The Ionized Water Myth

A water ionizer is basically an electrical appliance that ionizes water

. Ionized water is claimed by many manufacturers to be extremely beneficial to human health and marketed with claims that it is an antioxidant which can slow aging and prevent various diseases. Others note that such claims contradict the basic laws of chemistry and physiology.

Ionization

A water ionizer separates water into alkaline and acid fractions using a process known as electrolysis. It does this by exploiting the electric charge of the calcium and magnesium ions present in nearly all sources of drinking water. When a source of water lacks mineral ions, such as distilled water, or has been filtered by reverse osmosis, water ionization has no effect.

Uses

Some research suggests that alkaline reduced water may be useful in scavenging free radicals in the laboratory setting. Tests on in vitro lymphocytes suggest that reduced water can prevent hydrogen peroxide-induced damage to DNA, RNA and certain proteins. However, drinking ionized water would not be expected to alter body pH, and there is no evidence of any claims made by manufacturers that drinking ionized water will have a noticeable effect on the body.

Electrolyzed water has been used by the food industry to sanitize food products; though effective in bacterial solutions, it was found less useful when sanitizing utensils, surfaces and food products. Acidic electrolyzed water may have use as a seed surface disinfectant or contact bactericide.

Snake Oil on Tap

Ionized water is one of many products and panaceas that the wonky-water wellness industry flogs onto the large segment of the general public that lacks the scientific background to distinguish scientific fact from pseudoscientific hype when the two are closely intertwined. The purpose of this page is to critically examine some of the claims about ionized and alkaline waters from the standpoint of modern chemistry and physiology in order to provide you with the information you need to make your own informed decision before opening your wallets to the hucksters of these products and whose claims are totally lacking in scientific support.

What most of these outfits actually sell are grossly overpriced electrical devices that purport to produce ionized and alkaline water by the process of electrolysis. Many of these water ionizers appear to have their origins in Japan and Korea, two countries whose populations seem to be particularly susceptible to being taken in by pseudoscientific water-treatment schemes. In North America, distribution of these dubious devices has depended largely on multi-level marketing schemes that enrol science-ignorant dealers to exploit even-more-vulnerable consumers while enabling the manufacturer to maintain a low profile to regulatory agencies such as the FTC.

It does not help that quackery-filled alternative health books such as pH Miracle Living and Alkalize or Die by Doctor Theodore Baroody (whose scientific credentials seem highly dubious) plug alkaline water as one way of preventing cancer or of increasing lifespan. There is even a company that offers complete alkaline diets for which they make ridiculous claims.

In multi-level marketing scams, the parent company keeps a low profile and makes few claims that would attract the scrutiny of regulators such as the U.S. FTC. Instead, they recruit thousands of independent agents who are provided with sales literature containing false and misleading claims which they then transmit to their customers or put up on their own Web sites. These agents, few of whom are well-enough educated to evaluate these claims or to realize that they violate the FTC rules on deceptive advertising, are as much victims as are their consumer customers.

by: Aquatec

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