The Philippine Online Chronicles

Water is life.

Water is vital for survival. A human may survive for about a week without food, but a person will die within two to three days at best without water. About 50 to 60% of an adult human body is composed of water.

Water has many helpful functions in the body. It helps regulate body temperature, moistens body tissues, lubricates joints, prevents constipation, flushes toxins out of vital organs, dissolves mineral and nutrients, and carries nutrients and oxygen to body cells.

But our bodies lose water every day too - when we breathe, perspire, urinate, and excrete. Because of this loss through body processes, it is important to constantly replenish the body’s water supply to avoid dehydration. Normal diet and consumption of water and other beverages help replace fluids. As much as possible, a person should drink eight glasses of water each day.

Beyond tap water

Doubts about tap water as a safe drinking water resource has led to the boom of the bottled water industry in the Philippines within the last ten to fifteen years or so.  Water purifying stations multiplied like mushrooms all over the country in just several years. The success of these water stations attest to the public’s demand for reliable and clean drinking water.

Ionized alkaline water

The introduction of alkaline ionized water in the country has triggered the interest of health enthusiasts as well as detractors.  For some, safe drinking water is not enough.  Health-conscious individuals are after the anti-oxidant benefits of alkaline ionized water, which medical studies show to have powerful anti-oxidant properties that improve the body’s defence against diseases.

Alkaline water has been used in Japan for more than forty years and has been substantially observed to restore the body to a healthy condition. Back in the 1950s, Japanese water researchers who were studying the properties of high altitude spring and glacier water found out that the process of electrolysis has the ability to improve tap water quality.

Large units of water ionizers were built and used in Japanese hospitals in the early 1950s. In January 1966, the Health and Rehabilitation Ministry of the Japanese Government acknowledged the alkaline ionic water ionizer as a medical device that improves human health. At present, some fifteen percent of households in Japan make use of ionized water. In fact, alkaline water is utilized in clinics and hospitals in both Japan and Korea.

Disadvantages of an acidic diet

An individual’s health is affected by the body’s efficiency to flush out acid build-up or wastes. The food that we eat is absorbed and turned into nutrients which the body uses for growth and energy. However, some components become wastes which body needs to flush out. When a person consumes too many acidic foods and drinks, the body’s natural pH level becomes acidic.  The acid in the body can attack the organs and lead to health problems such as fatigue, obesity, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, acid reflux (heartburn), acid indigestion, arthritis, cancer, and more. Acid build-up also occurs in the colon and can drastically affect a person’s health.

According to Dr. Keiichi Morishita, author of The Hidden Truth of Cancer, if the blood develops a more acidic condition, the excess acidic wastes will be deposited in some areas the body. If this unhealthy process continues for a long period, there’s a big possibility that these areas would steadily increase in acidity, and their cells would begin to die. Surviving cells may become malignant leading to cancer. Drinking high-alkaline water can prevent cancer due to its de-acidifying effect.

The process of making alkaline water

I witnessed an actual demonstration of a certain brand of alkaline water ionizer.  The faucet is connected to the machine through a valve adapter and hose. The process of getting alkaline ionized water then involves several processes.

First, ordinary tap water is purified to get rid of dirt, rust, bacteria, viruses, contaminants, and impurities.

Second, the water supposedly becomes an antioxidant with negative ORP (oxidation reduction potential) to combat harmful free radicals, effectively slowing down aging process and prevent degenerative disease.

Third, water is then transformed into micro-clusters. Tap water is said to have very large clusters of water molecules.  The ionizer uses electrolysis to reduce the large tap water clusters into so-called micro-clusters that promote “excellent hydrating properties, high solubility and good permeability.”

Last, alkaline water is separated from the acidic water in a process called ionization.  This process allows the two types of water to be used separately.  Alkaline water is produced at the negative electrode while acidic water is produced at the positive electrode.

The alkaline machine separates ordinary water into alkaline and acidic parts.  I was told that alkaline water is good for consumption while acidic water is best for external uses.

