Why is it that 95% of cancer patients die from Chemotherapy treatment? Why do 95% of AIDS patients die from AZT treatment? Surely, from the placebo effect alone, some 40% should have got better in both cases?
What would happen if you feed 100 patients MacDonald’s food and nothing else for a month, and told them daily that it would 'make them feel better, younger. more vigorous, etc' so they get the max possible dose of the placebo? Would they be better, younger, more vigorous at the end of it, or would they all be dead? If they all end up dead, which I suspect they would, then what happened to the 40% placebo effect?
Why does Dr Lower not warn about the dangers of fast food chains, supermarket processed foods, fraudulent medical research, Chemotherapy, AZT and lies about AIDS, Aspartame, Fluoride, Microwave ovens, mobile phones, Industrial Pollution, GM Foods, and countless other real dangers that we are faced with? Could it have something to do with the fact that these very real scams are made by large multi-nationals, including chemical and pharmaceutical giants who put profits before peoples health?
Watch this amusing look at the drugs culture: Licensed to Pill
It's interesting that the 40% placebo effect is always labeled as the cause for any health improvements caused by simple natural things like pure alkaline water, diet, proper nutrition, food combining, restoring proper pH balance, fasting & cleansing, removal of toxins and acid wastes - the so called alternate-health stuff on this site some of which I have been practicing for over 30 years, and which has a tradition going back to over 5000 years! Modern medicine is barely 100 years old.
"This is just alternate crap, for REAL medicine you need REAL drugs, with REAL credible scientific evidence, published in REAL Journals that we control".
But why is it that you don't get this placebo effects from all these REAL drugs peddled by the commercial giants?
Glaxo Chief: Our Drugs Do Not Work on Most Patients
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Commercial Reality and Academic Research
In the early 1980's I worked as a lowly undergraduate on industrial work placement with Professor Rodger Ekins at the Middlesex Hospital in London. Prof Ekins is a brilliant biophysicist who had just missed out an winning the Noble Prize for his pioneering work on radio-immuno assays and ligand assays. One project I worked on was the 'WHO free T4' study where over a 2 year period we measured blood samples and the effectiveness of 10 manufacturer's kits, under Dr Tom Jackson. The report was completed and a pre-publication report sent to all the manufacturers. Some weeks later, Tom asked me bring up the summary charts that I had prepared on an Omnis database that ran on the Apple Macintosh just launched. Tom told me to take out some of the points for one of the large manufacturers (the ones that diverged significantly from the reference), so that the data would be closer to the +- 5% error - he said it could be due to batch/human error, and the final report was slightly changed. I didn't query it at the time, but I suspect that it was due to an appeal by the large manufacturer to tone down our criticism! We all knew that this manufacturer didn't understand the process, and his kit didn't measure anything - the Prof talked about it often.
This was a harmless case, but now the commercial reality is that with so much invested in drugs, academic interference, suppression or outright control is something that happens time after time and is one reason so many toxic substances and drugs like Aspartame get approved for human consumption and simple remedies that would save lives are ignored or actively suppressed, often with legal threats and intimidation. This years Nobel Prize winners talked about the huge resistance they had in their fight against to get the role of Helicobacter Pylori accepted as the true cause of ulcers and gastric cancers.
[Professor William Doe of the Australian National University comments, "how difficult it is to change medical paradigms because everyone has a vested interest in the status quo". The pharmaceutical industry held the biggest vested interest in ulcers. Two of its biggest all-time earners have been the acid suppressing drugs cimetidine (Tagamet) and ranitidine (Zantac), and Astra had just launched the first of a new, even more potent type of acid suppressant. These drugs did not cure ulcers, meaning patients often needed lifelong therapy. The notion that common garden varieties of antibiotics (many of which were out of patent and so did not hold the lure of vast profits) might cure ulcers was, unsurprisingly, not high on the industry's priorities. The pharmaceutical industry is the main source of information for doctors, which helps explain why Tagamet and Zantac are still big sellers.]
Government officials also collude: [Public health authorities and pharmaceutical interests are often in collusion without regard for public welfare. The recent FDA approval of Vioxx is a more current example.]
