed at how much better you feel in a very short time. Get your blood pumping a bit and get your lungs working. Athletes and people who exercise a great deal don’t live longer. In fact, they usually have shorter lives, because they typically suffer from dehydration over their lives, and the body is not meant to be tortured.

Reduce Stress

Finally, let’s take a look at stress. Stress is a huge contributor to sickness. My kids like to tell me to “chill Dad”. It is easier said than done, but it not only can be done, it has to be done. Stress is a killer. Take the time to exercise or just take a break. No matter what you do for a living, it is only work. Work is a way to support your life, it isn’t your life. Don’t be fooling yourself by believing that you work so hard for your family. Your loved ones would much rather have down time for fun time with you, than see you slaving away so that you can “get ahead”. Another source of stress is often provided by the people in your life. It has taken me a long time to realize this one out, but I have finally started surrounding myself with people that make my life better, and removing myself from those that cause me stress. It sounds so simple, and it is. The trick is to just realize it.

So there you have it. You know what to do. Eating well can be achieved in small steps. Try to make lifestyle changes slowly as opposed to dieting. Drink water…lots of water! Drinking more water is the most important change that you can make to improve your health, and it is simple. You can cut your calorie intake substantially by drinking water to fill many of your cravings. Exercise! Make it fun, not torture. And finally, start getting rid of stress by excising, taking breaks, and avoiding the people or events in your life that create the stress.

© This Alkaline Water article was posted on Waterfy

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Bashing other companies or products in order to make your product look good by comparison is pathetic. The public is looking for information and the truth, not a sales pitch. Can you imagine GM using its marketing dollars to tell people not to buy a Ford or Chrysler because they make lousy cars? I think it was about 15 to 20 years ago that Coke and Pepsi went through a short period of bashing each other. The strategy turned the public off and people started looking to alternatives. The management teams at both Coke and Pepsi figured out very quickly that people don’t like that type of approach. I hope that the water ionizer companies learn the lesson quickly, so that they can start to focus on the important issues. I believe that everyone in the health care industry should be morally obligated to become as well informed as possible, as customers are putting their trust in their hands.

Now it’s time to take an honest look at what it takes to produce the best results from a water ionizer machine. I will start by saying that you can ignore most of the marketing hype that you see on the internet. While some sites provide excellent information, most focus their efforts on selling you their product. Marketing people emphasize the virtues of the products, and minimize the factors that are lacking in their machines.

Despite all the flashy proclamations on the internet, there are two key elements to producing the best results for ionized water. Marketing companies illustrate other virtues, but they are secondary factors in producing good results. The primary factors are:

1) The amount of electrolysis that actually occurs in the ionizing chamber of a water ionizer.
2) Dealing with the factors presented by the source water.

Dealing with issue number one (the time that water is exposed to the ionizer plates) is easy. It is simple physics to understand that the more electrolysis that takes place, the better the results in terms of producing pH and ORP. So, how do the machines achieve maximum electrolysis? The ionizer companies go on and on about the plate size, the material the plates are made of, solid plates vs. mesh plates vs. slotted plates, and power. The simple fact is that the more exposure to the surface area of the plates, the more electrolysis takes place.

More surface area can be achieved in three ways… more plates, bigger plates, and introducing slots in the plates. More plates cost more and therefore push the price up. Bigger plates make the machines bigger and therefore make the appearance of the machine on your counter more conspicuous. Slotted plates add 25% more surface area (according to the physicists) without changing the size or number of the plates. So, it seems that slotted plates are a “no-brainer” as it doesn’t affect cost or size. You will see the companies that don’t have slotted plates present an argument about clogging, but it is nonsense. Putting slots in plates is a positive thing and it doesn’t increase the cost, so all the companies should be doing it. In every case, if you slow the flow of the water flow over the plates down, the results will improve, because more contact with the plates means more electrolysis. The review sites use water flow rates as one of the tricks to make their machines look like they produce the best results.

The manufacturers have been engaging in a battle of the number of plates for the past year. I believe that the primary reason for this strategy has been to combat the claims of one of the Multi Level Marketing companies that their machine was better because it had more plates. It is obvious that more plates are better, but how much is enough? I personally wasn’t convinced that moving from 5 plates to 7 plates would actually make a significant difference in performance, as I assumed it was just more marketing hype that would allow companies to raise their prices. However, when testing 5 plate versus 7 plate machines, the 7 plate machines do in fact produce better results under soft water or hard water conditions. If your source water is ideal (pH level of 7.1 to 7.3 and moderate hardness 80 to 140 parts per million), then you can achieve reasonably good results with a 5 plate machine.

Choosing a machine for its plate size becomes a personal issue. Bigger plates are better, but it makes the units bigger and more cumbersome. A bigger unit on the counter bothers some people, but not others. If a machine has small plates, the shortfall can be overcome somewhat by a machine that has more power. Personally, I can’t wait until the industry provides a wide array of under the counter “UTC” units that are priced more reasonably than what is available at this time. UTC units will allow for outstanding output from machines without worrying about the size, because the machine will be hidden away.

Now we need to deal with the more tricky factors, the source water. Canada and the USA have many different source water issues. We have to deal with great variations in the amount of hardness in the water, and we also have to deal with other water issues such as impurities. In cities, most people have to deal with chlorine and fluoride, which are negative factors, as well as concerns about the contents of older pipes. Rural areas don’t have to deal with chlorine and fluoride, but they typically have to deal with sediment in the water, and sometimes nasty things like nitrates (on farms) or heavy metals.

