Is alkaline water a scam?

[Ben321]

Ordinary bottled water has always been popular, but frequently now I am starting to see bottled water at grocery stores that claims to be alkaline water. The pH of such water is usually stated on the bottle to be about 9.5. The implication is that somehow, water who's pH is above neutral (pH > 7) is somehow healthier for the human body. Is this true? Is it actually healthier? Is there any potential danger from drinking such water?

[ataradov]

There are a few studies that show that it may be beneficial in some cases, like if you experience acid reflux. But there are actual medications that could be taken with normal water, so I'm not sure why you would want to treat medical conditions with random stuff like this.

And for 99.9% of the target audience it has no benefits. It is just a way to extract money from suckers.

There is no real danger either. I guess it may not be smart to just drink that water and use it for cooking. But who does this anyway? If you just were outside and are thirsty, then drink whatever, it makes no difference.

[antenna]

Without drinking anything for a little while, spit on a piece of pH paper. You will see it is alkaline. Your body likes running at a higher pH.

That said, the stomach is very acidic and I assume the slight alkalinity will immediately be neutralized when drank. Perhaps the mineral content without adding halogens is beneficial? My friend drinks nothing but alkaline water and he swears by it. I drink nothing but Pepsi, and although my teeth are gone, I feel OK. A bit lethargic most says, but OK.

I am interested in hearing what others have to say about it too, I'm not a doctor and always wondered.

[SiliconWizard]

It's probably NOT a good idea even. The stomach content needs to be acid. At least while it's digesting food. If you're experiencing acid reflux or related stomach pain, drinking something alkaline may soothe it temporarily. For this, you don't need anything special. Just tap (or bottle if you prefer) water and a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Cheap as hell, useful for other things, and works. But that should be done only occasionally IMO, and preferably at a distance from meals.

Now taking this on a regular basis is not that great and isn't going to solve anything. If you're "neutralizing" the stomach pH, your digestion will suffer. It needs acid. And your body will desperately try to compensate - by producing more acid. Which could eventually give you a bigger problem. If you have a bad and recurring acid reflux, go see a doctor.

But for everyday consumption, I think close to neutral or slightly acid (6-7) is best. Now occasional consumption of anything, be it acid, alkaline, alcoohol, is ok. So if that's occasional... but i'd be curious to see the content of those "alkaline water" bottles. And how much they charge for this. Because all you need, again, is some baking soda.

[jpanhalt]

Some friends list the three basic foods as scotch, water, and scotch and water.  As for water, you have the choice of soda, seltzer, and club soda.  One of them is buffered, but which one is a mystery in the US, unless you read the label.  There is no consistency as to the names.

Back on subject, pure water has virtually no buffering ability.  In fact, a drop of KCl often needs to be added to a large volume to get a reliable pH reading.  So, water of pH 9.5 versus 5.0 has no meaning unless you know how much buffering agent has been added.  In the US, that is usually not listed.  Bottom line, for normal people with normal stomachs, the pH per se makes no difference.   

[Microdoser]

Round these parts, the water comes out of the tap at about PH 8.3.

Alkaline water is nothing special, it certainly should not command a price premium...

[Haenk]

The really cheap DIY method is just throwing one grain of drain cleaner (granulated NaOH) into your bottle of water. I guess baking soda is more expensive and therefor only comes as second choice

(Erm, don't do that. But don't buy alkaline water either. In most civilized countries, tap water is the way to go.)

[ConKbot]

It originally started with right proper scammers selling $2000 + "water alkalizers" to nutjobs trying to "de acidify" their body, thinking they can manage their body's pH better than a bicarbonate buffer system. The body regulates blood pH to between 7.35 to 7.45 on its own via CO2/carbonic acid/bicarbonate ions in the blood, and no a source of bicarbonate ions isnt needed under normal conditions. Outside of this range is a medical disorder that warrants treatment by an actual medical professional, who may prescribe something like sodium bicarbonate, or some other bicarbonate salt, or some other treatment. Trying to DIY a medical treatment is dubious at best.

Looks like it somehow managed to become enough of a fad for some big companies to put a financially insignificant amount of GRAS additives into some water, make some legally vague and definitely not medical claims, and sell it for an even bigger markup than normal bottled water.

[Manul]

Some athletes were experimenting with alkaline drinks to help reduce the build-up of lactic acid. As far as I known it somewhat works. If one needs to extract every last drop of performance from his/her body it might be fair. Not sure how healthy. Lots of things what they do in pro sports are actually not healthy. For normal people or amateur athletes most likely it has no difference what water they drink, because basically other factors (training, diet, amount of sleep, alcohol use, lifestyle, etc.) are overhelmingly more significant to their fitness and health.