Physicians promoting Chondroiton and Glucosamine for arthritis also mentioned that none of the companies was interested in them because they can't be patented. This is the case with all natural remedies - the profits of pharmaceutical companies are threatened by simple truths about the causes and cures for disease. Dr Batmangheldj writes about his struggles to get the simple truth about water spread amongst physicians in his book The Bodies Many Cries for Water via bodies like the American Medical Association and the National Institute of Health. If you read it, it will bring you to tears: the people that we have entrusted with with the responsibility to look after our health have sold their consciences.
Rodger Williams, a Cambridge Graduate and a British MP mentions Parliamentary privilege (protection) to be able to speak about the aspartame scandal:
"Eminent academics from the UK and further afield have persuaded me beyond doubt that aspartame represents a serious health problem....The history of aspartame's approval is mired in controversy, not least because of the likes of Donald Rumsfeld "calling in his markers" to get it approved. The science that supported its approval was biased, inconclusive and incompetent. Aspartame is in a higher category of risk than Sudan 1, the UK's fastest recalled food substance. However, bad science, bad regulation and bad politics have left the bigger of those two threats in everyday products on our supermarket shelves...Crucial questions that have been largely repressed since the early '80s hang over aspartame's safety. When journalists attempted to tackle those questions, their newspapers were threatened with intimidating letters from the industry's lawyers. I am duty-bound by the immunity afforded to me under parliamentary privilege and as a servant of the public to initiate a debate that has been silenced for over two decades."
In the late 80's I worked at the Health Education Authority, who at that time produced all those national TV adverts about HIV causing AIDS. In one campaign the HEA produced AIDS information material at a cost of 5 million pounds. At a late stage, the then Margaret Thatcher Government decided it didn't like the leaflets, so they all had to be scrapped! None of us at the time were aware that not a single paper had been published to prove that HIV causes AIDS. If you know of a study paper, then you can collect a 10,000 dollar reward. A German court has established that there is no proven link. How then did Robert Gallo announce that HIV causes AIDS? He became a millionaire from a HIV test that he patented just before the announcement. Is this whole thing not a scam and a fraud, especially since Gallo was later convicted? Why have so many academics remained silent for all these years? Contrast this with the men of conscience that spoke out about the Prof Hwang and the fabrication. This fraud could have also gone on for years, if Hwangs colleague didn't have a conscience. JK]
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Here is a summary of some of the more common claims with my comments.
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| "Ionized water" machines actually bring about the electrolysis of ordinary water.
[Yes, they do. Fact, not fable, see above. If you do simple tests (pH, ORP), and find that they don't then send your unit back. JK] |
If the water is pure enough to be potable, the amount of electrolysis that actually occurs is too small to be significant.
[Not true. See above. JK] |
| These devices separate the alkaline water (produced at the negative electrode) from the acidic water (produced at the positive electrode), allowing you to draw them off separately.
[Fact, not fable, see above. JK] |
This will not work with pure water because it is physically impossible to have water that contains an excess of OH (alkaline) without the presence of a charge-compensating metallic ion such as Na+ or Ca2+. Similarly, any water that is acidic (excess H+ ion) must contain a compensating impurity ion such as bicarbonate or sulfate. Thus ordinary drinkable water which contains only very low concentrations of metal ions will yield only weakly alkaline solutions.
[Not true in the real world. See my comments above about 'pure' H2O. JK] |
| Alkaline water is important for maintaining proper body pH and preventing acidosis.
[Fact, not fable, read my website and the many books and other literature all over the world about Alkalizing for Health] |
The pH of intracellular bodily fluids such as blood is controlled by an exquisitely-balanced set of reactions involving removal of (acidic) carbon dioxide through the lungs, removal of (alkaline) ammonia through the kidneys, and the buffering action within the blood by bicarbonate, and to a smaller extent by phosphate and certain proteins. In the most important of these mechanisms, carbon dioxide produced by cell metabolism reacts with water to form carbonic acid H2CO3, and this reacts with carbonate in the blood to form bicarbonate
which is carried by the blood to the lungs, where the carbon dioxide is then regenerated and expelled:
The pH of blood is especially critical and must be maintained within the range of about 7.35 - 7.45. If the blood pH falls outside this range the condition is known as acidosis or alkylosis. Temporary acidosis can be induced by holding your breath, preventing release of CO2. Temporary alkylosis can be induced by hyperventilation, causing excess release of CO2. Chronic acidosis or alkylosis can be very serious and is often associated with kidney failure.
