Alkaline water or hydrogen water
Which is better for you?
Alkaline water or hydrogen water - which is better for you?
Alkaline water is growing in popularity, with sales rising from $47 million in 2014 to $427 million in 2017. According to marketers, alkaline water can correct tissue acidity, preventing or reversing cancer, arthritis and other degenerative diseases.
However, there is virtually no evidence to support such claims, and I regularly warned people against drinking alkaline water over eight years ago. Molecular hydrogen, on the other hand, has a number of health benefits, some of which mirror the claims about alkaline water - and for a really good reason.
So here I will review these two types of water and the scientific support (or lack thereof) for each, and examine how the benefits of molecular hydrogen have been falsely transferred to alkaline water - mainly out of ignorance.
What is alkaline water?
Alkaline water is water that has been separated into alkaline and acid components by electrolysis. The theory behind alkaline water is that alkaline (ionized) water is a powerful antioxidant with excess electrons that can soak up dangerous free radicals.
Find out more about hydrogen water!
What is alkaline water?
Alkaline water is water that has been separated into alkaline and acid components by electrolysis. The theory behind alkaline water is that alkaline (ionized) water is a powerful antioxidant with excess electrons that can soak up dangerous free radicals.
As reported by Arwa Mahdawi in The Guardian:
Dr. Tanis Fenton, associate professor at the University of Calgary and evidence analyst for Dietitians of Canada, told me that the marketing claims behind alkaline water are based on an old idea called the acid-ash hypothesis.
This assumes that eating certain foods such as meat, dairy products and eggs leads to so-called acid ash in your body, which increases your acid levels and causes adverse health effects, including osteoporosis.
Robert O. Young the acid-ash hypothesis
In 2002, a naturopath named Robert O. Young developed the acid-ash hypothesis into an alkaline diet, with a popular book series called pH Miracle.
Alkaline diet
According to these books, an alkaline diet could treat all kinds of ailments, from poor digestion to cancer. Incidentally, Young was sentenced to three years in prison in 2017 for practicing medicine without a license.
According to Fenton - author of a systematic review of the link between alkaline water and cancer - the few studies that show positive results with alkaline water are poorly designed, leading her to conclude that "there is no stringent evidence" that alkaline water provides health benefits.
A review of the evidence
This view is shared by Randy Johnson, who has a Master of Science in Molecular Genetics and whose review of the evidence is posted on his website Cyber Nook at Drinking Water Resources: A Review of the Evidence Purportedly Supporting the Health Benefits of Alkaline Water.
Why alkaline water does not work
One of the main reasons why drinking alkaline water cannot provide the health benefits associated with alkalinity is that you cannot change the pH of your blood and body in this way.
As noted by Fenton:
"Your body regulates its [blood] pH in a very narrow range because all of our enzymes are designed to have a pH of 7.4. If our pH varied too much, we wouldn't survive."
The placebo effect
However, your diet, including the water you drink, can change the pH of your urine. Urine is usually acidic and has a pH of 6, which is actually a sign that your kidneys are functioning properly. Regarding the benefits people report when drinking alkaline water, Fenton suggests that the placebo effect plays a role.
Initial improvement can also be attributed to detoxification and/or improved hydration in general by simply drinking more water. Finally, alkaline water is often associated with higher mineral concentration, which is known to have beneficial effects, especially when food intake is low.
Hydrogen water from EVODROP straight from your tap
Understanding the pH value
The concept of the acidity or alkalinity of your body - or water - is based on the pH scale. What is pH? It is simply a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions. In fact, the acronym "pH" stands for "potentia hydrogenii", or "strength of hydrogen".
The higher the pH value...
The higher the pH value of a liquid, the fewer free hydrogen ions (H +) it has; the lower the pH value, the more free hydrogen ions (H +) are present. One pH unit reflects a tenfold change in the ion concentration, so that at a pH value of 7 there are ten times as many hydrogen ions available as at a pH value of 8.
