This article is a bit long and requires you to link to another longish article, but if you want to understand how and why water ionizers work, I believe it is well worth the read.
Hydrogen Sticks….The Beginning of My Journey into Hydrogen
I first learned about hydrogen ions when I investigated Hydrogen sticks a couple of years ago. When I tested the sticks, I was amazed that they actually raised the pH and lowered the ORP of water without electricity. How could that be? What happened to the acidic water? What do you mean they don’t produce acidic water? How can that be? How can they produce alkaline pH water and a negative ORP without producing hydroxyl ions?
Despite my mild curiosity, I didn’t really like the hydrogen sticks other than as a travelling device. They are inconvenient as they take a long time to ionize the water, they didn’t purify the water, and they were expensive if you wanted stronger results because you needed three sticks at a time.
The Korean Engineer and Hydrogen Machines
I took a trip to Korea in early 2010 to learn why water ionizers worked so well and to visit a number of manufacturing facilities. Specifically, I wanted to learn about ORP. During my visit to Korea, the engineer that impressed me the most introduced me to hydrogen machines. The engineer explained to me that electrolysis was old technology and that hydrogen machines were then “next” thing. I was too busy trying to understand ORP to pay much attention to what the engineer had to say.
The engineer did mention a few things that stuck with me despite my preoccupation with learning about ORP. He told me that you needed to drink the water from an electric water ionizer in the first ten seconds before all the hydrogen bubbles floated to the surface. He indicated that once the hydrogen bubbles reached the surface and reacted with air, the benefit of the hydrogen in the bubbles was lost. When I asked him why that was important, he told me that Hydrogen was the key to good health, as opposed to the temporary negative charges associated with the hydroxyl ions produced by electrolysis. He also told me that he thought North Americans were crazy because we drink ionized water that is far too strong in terms of pH for our long term health. I listened politely and got right back to my questions about ORP. I should have paid more attention at the time as it would have saved me a lot of work. I don’t know whether to blame my stubborn streak on being male, or Irish/Welsh, or perhaps it just comes naturally to me.
Ian Hamilton’s Alkastream
In September 2010, Ian Hamilton, one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of ionized water contacted me and asked me to take a look at his new Alkastream hydrogen ion producing machine. When I did my testing, the results were stunning. The results were beyond dispute, but the machines had many flaws. Despite all the design flaws, I was really excited about the machines. Affordability has always been a big issue for me, and I recognized that a $399 price tag would be affordable to almost anyone. I agreed to help them with the technical and design problems and spent several months tearing apart their test machines. I drove them crazy with all of my suggestions for required changes, but they did everthing I asked and more.
Dr. Hayashi Explains How Hydrogen Eliminates Free Radicals/Free Oxygen Atoms
When I came to realize that hydrogen ions were the key component of ionized water when it comes to health benefits, I found my way to the work of Dr. Hayashi. I believe that the man is by far and away the leading authority on ionized water in the world. I found that his explanations were difficult for me to understand. I attributed my confusion to my extremely rusty chemistry skills rather than his “science”. After brushing up on the periodic table and electron layers/orbits, I found that his chemistry made a lot of sense.
The basis for Dr. Hayashi’s work is that oxygen, which is vital to our survival can also be very harmful to the body if it not all used up. It is believed that 98% of the oxygen we breath in is used up in the process of combustion within our cells in order to produce energy to sustain the cells. The remaining 2% of oxygen goes unused and becomes dangerous to our bodies because oxygen atoms are electron hungry (this relates to the periodic table and electron levels/orbits). We have all witnessed the oxidation of unprotected steel on our cars or on old bridges, or the oxidation of copper on a roof. Well, the same oxidation process happens in our bodies. Free oxygen atoms, commonly known as “free radicals” will attach to cells in order to stabilize their electron layer/orbit and in the process will start decay process in the cells.
Dr. Hayashi explains that the best way to rid the body of electron hungry free oxygen/free radicals it to introduce electron donating free hydrogen into the body to create water. Dr. Hayashi explains that free hydrogn can easily be created by running water across magnesium. The attraction of oxygen to magnesium is much stronger than the attraction of oxygen to hydrogen. Therefore, when water comes into contact with magnesium, the hydrogen bonds are broken and free hydrogen is released into the water. When we drink the water with the free hydrogen, we are providing our bodies with the ultimate antioxidant.
Understanding How Antioxidant Filters Ionize Water Without Electricity
Gabe Hunninghake contacted me on this blog about a year ago. He was selling Vollara products at the time and introduced me to their products. Gabe is a brilliant guy who is a real straight shooter. He has written an excellent article with easy to understand illustrattions about how the antioxidant technology works. Check out his explanation at the blog section of his website at: http://www.alkastream.us/antioxidant/how-does-the-alkastream-ionize/
Summary
My testing and personal experience tells me without a doubt that the technologies of both the antioxidant filters and the electric water ionizers work extremely well. There are thousands of testimonials available regarding the health benefits of electric water ionizers. Although the antioxidant filters are relatively new to North America, the technology and science behind the machines has been avalable for eleven years since Dr. Hayashi introduced the concept. Now we are seeing numerous testimonials pouring in about the effectiveness of antioxidant machines from industry experts who have been testing the machines themselves. It seems that the engineer in Korea was right about antioxidant filters being the “next” thing.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the link and the kind words. I think we are just beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding the importance of mineral rich, naturally ionized water and its role in our body.
The greater challenge is figuring out how to explain on a very basic and easily digested level why it’s so much better than tap/bottled/distilled. I need a couple of 48 hr days and a break in the phone/web alkaStream orders to get a few other thoughts down on paper.
Hi Gabe:
It is I who should be thanking you for providing the article.
In regards to tap water, it is easy to understand why your filters are so much better. The source water for tap water starts out in many different forms. Municipalities need to set a standard for all of the water that passes through its care so they do all kinds of nasty things to the water. What you get from a tap is not anything like what water should be in its natural form. In most municipalities, the pH of the tap water is boosted as it leaves the facility in order to avoid corrosion in the underground infrastructure. That means that most tap water is usually slightly alkaline by the time it reaches people’s homes, which is a good thing.
Bottled water is usually just tap water that has been filtered. The filtration is a good thing, but most bottled water such as Aquafina or Dasani are very acidic.
Distilled water was never meant to be used as drinking water. Distilled water has been evaporated from water from one container into gaseous form in another chamber. The gas is then condensed back into liquid form. The contaminants that existed in the original water all stay in the original container and are therefore removed from the water. What you end up with when you drink distilled water is “pure” water that has nothing in it. Pure water is not healthy water. What most people don’t understand about water is that it is not just for hydration. Water delivers all sorts of minerals etc that our bodies require to be healthy. Drinking Reverse Osmosis or Distilled water deprives our bodies of those valuable substances and can lead to all kinds of unpleasant outcomes.
Your filters take out the bad stuff and put in the good stuff. I have examined the contents of your filter exhaustively and there is no comparison between what your filters provide and what the filters from electric water ionizers deliver. Your filter is vastly superior in both filtration and adding minerals. I believe the level of success your company achieves will be determined by how effectively you can communicate your message to the world. You have a great product at an affordable price, so now it is up to your marketing people. Keep working.