[Yes this is true. However, this does not prove that alkaline water is NOT helpfully for maintaining proper alkaline body pH and preventing acidosis! How can alkaline water not help the body maintain alkalinity? If you take 10 gallons of water with pH 7.3, add 3 litres of alkaline water at ph 10, will the original pH of 7.3 become more alkaline or less? Our body has around 10 gallons of water, and if you continue to drink 2-3 litres/day of alkaline water, it will gradually help the body maintain the ideal alkaline pH of about 7.365 JK]
The pH of ordinary drinking water will have little effect on the pH of the stomach contents because gastric fluid has an overwhelmingly low pH (Gastric fluid is essentially a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid.) Hundreds of millions of years of evolution have adapted humans to tolerate drinking waters having a fairly wide range of pH (5-8). Any water that is sufficiently alkaline to significantly affect gastric pH is unlikely to be considered potable by most people. Further, the enzymes that digest proteins in the stomach require a low pH in order to function properly, so if one were to ingest sufficient alkali to reduce gastric pH, it would also interfere with digestion.
[Also true, but again beside the point! Gastric juice neutralization has nothing to do with alkaline water, and gastric juice neutralization would be bad for food digestion. This is definitely not advised by naturopaths and nutritionists that advice an alkaline diet!
Incidentally, there is no danger of alkalizing the gastric juices - even if you drink 32 glasses of high pH alkaline water it will only upset stomach pH balance to the level as a can of cola with a pH of 2.5 would. JK]
If you really want (or need) to reduce gastric acidity, products such as Milk of Magnesia or Alka-Seltzer are cheaper and more effective than "water ionizer" machines. But bear in mind that acidosis and alkylosis are serious conditions that require medical intervention and can be properly diagnosed only by measurements of blood electrolyte and CO2 content.
[Again, misleading. See above. JK] |
| The oxygen produced during electrolysis invigorates the body.
[FALSE! Who said anything about oxygen gas produced during electrolysis? Take 2 equal glasses of water, one with neutral water, the other with the same water, but all the H+ ions taken out of it. Which water glass will have more oxygen atoms in it (as OH)?] |
The amount of oxygen that water can hold is very limited, and it is not significantly absorbed by the gut anyway. You can acquire far more oxygen by just taking an extra breath. For more on the myth of oxygenated waters, see the OxyScams page.
[Very true, but nothing to do with alkaline water. This, incidentally is another reason why deep, regular breathing is so important for health. JK] |
| "Ionized water" acts as an effective antioxidant and free-redical fighter, and can even halt or reverse ageing.
[Fact that ionized water is an anti-oxidant. What do you understand by the terms 'Reduced water' and Oxidized water? How does one measure them?
Sang Whang presents a theory of aging, which is that aging is a gradual process of the accumulation of organic acid wastes in the body. Experimental evidence shows that this appears to be the case - increase the rate of acid wastes in single cells and you decrease the life span, decrease and remove the acid wastes and you increase the life span. Researchers believe that if you remove the wastes a cell produces, and provide it the nutrients it needs, the cell will live indefinitely. Our bodies are just trillions of cells, so it is logical that this anti aging theory may be valid. JK] |
There is no reason to believe this. Some sales sites reveal their ignorance of chemistry by stating that the enhanced oxygen content causes the water to act as an anti-oxidant (any high-school chemistry student should be able to debunk this one!) It should also be pointed out that evolution has allowed our bodies to develop anti-oxidant enzymes such as peroxidase that are millions of times more efficient than anything that an electrolysis device could produce even if it did work! Finally, although anti-ageing nostrums are widely marketed to the notoriously credulous seekers of alternative-health products, there is absolutely no evidence that any of these is effective.
[There is lot of evidence from many anti-aging writers that say that aging can be slowed, stopped or even reversed. Think of it like a car, if you provide it with the right fuel, remove the wastes that it produces, change it's oil, brake and other fluids, drive it with care then it will last longer then if you don't do all these things.
Good clean water and clean air are the two most important factors for our health and longevity. JK] |
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Alkaline water Books
Dr Lower criticizes what he labels 'quackery-filled' alternative health books such as Kurzweil and Grossman's Fantastic Voyage and pH Miracle Living that 'plug alkaline water as one way of preventing cancer or of increasing one's life span.
