A lot of people are pHooled by clever marketing around alkaline water. It’s promoted as a life-changing key to health- but in reality, just because water is alkalized doesn’t mean it will change the overall pH of your body. Likewise, acidic water isn’t automatically harmful.
Understanding how the pH of what you consume affects your alkalinity is important! Let’s dive deeper into the myths surrounding the alkaline water craze and figure out what really improves our wellbeing.
THE PH OF OUR BODIES
The primary reason most people become interested in alkalizing their bodies is to avoid acidosis: a buildup of acid in the bloodstream that causes all kinds of problems like illness and fatigue.
There isn’t actually a singular, set pH of the human body. Our stomach acid is has a pH of 1.8. Our blood is somewhere between 7.365 – 7.465 pH, and anything outside of that causes us to become sick. The skin on our faces is around 6 pH, but the skin on the rest of our bodies is closer to 5 pH.
It’s natural for pH to vary throughout our bodies.
BENEFITS
There is one benefit to drinking alkaline water. The pyloric valve, which allows water to flow into the small intestine, is sensitive to pH. Alkalinity causes the valve to open quickly and absorb more water, making us more hydrated.
ELECTRIFIED VS MINERALIZED
There are two ways to alkalize water: electrically or minerally. Water becomes electrically alkalized when it is run over metal plates made of either platinum or titanium, which causes it to divide into alkaline and acidic pH.
The water created by this process is only temporarily alkaline, because its pH is lost as soon as it interacts with your stomach acid.
It’s also possible to increase the pH of water by running it over minerals like calcium and magnesium. These electrolytes maintain their integrity during their passage through the stomach and make into into our bloodstream, increasing our alkalinity.
It is important to stay balanced in our consumption of minerals because while they are necessary, too much can build up in our bodies, creating calcification over time.
DIY ALKALINE
You can craft your own alkaline water at home! All you need is lemon juice and salt. Salt mineralizes the water. Lemon juice is acidic, but it contains a lot of Vitamin C, which lowers oxidative stress in the body. One of the primary causes of acidosis is oxidative stress. So lemon juice may be acidic, but it actually has an alkalizing effect on our bodies! This is a perfect example of how acidic foods can be healthy.
DIET
The effects of eating and drinking alkaline are very different. There’s a greater chance of mineral buildup when drinking alkaline water, but that’s not the case with food because it also has carbon. The carbon helps process minerals efficiently.
An alkaline diet isn’t alkalizing for the reasons we think it is… the pH of the food ultimately makes little difference to the pH of our body. It’s the nutrients that lower inflammation and oxidative stress, and support our microbiome and immune system, that truly make us healthier.
It all goes back to keeping the body in balance. Focusing on the foundations of a balanced internal ecosystem, such as a healthy gut and low inflammation, creates more alkalinity.
To get more information about alkaline water, watch this video.
-Shayne McCarthy, H2 Water Expert