Unfortunately, the water ionizer companies have basically ignored the various issues and focused on selling their units. It is a typical case of greed, where profits are more important than safety. I believe that they can do a much better job. The only issue that the companies have addressed at all is the issue of soft water. Soft water is a problem for water ionizers because soft water contains very few minerals, and the ionizer requires minerals to work.

There are two different strategies that the various companies have chosen to deal with soft water. The old fashioned way to deal with a shortage of minerals in the water is with a calcium port, and the two oldest ionizer companies use this method. Companies that use this system have their customers purchase calcium and inject it into the machine. This system is effective, but I personally don’t care for it, because the amounts injected are not metered out in any systematic and accountable way, and the cost is both high and unnecessary. In my opinion, the better way to deal with soft water is to use filters that slowly introduce minerals into the water as the water moves through the filters. This system makes a lot more sense on an intuitive level, and there are no additional costs. While I would like to say that the manufacturers have perfected this system, it appears that they still have some work to do. Fortunately, one company in particular seems to be getting much better results than others when it comes to dealing with soft water, so it is just a matter of time until the competitors make the adjustment.

When it comes to the nasty things that we find in the water, I find that the manufacturers just don’t seem to care. Maybe they do care, but they certainly haven’t done anything about it yet. I think they can do a much better job. To that end, I have been doing some research with manufacturers of purification systems that could be used in combination with the water ionizer systems. I don’t have anything definitive yet, but the prospects are promising. I believe that we should be able to combine the positive aspects of the purification properties of reverse osmosis systems with the healthy contributions made by water ionizers. There are some logistical problems that we are working on, but I think a cost effective solution is possible. I will keep you posted as things develop.

This is totally off topic, but I thought it was funny. I was talking to a lady the other day about her new water ionizer, and I asked how she liked it. She said that she enjoyed the taste of the water, and that she had more energy, but what really impressed her was that her cat wouldn’t drink regular water anymore. It reminded me of a message on a magnet that my Mom used to have on her fridge. The message said “The more I get to know people, the more I like my cat”.

© This Alkaline Ionized Water article was posted on Waterfy

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Humans are supposed to eat a diet consisting of 80% alkaline items. The typical American/Canadian diet consists of approximately 3% alkaline items and 97% acidic items. Now you see why people are getting sick. While the human body is an amazing survival machine, there is only so much it can do if it is abused.

In general, alkaline foods consist of many vegetables and some fruits, while almost everything else is acidic. Unless a person in a vegetarian, most people get more and more acidic over time. What does that mean to us? Well, to be blunt, it puts us at greater and greater risk of suffering from arthritis, diabetes, acid reflux, cancer, etc. etc. etc., as we age.

Dr. Robert O. Young and the other health gurus say that the ideal pH for your body liquids should be 7.346. How they came up with that precise number is beyond me, but I’m willing to accept it, as the level is slightly alkaline.

So how do we achieve this wonderful and healthy alkaline level? Eating more fruits and vegetables that have alkaline content helps. Cutting out junk food, pop and coffee helps. Reducing your intake of meats and processed foods helps. Exercising helps. Reducing your stress helps. These are all good things to do, but not easy to do for most of us. If you have a busy life like me, it is difficult to have the time or the energy to eat right and exercise. Like everything else, it is all about priorities. When you are young and healthy and seemingly invincible, eating properly and taking care of your body despite the damage that you are inflicting upon yourself. Generally it is not until we are older and feeling the effects of our neglect that we start to take action.

Even if you are really disciplined and eat well, you may still not achieve an alkaline equilibrium. A friend of mine has been a vegetarian for fifteen years, and he had never achieved an alkaline pH level in his body, until he started drinking alkaline ionized water. He is obviously a big fan of the water now, and has become a wonderful ambassador for the ionized water cause.

An obvious question should be why does alkaline ionized water make such a positive difference? The human body is made up of about 70% water (more for kids and less and less as we get older). Alkaline ionized water bombards the body with negative electrical charges which is a good thing, as it helps remove acid waste from the body.

The human body eliminates acid waste through feces, urine, sweat, and even a bit by breathing. Unfortunately, the body can only eliminate so much acid. When your body can no longer eliminate acid waste fast enough, your body will store the excess acid waste in fat cells. Your body views excess acid as a threat, and will surround the acid in a fat cell, and store in those places that drive us crazy when we hit our forties. That is why we see so much obesity in our society. What I find really alarming is the explosion in the percentages of overweight children, and it is no coincidence that type 2 diabetes is becoming an epidemic. More on that another day!

Acid buildup manifests itself in other harmful ways, including the diseases mentioned above. As I said before, the body can only do so much, so it is up to you what you are going to do about it. You can attack the problem with food, and with what you drink, along with living a healthy lifestyle of exercise and stress relief. Since the human body is primarily made up of water, intuitively, it makes sense that we should attack the problem of “acidosis” (the state of being acidic) with water.

I encourage everyone to eat well. My wife and I have made a determined effort to do the same. However, it you find that you just can’t eat a diet that you know is good for you; at least you can drink alkaline ionized water. It is easy to drink, and for people like me, the positive effects are life changing.

The initial cost of obtaining an alkaline water ionizer is high (about $2,000 for the leading brands), but prices should and will hopefully drop over time, as the market becomes more competitive. Do your homework, ask lots of questions, and be wary of what you see on websites that claim their machines are far superior to all of the other brands.

© This Alkaline Water article was posted on Waterfy

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