This is one page about Dr Young: http://www.snyderhealth.com/Young.htm
"Robert O. Young has been widely recognized as one of the top research scientists in the world. Throughout his career, Robert Young's research has been focused at the cellular level, with a speciality in nutrition. Robert Young's research findings have been published in noted journals."
I wonder what books or papers Professor Lower has published on nutrition over the years? How then does one criticise 'one of the world's top research scientists in the world' on his own field of expertise?
Fantastic Voyage fantasies
As mentioned above, the Kurzweil-Grossman book contains a number of un-truths about "alkaline water". Several of their misleading statements are outlined below; anyone questioning my comments on them can check any standard textbook on human physiology.
[There are more things under heaven and earth Stephen then are contained in your standard physiology textbooks! The only misleading statements that I can see are the ones made by our resident chemistry Prof!
This is the page about the authors http://www.fantastic-voyage.net/Kurzweil.htm
"Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists. Called “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, Kurzweil’s ideas on the future have been touted by his many fans, who range from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. Time magazine writes, “Kurzweil’s eclectic career and propensity of combining science with practical—often humanitarian—applications have inspired comparisons with Thomas Edison.” A recipient of the National Medal of Technology and an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, among many other honors, he is the author of three previous books: The Age of Spiritual Machines, The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life, and The Age of Intelligent Machines"
The co-author Terry Grossman, M.D. is "the founder and medical director of Frontier Medical Institute in Denver, Colorado, a leading longevity clinic. Certified in anti aging medicine, he lectures internationally on longevity and anti aging strategies. In the words of Arline Brecher, coauthor of Forty Something Forever, “I’ve met good writers and good doctors, but seldom are they one and the same. Dr. Terry Grossman breaks the mold and sets a new standard for physicians.” He is the author of The Baby Boomer’s Guide to Living Forever"
Both these authors are experts in their fields, I wonder how a retired chemistry prof thinks he knows more about their field of expertise (longevity) then they do? Dr Robert Young is likewise an expert in Nutrition, and has spent a lifetime researching it. I wonder if Dr Lower taught longevity, anti-aging or nutrition at his old University? JK]
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K&G's misinformation |
My comment |
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How can alkaline water with a pH of 9 or 10 be expected to affect the body when the pH of the stomach is 2 or less?
1It is important to remember that hydrochloric acid is present in the stomach only when food is there.
2If acid were present all the time, it would eat a hole in your stomach lining.
[Both answers are correct. JK] |
1The stomach always contains some gastric secretion and is always acidic; eating food stimulates the production of more acid.
[Yes, but when the stomach is empty as for example in the morning before breakfast there are very little gastric secretions sitting there. This is the best time to drink alkaline water, as most of it will flow straight through the stomach, with its pH intact. Some of the ionized water also gets absorbed from the cells on the way to the stomach. JK]
2Nonsense; the stomach lining is protected by a mucous film which is continually replenished.
[This is another misleading comment. For Gods** sake Prof, it wouldn't matter if the stomach lining was made of Titanium; the fact is that the stomach only produces acids on demand. The amount of acids the stomach can produce on demand is up to 3 litres per day. We don't have a hydrochloric acid pouch in our body to store it.
See the above discussion on stomach acidity, buffers and alkaline water
** I forget, Prof Lower doesn't like Him either - no credible scientific evidence in prestigious journals and all that! JK]
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| The body keeps blood pH stable by utilizing alkaline buffers to neutralize acidic liquids (such as colas, which have a pH as low as 2.5) and other acidic products and byproducts. But as the blood stream receives these acidic substances, the alkaline buffers get used up. Drinking alkaline water helps reduce the burden on the limited alkaline buffers which are needed for the body s natural detoxification processes.
[This is fact, JK] |
The principal buffer is bicarbonate which is continually generated as glucose, the body's immediate cellular energy source, is metabolized. Acids convert it into carbonic acid which breaks down to CO2 and water and is exhaled by the lungs. This is the main route of elimination of acids from the body, although the kidneys play a secondary role.