[nightfire]

Without drinking anything for a little while, spit on a piece of pH paper. You will see it is alkaline. Your body likes running at a higher pH.

That said, the stomach is very acidic and I assume the slight alkalinity will immediately be neutralized when drank. Perhaps the mineral content without adding halogens is beneficial? My friend drinks nothing but alkaline water and he swears by it. I drink nothing but Pepsi, and although my teeth are gone, I feel OK. A bit lethargic most says, but OK.

I am interested in hearing what others have to say about it too, I'm not a doctor and always wondered.

I did some homework around this a while ago.

Long story short: The body operates generally in a slightly alkaline environment. The stomach is the part where neutral stuff is split into acid and alkaline- the alkaline portion goes into the blood for distribution throughout the whole body, the hydrochloric acid remains in the stomach and is used for digestive purpose.

Normally within a healthy ad wholesome diet, the body will remain in this state. But some things produce acid as byproduct while they are digested, that accumulates in the body. Sugar, alcohol and meat are some of them. If the body cannot get rid of them by neutralizing them, or washing them out by drinking lots of water, they get stored in fat cells. This is also a possible reason why some people don't lose weight at the right places even after cutting down calories...
In those cases the body needs to get hold of an alkaline surplus to have some material to neutralize the excess acid.

As a symptom by failing to do so, the stomach will eventually try to produce more alkaline stuff by producing more stomach acid (that in turn equals the same amount of alkaline molecules) and the person will have some sour breath and heartburn (Sodbrennen in german)

Fun fact: Ancient chinese method to kill people, mostly nobles and other people, that should not get killed like the lowly peasant: These only got as provided food in jail meat and wine, so the body will slowly get an acidose- at some point the heart will ultimately fail...


So alkaline water is quite nice, but whether it is from a natural spring loaded with lots of minerals (and mostly a bit more expensive than other bottled water), or it is designed as a lifestyle product, which would make it very expensive.
If you really need to consume some alkaline stuff, it is simpler to put some baking soda into a glass of tap water and drink it slowly- attention: Not too much soda or other alkaline stuff at once, because otherwise it will neutralize the stomach acid completely, which is not good at all...

[Ed.Kloonk]

If you think you need any of this junk then go ask a doctor to do your bloodwork. Bloodtests will determine what you are lacking and what you could do with less of. For maximum effect, follow up the info you gathered and take it along to a nutritionist.

If it suddenly shows up in the shops all shiny and for no good reason, you prolly don't need it.

[Bassman59]

Without drinking anything for a little while, spit on a piece of pH paper. You will see it is alkaline. Your body likes running at a higher pH.

That said, the stomach is very acidic and I assume the slight alkalinity will immediately be neutralized when drank. Perhaps the mineral content without adding halogens is beneficial? My friend drinks nothing but alkaline water and he swears by it. I drink nothing but Pepsi, and although my teeth are gone, I feel OK. A bit lethargic most says, but OK.

I am interested in hearing what others have to say about it too, I'm not a doctor and always wondered.

I did some homework around this a while ago.

Long story short: The body operates generally in a slightly alkaline environment. The stomach is the part where neutral stuff is split into acid and alkaline- the alkaline portion goes into the blood for distribution throughout the whole body, the hydrochloric acid remains in the stomach and is used for digestive purpose.

Normally within a healthy ad wholesome diet, the body will remain in this state. But some things produce acid as byproduct while they are digested, that accumulates in the body. Sugar, alcohol and meat are some of them. If the body cannot get rid of them by neutralizing them, or washing them out by drinking lots of water, they get stored in fat cells. This is also a possible reason why some people don't lose weight at the right places even after cutting down calories...
In those cases the body needs to get hold of an alkaline surplus to have some material to neutralize the excess acid.

As a symptom by failing to do so, the stomach will eventually try to produce more alkaline stuff by producing more stomach acid (that in turn equals the same amount of alkaline molecules) and the person will have some sour breath and heartburn (Sodbrennen in german)

Fun fact: Ancient chinese method to kill people, mostly nobles and other people, that should not get killed like the lowly peasant: These only got as provided food in jail meat and wine, so the body will slowly get an acidose- at some point the heart will ultimately fail...


So alkaline water is quite nice, but whether it is from a natural spring loaded with lots of minerals (and mostly a bit more expensive than other bottled water), or it is designed as a lifestyle product, which would make it very expensive.
If you really need to consume some alkaline stuff, it is simpler to put some baking soda into a glass of tap water and drink it slowly- attention: Not too much soda or other alkaline stuff at once, because otherwise it will neutralize the stomach acid completely, which is not good at all...

