I'm certainly not denying that good nutrition is a key to maintain good health. But good nutrition ALONE is not going to keep people from getting sick. Not to mention that this begs the question of what good nutrition is.
I did some reserach myself and the ONLY evidence of pH on body chemistry is on bone density....HOWEVER, replenishing Calcium intakes through dairy/vegetables, and calcium supplements are far cheaper than any machine.
I am certainly not denying that there is greed in pharmaceutical companies, in fact, that is what the FDA is for. For every medicine that is placed on the market that have been many, many that have not worked. Yes, they make billions in profit, they also spend, millions and millions in research. And if the patent restrictions are decreased even more, they will make even less...which will significantly affect any incentive to do research (a big worry with the lifting of patent timelines.
I repeat, if Dr. Young and his other supporters truly wanted to show validity to their products, it would be a simple matter of funding their own research. I would guess from the products listed on his webpage, he has a ridiculously high profit margin (consider, no research goes into the products and all of the ingredients are ingredients that anyone can buy from bulk chemical warehouses...bicarbonate, potassium hydroxide, salt, sea salt....ridiculously cheap chemicals that are sold ridiculously high amounts
With regards to your link, I have found some inaccuracies (not to mention that I don't exactly trust their own website...any references outside their own statements?)
Dr Lower: "Pure water can never be alkaline or acidic, nor can it be made so by electrolysis....pure water can be considered to be ion-free, as evidenced by the fact that it will not conduct an electric current.""
Not true - test for yourself. Tap water and any natural water does conduct electricity.
ummm...that is the chemists point...PURE water does not...TAP water is not PURE water.
Dr Lower: "Groundwaters containing metal ions such as calcium and magnesium can be rendered slightly alkaline by electrolysis, but after it hits the highly acidic gastric fluid in the stomach, its alkalinity is gone" "
This is true for any tap water, that's how Water Ionizers work in 99% of household water supplies. The second point is misleading; the stomach produces gastric juices on demand depending on the food you eat. However, even if the slight alkalinity is cancelled out, you still get clean drinking water with bio-active ionic alkaline minerals. Other measurable features things like low ORP and low NMR and so on are a plus.
Okay, here the site is mixing up the claims. Is an ionizer simply a purifier? OR is it making alkaline pH? They essentially admit here that the acid in the stomach neutralizes the alkalinity...in fact, from good old negative feedback loops, if the pH increases too much , the stomach proton pumps can increase their activity, bringing the pH down lower.
Dr Lower: "The claims about the health benefits of drinking alkaline water are not supported by credible scientific evidence" "
This judgment depends on what one labels credible. Alkaline water is just tap water with the poisons taken out of it and reduced by mild electrolysis so that the water is in a pure natural form, very similar to high altitude mineral spring water. I think that any 'science' that says that water without poisons does not have any health benefit is questionable. These sites (of the late Dr Batmangheldj) look at some proven health benefits of water: watercure and watercure2.
Again, they are obfuscating...are they wanting water without toxins (which plenty of good water purifiers can do) or alkaline water? The original source (that I referenced NEVER claimed that water without poisons are without health benefit and this is a rather poor defense for their system.
but you should drink water first thing in the morning and in-between meals, not during or after meals to get the most benefits. When the stomach is empty, the water or freshly squeezed juices will flow straight through, and not be significantly effected by the acid stomach pH.
Provide reference for this physiological statement
The actual pH (i.e. the measurable pH, 8-10 usually) is not the major benefit of this water - 'alkaline' is just a label used to describe the water, one of many labels.
huh, are they admitting this????!?!?!!?
You could call it natural water, pure of contaminants, or pure natural water, pure mineral water . If you analyze natural spring water from the Alps or better still Glacier water, you will find that it has all these properties: alkaline pH, high colloidal alkaline mineral content, low acid mineral content, low ORP (i.e. reduced), low NMR (small clusters).
Great. so drink filtered water with mineral supplements...cheaper...better still, simply eat better foods
What is important is what is contained in it. In health circles alkaline water is also called Microwater, Light water, Micro-clustered water, Reduced water, Electrolyzed Reduced Water (ERW), Ionic mineral water and even Miracle Water in this Japanese TV documentary
ah yes, miracle water....I always trust any sources that use "miracle" in their ads
. Our Clinical Studoes section lists abstracts from 100+ published papers that give an indication of the diverse uses of ionized water and terminology used.
Are they sources that are credible? Are they sources that show uses in nutrition?
When sensible nutritionists and naturopaths talk about an 'alkaline diet' they are NOT talking about neutralizing the acidity of the stomach acids that are needed to digest our food with chemicals! Alkaline foods like super greens and carrot juice are not particularly alkaline if you measure the pH with a meter, but they will have an overall slight alkalizing effect (or less acidifying effect) when you change your diet to eat more of them.
...yeah, because they are healthy foods...nothing mysterious here
An important point to note is that if you are eating live, alkaline foods like fruits, freshly squeezed juices
these are quite acidic in nature...
you should do so on an empty stomach to help the digestion process and get the most benefits (i.e. nutrients, enzymes and energy) from the food. This is less of an issue with alkaline water, since there is nothing to digest in water. JK]
yep, and it's neutralized immediately.
Most of this website is concerned with the fact that their water is free from toxins or poisons (hey, great, no one's debating that).
The issue still remains
1) Does this alkaline water/diet or lack of water/diet lead to disease or lack of disease
2) Does this water actually affect the physiology of the body (minus bone health) .
3) DOes it have any curative powers (other than simply increasing the overall health).
None of these would require a substantial amount of money to do, yet the companies who are making a large profit on these don't seem to be running to substantiate these claims.
At this point this is about more than simply the water. It is about willingness to trust unsubstantiated claims. At the least the average person wastes money (any standard water filter would produce nice pure water free from toxins). At the worst, these websites could make people refuse medication, refuse Doctor visits, treatments.