Alkaline water

[tsuki]

What is your opinion on drinking alkaline water? Is it really good for health?

One thing for sure is that I love the taste and I drink more of it, but does it really bring any other benefits?

[aurum]

@tsuki I’m more interested in the minerals that alkaline water has than the PH value. Minerals are important for hydration and really just your overall health. So I think it’s definitely worth drinking for most people, especially if you’re concerned you might be low in essential minerals or suffer from dehydration.

[Michael569]

it can be temporarily effective for people who suffer from acid reflux or too much acid buildup but drinking it for that purpose does not fix the root cause of the reflux, it just manipulates the PH. Most antacids work this way. However, you don't want to be pouring down too much-alkalised liquid on empty stomach as it temporarily brings up the PH of the stomach from PH 1 potentially up several grades if you drink too much which can lead to things like transmigration of bacteria that would have otherwise been killed by the acidity as well as reducing the efficiency of the stomach as the second line of digestion. Constantly altering the PH of the stomach could (theoretically) lead to a buildup of bacteria in the small intestine and something like SIBO over a very long term - but that's just speculation at this point. 

It's probably ok taking a sip here and there but I definitely wouldn't;t rely on alkaline water as my main source of hydration of minerals. Most minerals should come from the food we eat and as long as the diet is well balanced, you shouldn't;t have issues with missing any essential mienrals especially not the aliaklisers (magnesium, potassium) which are very easy to get from diet. 

It would also be interesting to know how efficient the body is extracting nutrients from liquids compared to food. But if you feel you are undernourished, suffer from lots of cramps etc potentially mineralised water can help but I wouldn't drink it continually throughout the day. ALternatively you could blend bunch of fruits and mix those with a bottle of water and drink that instead for extra electrolyte bomb. 

[Yarco]

Basically BS and a waste of money, unless you're getting placebo benefits from it.

All human blood is already naturally alkaline, around 7 pH. If you were able to significantly alter this with a few glasses of water, you'd die.

Your stomach is highly acidic and neutralizes anything alkaline you put into it unless you really overdo it.

Once your stomach acid enters your digestive system, your pancreas releases alkaline secretions to neutralize it anyway.

If a couple of glasses of alkaline water a day could substantially affect your health, then eating highly acidic stuff like lemons or vinegar would probably kill you too, but it doesn't.

In fact, drinking water with a bit of acidic lemon in it actually has an ALKALIZING effect. Wtf?

Basically your body has a ton of complicated balancing mechanisms to maintain homeostasis and prevent you from dying no matter what you eat, unless it's bleach or something crazy. It's very hard (and probably dangerous) to try and sway this one way or the other with external stimuli.

Otherwise we'd also see tons of people recommending that you should eat/drink baking soda daily to reduce acid in your body as well. That'd be a way cheaper way to do it than any alkaline water machines. But there's no money to be made in that.

Just Google "alkaline water debunked" and read a few reputable sources. I don't know if you'll ever find a university or academic paper touting the benefits of alkaline water.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Yarco

[aurum]

13 hours ago, Michael569 said:

it can be temporarily effective for people who suffer from acid reflux or too much acid buildup but drinking it for that purpose does not fix the root cause of the reflux, it just manipulates the PH. Most antacids work this way. However, you don't want to be pouring down too much-alkalised liquid on empty stomach as it temporarily brings up the PH of the stomach from PH 1 potentially up several grades if you drink too much which can lead to things like transmigration of bacteria that would have otherwise been killed by the acidity as well as reducing the efficiency of the stomach as the second line of digestion. Constantly altering the PH of the stomach could (theoretically) lead to a buildup of bacteria in the small intestine and something like SIBO over a very long term - but that's just speculation at this point. 

It's probably ok taking a sip here and there but I definitely wouldn't;t rely on alkaline water as my main source of hydration of minerals. Most minerals should come from the food we eat and as long as the diet is well balanced, you shouldn't;t have issues with missing any essential mienrals especially not the aliaklisers (magnesium, potassium) which are very easy to get from diet. 

It would also be interesting to know how efficient the body is extracting nutrients from liquids compared to food. But if you feel you are undernourished, suffer from lots of cramps etc potentially mineralised water can help but I wouldn't drink it continually throughout the day. ALternatively you could blend bunch of fruits and mix those with a bottle of water and drink that instead for extra electrolyte bomb. 

Do you generally advise people to drink reverse osmosis? And then adjust the diet to ensure proper minerals for hydration?

In my personal experience, it’s far, far easier for me to “eat my water” than drink it. But it seems like even this has a limit as my lifestyle is very active right now and so I lose a ton of fluids / electrolytes naturally. So mineral water, sometimes even with some sea salt, seems to do the trick. 

[Michael569]

@aurum I advise people to filter their water in any means possible for them. For lot of people, RO is not an option so we explore other alternatives. TBH I'm not yet sure where I stand with remineralising the water. I don't believe demineralised water leeches nutrition from the body but maybe adding something back in can help get those micronutrient goals up. 

As long as what you do fits your lifestyle well, then do that. Our bodies will tell us if we're messing up