Instead of alkaline water, one could take a couple of Tums whenever one has heartburn or "acid stomach." Tums and the like are calcium carbonate, a base of course. In either case, don't overdo it. That is, drink regular water and reserve the alkaline stuff for when you have heartburn.

[Microdoser]

Without drinking anything for a little while, spit on a piece of pH paper. You will see it is alkaline. Your body likes running at a higher pH.

That said, the stomach is very acidic and I assume the slight alkalinity will immediately be neutralized when drank. Perhaps the mineral content without adding halogens is beneficial? My friend drinks nothing but alkaline water and he swears by it. I drink nothing but Pepsi, and although my teeth are gone, I feel OK. A bit lethargic most says, but OK.

I am interested in hearing what others have to say about it too, I'm not a doctor and always wondered.

I did some homework around this a while ago.

Long story short: The body operates generally in a slightly alkaline environment. The stomach is the part where neutral stuff is split into acid and alkaline- the alkaline portion goes into the blood for distribution throughout the whole body, the hydrochloric acid remains in the stomach and is used for digestive purpose.

Normally within a healthy ad wholesome diet, the body will remain in this state. But some things produce acid as byproduct while they are digested, that accumulates in the body. Sugar, alcohol and meat are some of them. If the body cannot get rid of them by neutralizing them, or washing them out by drinking lots of water, they get stored in fat cells. This is also a possible reason why some people don't lose weight at the right places even after cutting down calories...
In those cases the body needs to get hold of an alkaline surplus to have some material to neutralize the excess acid.

As a symptom by failing to do so, the stomach will eventually try to produce more alkaline stuff by producing more stomach acid (that in turn equals the same amount of alkaline molecules) and the person will have some sour breath and heartburn (Sodbrennen in german)

Fun fact: Ancient chinese method to kill people, mostly nobles and other people, that should not get killed like the lowly peasant: These only got as provided food in jail meat and wine, so the body will slowly get an acidose- at some point the heart will ultimately fail...


So alkaline water is quite nice, but whether it is from a natural spring loaded with lots of minerals (and mostly a bit more expensive than other bottled water), or it is designed as a lifestyle product, which would make it very expensive.
If you really need to consume some alkaline stuff, it is simpler to put some baking soda into a glass of tap water and drink it slowly- attention: Not too much soda or other alkaline stuff at once, because otherwise it will neutralize the stomach acid completely, which is not good at all...

Instead of alkaline water, one could take a couple of Tums whenever one has heartburn or "acid stomach." Tums and the like are calcium carbonate, a base of course. In either case, don't overdo it. That is, drink regular water and reserve the alkaline stuff for when you have heartburn.

Often, heartburn is caused by the situation where your body thinks your stomach acid is too alkaline, and so it is producing more acid to compensate. If you drink something mildly acidic, your body stops thinking it is not producing enough acid and so the excess is stopped.

Apple cider vinegar (diluted 1:4) works well for this.

Acid reflux is a different beast though and can have many other causes.

[erikblue]

PH is regulated by the kidneys and lungs.  If you try to raise or lower your body's PH by food / water your body simply adjusts to bring it back to where it wants it (homeostasis).  Of course I'm sure there are some extreme examples where you could cause issues, but water that is considered "drinkable" by regular standards is not one of them.

[helius]

Yes, in my opinion it is a scam. There is research pointing to a change in cellular pH with certain disease processes, with cells becoming more acidic when under stress, for example. But you cannot "fix" this by drinking alkaline water, as your stomach needs very low pH to digest food. Certain digestive problems can actually be helped by taking hydrochloric acid capsules because that is what the stomach naturally secretes to maintain a low pH environment. It's my belief that antacid drugs are overused and do more harm in the long run. To the extent that some mineral waters (alkaline or not) are beneficial, it is not their pH that matters, but the minerals they contain, like magnesium. The Western diet does not provide enough magnesium for most people.

Also, the idea of "neutralizing excess acid" is folk biochemistry. In chemistry, "acid" is not a conserved quantity. It's a secular property of molecules (their pKa) that is not conserved in chemical reactions. When a solution is acidic, it's not the acid but the hydronium ion that makes it so (the pH or "power of the hydrogen"). pH is regulated in the blood by the balance of bicarbonate and CO₂. Adding acid or alkaline foods does not have anything to do with this: after they are broken down by digestion they are chemically different.