The pH scale
The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 and a pH value of 7 is neutral. Anything with a pH value below 7 is considered acidic, and anything with a pH value above 7 is alkaline (or basic).
The real reason why alkaline water is a scam
The real reason alkaline water is a scam is that it contains no buffers to maintain its pH. Once the alkaline water hits your very acidic stomach, the pH is neutralized because there are no buffers. Truly alkaline water would have an alkaline buffer like baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), which is also our body's natural alkaline buffer.
Assertions
Some have claimed that when the alkaline water is neutralized by the stomach acid, the bicarbonate ions are released into the blood and thus have an alkalizing effect. This would be the case if the alkaline water effectively neutralized all of the stomach acid (like baking soda), but alkaline water does not neutralize any significant amount of stomach acid; the stomach acid completely neutralizes the alkaline water. So there is no "net alkalizing effect".
The natural water on our planet
The natural water on our planet has a pH value between 6.5 and 8.5, depending on soil and vegetation, seasonal fluctuations and weather conditions, as well as the time of day, which reacts to sunlight. Human activities also affect the pH of our water as toxic industrial pollutants are released.
Influence on your mitochondria
In particular, the pH value appears to have a major influence on your mitochondria. Studies have shown that normal cells die under extremely alkaline conditions as a result of a change in mitochondrial function.
Fenton states
As Fenton states, "alkaline water is a solution to a problem that doesn't need to be solved". In fact, it makes sense to drink water that occurs naturally. This excludes alkaline water with a pH of 9.5 and higher.
The beginnings of hydrogen water production shed light on the myth of alkaline water
Interestingly, in addition to Young embracing and endorsing the acid-ash hypothesis, there is another piece of history that explains why the alkaline water myth has gained validity. The Molecular Hydrogen Institute explains the history of electrolyzed reduced water or ERW (the term most commonly used for alkaline water in the scientific literature):
Studies on ERW began in Japan in the 1930s
"Studies on ERW began in Japan in the 1930s, and in 1965 the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved ERW as a medicinal substance with potential to improve gastrointestinal symptoms...
In the decades that followed, anecdotal and scientific evidence accumulated showing many other benefits of ERW, such as protecting DNA from free radical damage, increasing glucose uptake, improving diabetes, preventing premature cell death, protecting the liver, preventing lipid oxidation, and others. However, it was uncertain how ERW produced these benefits."
The misunderstanding about the pH value
Unfortunately, this is the reason for the misunderstanding about the pH value. However, as the Institute states, "It is now well established that the main active ingredient responsible for the benefits is attributed to dissolved molecular hydrogen gas." In short, the benefits, if there are any, are actually due to the presence of molecular hydrogen and have nothing to do with the pH of the water.
Dr. Kyu-Jae Lee, a hydrogen gas researcher, says:
"In the 1990s, I began studying alkaline ionized water and published scientific articles about its antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic effects, but didn't really understand why the water worked. It was hard to believe. After further research, I have now confirmed that the benefits of alkaline ionized water are due to the hydrogen gas produced during electrolysis."
Another researcher, Dr. Mami Noda, adds:
"When testing all the variables of water (e.g. minerals, pH, H2, etc.), it was clear that only H2 had a benefit... Our 2009 publication of an MPTP-induced mouse model of Parkinson's disease also showed the beneficial effects of H2.
We later discovered that the benefits in this model were mediated by H2-induced gastric ghrelin secretion via an ss1-adrenergic receptor-dependent pathway. Although the effect of hydrogen in Parkinson's disease has now been confirmed in a human clinical trial, further studies are needed to uncover the molecular mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic benefits of H2.
Due to the high safety profile of hydrogen, its ease of administration and its promising medical effect, as a pharmacologist I feel obliged to further investigate H2 as a novel medical gas."
What is molecular hydrogen?
Molecular hydrogen (H₂) consists of two hydrogen atoms and is a gas that can play a special role in biological processes due to its antioxidant properties. Research is being conducted into how H₂ can help to reduce oxidative stress in cells by specifically neutralizing reactive oxygen species. In doing so, it could help to maintain a balance in the so-called redox status of the cell.
