READ THE FACTS ON BOTTLED ALKALINE WATER BEFORE YOU BUY IT. — There are many brands of bottled alkaline water being developed, like Essentia Water, Affinity’s Alkalized Water, Alka-Pure® Natural Alkaline Wellness Water, Alka Power Alkaline Water, Nordenauer, The Highest Anti-oxidant Water, Evamor Natural Alkaline Artesian Water, Akasha Premium pH 10.0 Alkaline Water, Neo Water, Neo 9.5pH Alkaline Water and others.

Thousands if not millions of dollars are being spent to unsuspecting consumers, who in turn spend thousands themselves for these bottled “super” waters.

So, should you buy bottled alkaline water or not? The answer to this question is no. Don’t believe the marketing gimmicks. Here’s why.

Pure Water in Toxic Bottles

First, while bottled water makers say their brand of water is pure, they still put it in plastic bottles that release chemicals from the plastic into the water. Especially when they are stored in hot areas exposed to the sun.

All plastics are derived from petrochemicals, byproducts of the petroleum industry. Many petrochemicals like Phthalates and BPA are among the cancer-causing chemicals known to be present in foods and beverages stored in plastics.

Bottle alkaline water can absorb these petrochemicals. So, when you consume the liquid, you may also consume the chemicals. They disrupt the body’s endocrine system, interfering with the natural production of hormones. This can increase a person’s risk of cancer.

If you desire to drink clean alkaline water you want to do so because you’re aware of the toxins and chemicals in both tap water and bottled water, right?

Putting alkaline water in toxic plastic bottles defeats the purpose of drinking healthy alkaline water.

Ditch Bottled Alkaline Water, Make Alkaline Water Yourself

Second, alkaline ionized water is beneficial because of its ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) that makes it an antioxidant and its alkalinity (High pH-balance).

The antioxidant (the lower the ORP, the better) last approximately 18-24 hours. The Higher pH will last approximately 1-2 weeks. The smaller molecule cluster size of its water will last approximately 1-3 months.

So you see, bottling alkaline water makes no sense, because the antioxidant power is gone after 24 hours. The High pH after two weeks. Some bottled water makers put an expiration date on their bottled water and bottles.

While “expired” unopened bottled water isn’t going to do you any harm, it isn’t going to get better with age, either. The plastic that water is packaged in — usually polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for retail bottles and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for water cooler jugs — is slightly porous, so the water can pick up smells and tastes from the outside world. Keep a case of bottled water in the basement for a year or so and it’s going to pick up some interesting flavors. There’s nothing better on a hot summer day than a 2007 Evian, with hints of dust and a crisp kitty litter finish! – Matt Soniak 

Even if they would store alkaline water in glass bottles, it doesn’t matter because alkaline water doesn’t benefit you unless you drink it within the time frame stated above.

For best results for your health, avoid bottled alkaline water and drink your alkaline ionized water immediately after you pour it from your own alkaline water machine. Cheers.

Ray Kurzweil, world renowned scientist and anti-aging proponent comments on Kangen water

Ray Kurzweil drinks 10 glasses of Alkaline Water a day and believes it will help him live a long and healthy life.

In this Q and A he answers your questions about Alkaline Water based on his own research and knowledge.

Question: I have read on the Internet that it is not possible to create alkaline or acid water from pure water and that water that is pure enough to drink cannot be split into alkaline and acid components. Is this true?

Ray Kurzweil: As responsible scientists, we had the same skepticism when we first heard about alkaline water. Therefore, the first thing we did was to purchase a water alkalinizer as well as an accurate electronic pH meter. We ran tap water with pH 7.1 from our home faucet into the device and found that the water coming out of the alkaline outlet had a pH of 9.5 (indicating very alkaline), while the water from the acid outlet measured pH 4.5 (indicating very acidic).

We repeated this experiment with a variety of tap waters obtaining alkaline outputs with a pH ranging from 9.5 to 9.9. It is true that “pure” or distilled water can not be ionized. If you were to try to “split” distilled water, it would not work. Tap or spring water, however, has dissolved minerals in it. It’s the minerals in the water; primarily calcium, potassium and magnesium that allow water to be “split” by an electric current into alkaline, “electron-rich” (i.e., containing negatively charged ions that can engage in chemical reactions to provide electrons to positively charged free radicals) and acid, “electron-deficient” components. Individuals who say it is not possible to split tap or spring water are misinformed.

One site on the Internet states “Ionized water is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists. Most water that is fit for drinking is too unconductive to undergo significant electrolysis.”

That statement is easily shown to be incorrect with a simple pH meter and an electrolysis machine. Most tap waters run through the machine produce highly alkaline water as measured by a pH meter.

Question: Since you advocate drinking alkaline water, why not simply mix something like sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) with water and drink that? There are, in fact, alkaline waters sold that are made by mixing water with bicarbonate. Wouldn’t that work as well and be much less expensive than a water alkalinizer?

Ray Kurzweil: There are more benefits to “alkaline water” than simply the alkalinity or pH. The most important feature of alkaline water produced by a water alkalinizer is its oxidation reduction potential (ORP). Water with a high negative ORP is of particular value in its ability to neutralize oxygen free radicals.

ORP can also be directly tested using an ORP sensor and meter. We have conducted these experiments as well. We found that water coming directly from the tap had an ORP of +290mV, while the water coming out of the water alkalinizer had a negative ORP. The more negative the ORP of a substance (that is, the higher its negative ORP), the more likely it is to engage in chemical reactions that donate electrons. These electrons are immediately available to engage in reactions that neutralize positively charged free radicals. This is the key benefit of water produced by a water alkalinizer that is not available by simply drinking water than has had some bicarb or other compounds dissolved in it to make it alkaline.

Although water mixed with bicarbonate is indeed alkaline, it does not have a negative ORP; rather it has a positive ORP, meaning that it is unable to neutralize dangerous oxygen free radicals. Alkaline water produced by running tap water through an electrolysis machine does have a high negative ORP, meaning that it does have the ability to neutralize oxygen free radicals. We have confirmed these ORP measurements through our direct tests.

Question: OK, why is it important to drink alkaline water with a high negative ORP?

Ray Kurzweil: All chemical reactions occur with the transfer of electrons. Negatively charged entities are said to be reducing agents, meaning they are relatively electron rich and are able to donate electrons, reducing the charge of the entity with which they react. Relatively electron-poor entities are referred to as oxidizing agents, meaning they tend to pull electrons away. Thus, each substance in our body may act as either an oxidizing or reducing agent.

However, not just any negatively charged ion will be able to engage in the specific chemical reactions needed to neutralize oxygen free radicals. The HCO3- (bicarbonate) ions in alkaline bicarb water do not have this potential, whereas the OH- and mineral-rich water coming from an electrolysis machine (from tap water) does have this potential. That is implied in the negative value of the “oxidation reduction potential.”