16/11/2024
Alkaline water?
Alkaline water is one of the hottest new products in town right now, but are all its health claims true? Generally speaking, alkaline water is any water with a pH greater than 7. Most alkaline water purification systems on the market today use electrolytic plates to separate water into alkaline and acidic fractions. In this article, we'll break down the truth about alkaline water.
Helps prevent chronic disease
There are numerous health claims about alkaline water, some of which are more specific. Let's look at two of the main health claims. The first health claim is that alkaline water is a highly effective antioxidant that can improve excess acidity in body tissues, thereby preventing cancer, arthritis, and other degenerative diseases. But consider this: a 2005 report from the National Cancer Institute of the United States stated that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can kill cancer cells. This shows that cancer cells are susceptible to acid. The truth is that almost all alkaline water systems on the market cannot add alkalinity to water, they can only change the pH of water - and that's a big difference!
Increases Alkalinity in the Body
The second health claim is that alkaline water helps the body maintain an alkaline state and is therefore good for health. An acidic body is bad for health because in the long run it can lead to acidosis and chronic diseases.
Nevertheless, the pH of various foods and their pH after being consumed do not necessarily correlate. For example, a fact that comes as a shock to most people is that although lemons are very acidic foods, they are alkaline foods! On the other hand, excessive intake of acidic foods such as meat, processed foods and sugar can lead to an acidic body. .
During the digestion process, no matter what the pH of food and water is, they are delivered to the stomach, where the pH of gastric acid is only around 2.0! The acidity or alkalinity of any liquid has only a very small or no effect on gastric acid. Therefore, no matter what we drink, it automatically turns into an acidic form once it enters the stomach.
This is why drinking "alkaline water" will not reduce the acidity of body tissues and make them alkaline. In fact, drinking too much alkaline water may even interfere with the body's digestive process by reducing the acidity of the stomach. On the other hand, consuming more alkaline foods (vegetables, fruits, algae, etc.) can help improve health. This is because these foods are converted into alkaline substances when they are digested by the body.
Only a few (if any) confirmed research reports have been published on the benefits of alkaline water. In fact, in the general scientific community, international water quality organizations and experts are skeptical about the craze for so-called "alkaline water".
The truth is, there are many signs that alkaline water may actually have adverse effects on human health.