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Evidence of benefits

A normal healthy body must have an alkaline blood pH of 7.4. On the other hand, illnesses such as cancer are said to thrive in acidic (low pH) internal environments. Studies show that cancer cells cannot live in an alkaline environment.

The chief of surgery at Beth Israel Center in New York, pioneer of colonoscopic surgery Dr. Hiromi Shinya, recommends drinking alkaline water for good health. According to studies, cancer cells become dormant at a pH level slightly higher than 7.4 and die at pH 8.5.

Cory Quirino, a broadcaster, columnist, and health and wellness guru, is a firm believer that ionized alkaline water is best for health.

In an open letter to the late former president Corazon Aquino, columnist Cory Quirino shared her mother’s own battle with cancer.  Her mother was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2003 and was given only four months to live. Her doctor did not push for surgery due to her fragile age of seventy-four.  Although the doctor recommended chemotherapy and radiation, Nena Rastrolio and her family decided to go for natural options including the use of alkaline water.  During Nena Rastrolio’s fight against cancer, she drank fourteen to twenty glasses of alkaline water. She was only allowed to drink other forms of water when she had to take her medication for hypertension and cholesterol. Nena Rastrolio outlived her life expectancy by four years.

Cory Quirino claims that an acidic body leads to sickness. In order to prevent illness, you should try to stay in a state of alkaline level as long as you can.  By doing this, you can prolong life and have energy to fight illness.

Renowned chef and restaurateur Sandy Daza, son of Chef Nora Daza, says that he was once diagnosed with high cholesterol. Someone told him about alkaline water and he used it to replace the usual mineral water that he consumes.  He said that during the first two nights, he had difficulty sleeping because he had too much energy. When he had his next blood test, his doctor was surprised that his cholesterol level dropped dramatically and was advised to continue what he was doing.

Raymond, Sandy Daza’s friend, used to suffer from gout, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But after three months on alkaline water, Raymond had no need to take his medicines because the results of his tests came out normal.  He also lost weight.

Francis, a businessman, has been drinking alkaline ionized water for one year now.  He says that changing from purified water to alkaline ionized water has increased his body’s energy.  He attests that drinking alkaline ionized water has given him the ability to fight fatigue, aches, and pains brought by his hectic work schedule.  Francis also believes that it helped reduce his body’s cholesterol.

Francis’s father had sores and bumps on his back but they disappeared after more than a week of drinking alkaline ionized water.

Skeptics and questions

There are other sides to a story. While others rave about the benefits of alkaline ionized water, there are some who question its validity. Some claim that it’s just a marketing scam enticing people to buy expensive water ionizers to make large profits.

Skeptics claim that there is no scientific literature that confirms that drinking alkaline water is better for your health than drinking regular water. They say that the effects of drinking alkaline ionized water do not have scientific merit and testimonies are not enough to justify its authenticity.  Skeptics point out that there is no evidence proving that water forms stable clusters of any size.

Detractors also disagree about the ability of alkaline ionized water to balance the body’s pH level.  Some point out that alkaline substances that enter the body are immediately neutralized by the acid environment in the stomach.  The contents of the stomach pass into the small intestine where the acidity is neutralized by sodium bicarbonate from the pancreas. The stomach is acidic because it needs to kill microbes and begin the process of protein digestion.

A personal choice

In the end, it is up to consumers to decide what is good for their health. Whether or not alkaline ionized water is good for the body is debatable. But the basics of healthy living – eating a balanced diet, making time for relaxation and physical exercise, keeping away from vices – will always stand.

Photos: 'Water Drop Experiment #7' by Nikhil Verma, c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved. / ‘Alkaline Machine’ by Rachel Yapchiongco. Some rights reserved. / ‘Cory Qurino’ screenshot from jamuyz.

Video by Rachel Yapchiongco. Some rights reserved.

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Rachel Yapchiongco, also known as Rach to her friends, is a Psychology and Marketing Management graduate of De La Salle University.  She took up several units of MBA at the same university.  Rachel is a full-time mom to a charming young boy and married to an entrepreneur with a passion for cooking. She shares parenting experiences and slices of everyday life on her personal blog called Heart of Rachel.