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For another take on ",alkaline water", bunk, read or listen to Brian Dunning's Skeptoid ",Kangen Water",
",Ionized water", is one of many products and panaceas that the wonky-water wellness industry flogs onto the large segment of the general public that lacks the scientific background to distinguish scientific fact from pseudoscientific hype when the two are closely intertwined. The purpose of this page is to critically examine some of the claims about ",ionized", and alkaline waters from the standpoint of modern chemistry and physiology in order to provide you with the information you need to make your own informed decision before opening your wallets to the hucksters of these products and whose claims are totally lacking in scientific support.
What most of these outfits actually sell are grossly overpriced electrical devices that purport to produce ",ionized", and alkaline water by the process of electrolysis. Many of these ",water ionizers", appear to have their origins in Japan and Korea, two countries whose populations seem to be particularly susceptible to being taken in by pseudoscientific water-treatment schemes. In North America, distribution of these dubious devices has depended largely on multi-level marketing schemes that enroll science-ignorant dealers to exploit even-more-vulnerable consumers while enabling the manufacturer to maintain a low profile to regulatory agencies such as the FTC.
It doesn't help that quackery-filled ",alternative health", books such as pH Miracle Living and Alkalize or Die by ",Doctor", Theodore Baroody (whose scientific credentials seem highly dubious) plug alkaline water as one way of preventing cancer or of increasing one's lifespan. There is even a company that offers complete ",alkaline diets", for which they make ridiculous claims. Even the otherwise respectable Kurzweil and Grossman's Fantastic Voyage (see below) goes off the track on this craze.
In multi-level marketing scams. the parent company keeps a low profile and makes few claims that would attract the scrutiny of regulators such as the U.S. FTC. Instead, they recruit thousands of ",independent agents", who are provided with sales iterature containing false and misleading claims which they then transmit to their customers or put up on their own Web sites. These agents, few of whom are well-enough educated to evaluate these claims or to realize that they violate the FTC rules on deceptive advertising. are as much victims as are their consumer customers.
Consider, for example, this outright lie that can be found at some Kangen Water sales sites:
",It is well known in the medical community that an overly acidic body is the root of many common diseases, such as obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood-pressure and more. ", [link1. link2 ]
To further mislead science-naï,ve readers, another Kangen page employs the common ruse of misrepresenting the 1931 Nobel Prize work of a famous pioneer of biochemistry. Don't believe any of this deceptive garbage! (Note: Kangen is frequently misspelled as ",Kangan",.)
A ",rebuttal", to this IonBunk page can be found here. But unless you have some solid background in chemistry and physiology (as the author and most of the ",authorities", he cites clearly do not), beware that many of the statements are misleading, wrong, or are just plain nonsense.
Alkaline water not for you? One enterprising outfit offers a machine that is supposed to produceacidic wate r, For only $2500 you too can enjoy the benefits of pH 2.5 water—, good for curing ",Hong Kong foot", and many other ailments! Of course, cranberry or citrus juices are much less expensive sources of equally acidic water.
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