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Health & Wellness

2011-03-01 11:31:00

Water ionization

Question: I’m hearing talk about Water Ionizers and all their health benefits. What’s that all about?

Answer: In a world full of over-hyped products and over-stated claims, it is only natural for people to feel a little skeptical about any new product offering health benefits. That is why I am happy to be answering a question about something that may be new to us, but that has a tremendous track record over many years in other parts of the world. In Japan, for example, water ionizers are so well proven and respected in the medical community that they are a registered medical device. South Korea is a similar story. Of course, many of the breakthroughs in alternative medicine that we look at as new in the western world have been proven and accepted in Asian cultures long before coming to our shores. The topic of water ionizers and their health benefits is so broad that it will be impossible to adequately cover the subject within the limits of this one column. Therefore, I am going to give you the “Readers Digest” condensed answer today, and then I will follow up with more expanded details in future issues of Q&A Times. Let’s start by defining the problem. Have you ever wondered why people in some parts of the world tend to live longer, on the average, than people in other parts of the world? …Or why some people tend to always be healthy while others tend to catch every bug that comes by. …Or why some people contract terrible diseases while others do not? Of course there are many reasons, and every person has their own set of circumstances. However, I believe there are several primary factors including genetics, sanitation, environmental toxins and diet. Water ionizers work in the area of diet to help the body maintain good health naturally. Most people agree that what goes into our bodies is critical to the health of our bodies. However, there is something most people don’t consider that is vitally important, and it forms the basis for the health benefits associated with water Ionizers. What I am referring to is our body chemistry, and more importantly, the pH of our bodily tissues. When it comes to pH (potential of hydrogen), you are more likely to think in terms of maintaining a swimming pool or an aquarium than in maintaining your own body. However, consider this: Your body is over 70% water, and your blood is 83% water. Your cardiovascular system is the lifeline of your body, and your blood has to be pH 7.365 to maintain life. If your blood varies from that level by more than .1 pH, it is almost certain that illness and death will quickly follow. Your body is working constantly to maintain your blood’s pH balance. We measure pH on a scale from 0 to 14, with pH 0 being the most acidic (hydrochloric acid) and pH 14 being the most alkaline (drain cleaner). In the center of the scale, midway between ph 0 and Ph 14, is Ph 7 which is neutral. Since your blood is pH 7.365, it is slightly alkaline. Therefore, it is safe to say that your bodily tissues which are served by your blood stream are meant to be maintained in a slightly alkaline state. We have all heard the saying, “You are what you eat,” and this is where the problem lies. Everything we consume also has a pH, and most of what we eat and drink is acidic. Here are just a few examples: •Carbonated cola – pH 2.0 •Standard coffee – pH 4.1 •Ground beef – pH 3.2 Many fruits and vegetables are in a range between pH 2 and pH 5, milk is about pH 6.5, and most tap water is also acidic. Drinking bottled water does not solve the problem, because most of it is highly acidic. I will go into this more in a future column, but I think you are getting the picture. If about 90% of the average American diet is made up of acidic food and water, how does the body neutralize the acid and maintain your blood at pH 7.365? Your body eliminates what it can through bodily functions, and then it robs every available resource in an attempt to neutralize the rest. For example, your body will remove calcium and magnesium (alkaline minerals) from your bones to help offset your being overly acidic. An even worse problem is that excess acid that cannot be eliminated or neutralized is stored in the body’s tissues. Many researchers believe that the more acidic bodily tissues become, the less healthy they are, and the more prone they are to disease. They tell us that most disease not only thrives in an acidic environment, it needs an acidic environment to survive. If that is the case, it stands to reason that a critical component for good health is to maintain your body in a mildly alkaline state. How can you do that? This brings us back to water ionizers. Keeping your body more alkaline involves two steps. Cut back on overly acidic foods, and drink plenty of alkaline water. Where do you get high pH alkaline water? From a home water ionizer. A water ionizer is a small electrical appliance that sits on a counter of mounts on a wall by your sink. It normally hooks to your faucet with a small hose, and it separates water passing through it into two streams, alkaline and acidic. The acidic water normally goes down the drain, and the alkaline, or high pH water, is captured for consumption. If you have an ionizer attached to your water faucet, your faucet and sink function normally until you want some high pH water for drinking or cooking. Then you simply flip the little diverter valve on the end of your faucet and turn on the water. The ionizer will give you water at whatever pH you designate. Many people keep a pitcher of ionized drinking water in their refrigerator for convenience. I will share more information on water ionizers in this column next month.