Studies suggest that hydrogen can influence the activity of certain cellular enzyme systems, such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione. It is also being investigated whether it activates the so-called Nrf2 signaling pathway. This pathway regulates the expression of genes involved in cellular defense and detoxification, such as antioxidant enzymes.
Due to these properties, molecular hydrogen is increasingly being studied in various scientific and medical contexts.
A groundbreaking paper on molecular hydrogen
A landmark paper on molecular hydrogen published in Nature Medicine in 2007 shows that 2 percent hydrogen gas is effective in preventing brain damage from ischemia-reperfusion and has strong therapeutic applications as an antioxidant.
Hydrogen is the smallest molecule in the universe, neutral and non-polar, which is why its bioavailability is so great. It does not dissociate into its electrons and protons when dissolved in water, so it does not change the pH of the water or your body and has nothing to do with the concept of alkaline water.
More than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications have collectively shown that H2 has therapeutic potential in over 170 different disease models in humans and animals. In fact, hydrogen has been shown to benefit virtually every organ in the human body, and the reason for this is that hydrogen attacks and mitigates the root causes of inflammation and oxidation.
Further information on how molecular hydrogen works
For more information on how molecular hydrogen works, see "The Remarkable Benefits of Molecular Hydrogen" where I interview a world-class expert and researcher in this field, Tyler W. LeBaron. I have also included the following interview for your benefit.
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Alkaline water is unlikely to prevent cancer
One of the purported health benefits of drinking alkaline water is cancer prevention. However, much of the research is against alkalinity in the treatment of cancer.
Robert Gillies
According to Robert Gillies, who has studied the development and hyperacidity of tumors at the Moffitt Cancer Center, tumors naturally produce their own hyperacidity, even in an alkaline cell structure.
Alkaline treatments do not have the desired effect
Scientists developing anticancer drug prototypes that selectively kill tumor cells by disrupting the regulation of intracellular pH also report that alkaline treatments do not have the desired effect, whereas highly acidic treatments do!
Study by the National Cancer Institute from 2005
Even more interesting is a 2005 study by the National Cancer Institute that re-examined the use of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to treat cancer. They found that ascorbic acid in pharmacologic doses administered intravenously successfully killed cancer cells without harming normal cells.
Another example
This is another example of cancer cells being susceptible to acidity as opposed to alkalinity. So it seems clear that the link between alkalinity and cancer has been oversimplified by those who jump to conclusions.
Molecular hydrogen, no high pH value, has an extremely positive effect on your health
In summary, it is unlikely that drinking alkaline water will do you much good. You're probably just wasting your money. On the other hand, hydrogen water, when consumed daily, has far-reaching health benefits. I use it regularly myself.
Further information on molecular hydrogen
Hydrogen can be obtained from various inhalation devices, hydrogen-producing tablets and ready-to-drink hydrogen drinks in cans (not plastic). For more information on molecular hydrogen, its effects and therapeutic potential, and how to ensure you are getting a quality product, see my interview with LeBaron.
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Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - Alkaline water vs. hydrogen water
What is the difference between alkaline water and hydrogen water?
Which water is healthier: alkaline water or hydrogen water?
Does hydrogen water affect the pH value of water?
Why is molecular hydrogen so important for the body?
Can I drink hydrogen water and alkaline water at the same time?
Yes, it is possible, but not necessary. Hydrogen water already offers strong health benefits, while the benefits of alkaline water depend heavily on the individual's diet and acid-base balance.
Is Evodrop's EVObooster a good choice for hydrogen water?
Yes, the EVObooster from Evodrop produces highly concentrated hydrogen water with maximum bioavailability without changing the pH value. This ensures that the water has an antioxidant effect and high cell availability.
How much hydrogen water should I drink every day?
We recommend at least 1.5 liters of hydrogen water per day to get the full antioxidant benefits. However, the ideal amount may vary depending on individual needs.