The Hype
There are companies that sell ‘Alkaline Water’ and push the alleged many health benefits of drinking it. Searching the web for a few minutes, I found websites purporting that alkaline water fixed everything from knee joints to diabetes to ‘neutralizing the body’ to bowel issues to “improved hydration”. Interestingly, these websites seemed to be very vague about describing these results, and had oodles and oodles of ‘customer testimonials’ but no references to support their claims. Hmmmm…
One of the claims made by several companies is ‘improved hydration’. I had to figure out what exactly they meant by this. It wasn’t easy because this was not explained on any water company website. After lots of searching, I found an article about high mineral alkaline water by a university saying that improved hydration meant same fluid intake but less urine output as the indicator for improved hydration status (1). The article reported higher urine and blood alkalinity in people who drank the alkaline water and that this reversed soon after they stopped drinking the alkaline water. The professor leading the study reported that this might be of some health benefit. OK, but I want more information…
The Science
The body keeps a very special acid/base balance through many different systems and functions. A blood pH of 7.35-7.45 is considered normal in the medical world, and is measured by blood analysis including electrolytes and arterial blood gas values (2). On the pH scale of 0-14, seven is neutral, less than seven is considered acidic, and more than seven is alkaline. If the blood pH drops below 7.35, it is called metabolic acidosis. If it goes above 7.45 it is called metabolic alkalosis. In both cases, (caused by disease and usually requiring medical treatment if the body cannot regulate itself) the body will employ mechanisms to get back where it wants to be, called homeostasis (homeostasis is a term used to describe when the body is in balance). FYI, tap water in my area (San Diego county) has an average tap water pH of 8.2, with a normal range of 7.8-8.5 (3). The pH of the alkaline water from companies I saw online had a range of 8.5-9.5.
I did find a few research studies in my quest for an understanding. One study showed that in animals in a state of metabolic acidosis due to kidney failure, alkaline water apparently did help their bodies’ become less acidic (4). Another study showed that alkaline water did play a role in lowering stomach acidity (5), which the researchers concluded might potentially reduce symptoms associated with acid reflux. I also found a few websites where people wrote to beware of this fad and that basically it is unfounded and these alkaline water companies are out to make money off of unsuspecting people. One, written by a chemist, is titled “Snake oil on tap”, and calls alkaline water an outright scam (6).
My Two Cents
Well, I was hard-pressed to find what I consider to be legitimate scientific data. Most of the information out there is not scientific evidence, but testimonials. Some people claim that we are too acidic because of our diet and the environment. From a dietary standpoint, in general animal foods and beans and wheat and alcohol are considered acidic foods, while fruits and vegetables are considered basic. How does one know if their body is ‘too acidic’? I know that from a medical standpoint, if you were experiencing metabolic acidosis or alkalosis, you would most certainly be very sick and seeking medical help. If you are assuming that you are too acidic from your diet, then perhaps a better balanced diet might be the way to go.
There are some interesting findings, such as the fact that it does appear that drinking alkaline water does increase the alkalinity of one’s digestive tract. While this may be of some therapeutic benefit to someone suffering from excessive acid production, I would ask what about those who have a healthy gut pH? Remember, our stomach environment is highly acidic – with a gastric acid pH of 1.5-3.5 (7). This is required for the breakdown and digestion of food. Would alkaline water potentially raise the pH of a healthy gut and thereby impair the digestion and absorption of food? Possibly, if it indeed lowers the stomach acidity that we need to digest food effectively.
The bottom line: This seems to be one of those topics where there are two extreme sides: proponents of the miracle (who often are the people selling it) and the opposition, usually claiming fraud. Is it an amazing cure-all right under our nose or just a bunch of malarkey? Alkaline water, like other spring waters, is high in minerals that our body needs, such as calcium and magnesium. You may enjoy the taste of it better than other waters, as some people declare. It does not appear to have any blatant negative health impact. Neither does it appear to be a cure for disease as some alkaline water companies have claimed. Perhaps more research will be done to shed light on some of the unsubstantiated health claims we read about it, perhaps not.
References
1. Montana State University:
2. Mahan L.K., Escott-Stump S. Krause’s Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy, 10th ed. 2000 W. B. Sounders Company.
3. City of Carlsbad Water Quality Report, 2012
Click to access Annual_Water_Quality_Report.pdf
4. Abol-Enein H, Gheith OA, Barakat N, Nour E, Sharaf AE. Ionized alkaline water: new strategy for management of metabolic acidosis in experimental animals. Ther Apher Dial. 2009 Jun;13(3):220-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-9987.2009.00659.x.
5. Koufman JA, Johnston N. Potential benefits of pH 8.8 alkaline drinking water as an adjunct in the treatment of reflux disease. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2012 Jul;121(7):431-4.
6. Http://www.chem1.com/CQ/ionbunk.html
7. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003883.htm