[The body needs minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and zinc as fuel to sustain the buffering system, not only glucose! The bodies bicarbonates will be sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium bicarbonates; it makes effective use of hydroxides, primarily calcium hydroxide to maintain alkaline balance. Alkaline water helps the buffering system as it provides the minerals that the body needs. Yes, the lungs play a significant role in maintaining alkalinity - they provide oxygen and remove CO2. JK] |
| In alkalinized or ionized water, it's not actually the water that is ionized -- it's the minerals; primarily calcium, potassium and magnesium. Alkaline water has as its main benefit that it assists in the absorption of alkaline minerals.
[This is correct. JK] |
Classifying these mineral ions as "acidic" or "alkaline" is nonsense, and the author has it backwards: these ions all form insoluble carbonates in alkaline solution and would become even less available. Transport of these ions across cell membranes is facilitated by specialized protein assemblies that are largely independent of local pH.
[Not true. The classification is not made by Kurzweil/Gross! When food is oxidized, the minerals remain. Remember, you can't burn rocks. Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium ARE classified as alkaline minerals. A liquid with these minerals will be alkaline; they leave an alkaline residue after metabolism and help keep the blood alkaline. Sulfur, phosphorus and iron are acidic minerals as they will leave an acidic residue after metabolism. Calcium is considered the bodies most important alkalizing mineral. In this study of rats fed cola suggests that calcium from the bones is used up in maintaining an alkaline blood pH balance. I don't understand the significance of "these ions form insoluble carbonates in alkaline solution" - they are in soluble alkaline solution as alkaline water. The minerals in it that are in ionic form, i.e. the Ca+ cation will be bonded with a OH- ion; this is what gives an alkaline pH reading and is a mechanism that nature uses to transport nutrients to the cell. If you drink alkaline water with additional OH- bonded with calcium in ionic form, this water will travel to where the calcium is needed; 2 such molecules would combine to give calcium, oxygen and water to the cell.
When the calcium is donated to where it is needed, it may form an insoluble substance (bone and teeth), which is what you want with the calcium you ingest, or it may assist the buffering process.
The bodies bio-chemical processes are very complex, any reaction or pathway is possible and happens on different occasions, but we can assume that the body will know what to do, so long as we provide it the nutrients it needs.
If you look at the studies in Appendix A, they indicate quite clearly that alkaline water helps the mineralization of the bones, and acid water does the opposite. JK] |
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Other alkaline water drinkers and writers about Longevity and the Anti-Aging effects of alkaline water that I'd recommend are:
1. Dr Gabriel Cousin's This is an interesting interview he says that "I've been on live foods since 1983. It's a very long time, and I'm in my sixty-third year, and the result of that is I'm more flexible than I was when I was captain of an undefeated football team at Amherst College, in the National Football Hall of Fame, and I'm stronger. I could do 70 push-ups then, and on my sixtieth birthday I could do 601."
2. Daniel Reid, best selling author of The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity. I read this book in the early 90's. It has been like a bible for me ever since, and I have followed the 7 day water fasting and cleansing program once or twice a year ever since. Dan is a living Taoist Master, who practices what he preaches.
3. Sang Whang, author of Reverse Aging (see above). Dr Lower tries to rubbish Sang Whang, but what patents or inventions does Dr Lower have to his name?
3. Deepak Chopra Dr Lower doesn't like Chopra either, but millions of people the world over do!
Another alkaline water drinkers is Tony Robbins, the peak performance expert. I read his book Unlimited Power in the mid 80's, and have followed the acid-alkaline food combining guidelines ever since. Tony spends an entire day at his workshops with over 10,000 delegates talking about acid-alkaline foods and recommends 5-6 litres of alkaline water per day for peak performance. Tony's clients have included several US presidents, Princess Diana, Andre Agassi and many of the most influential and powerful people in all walks of life. I wonder if Professor Lower... - you get the point!
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..ionized alkaline water is grouped together in smaller clusters of 5-6 water molecules instead of the 10-13 found in tap water. This makes it "micro-clustered", meaning it will be more quickly and easily absorbed, and will hydrate the tissues more effectively.
The hexagonal molecular structure resulting from electrolysis is what makes ionized water wetter than tap or bottled water. These smaller "hexagons" of water molecules are half as large as the molecular chains that come out of the faucet, and permeate cellular membranes quicker so that Alkaline Water is more hydrating and quicker to refresh after strenuous exercise.
[This is correct. You can measure cluster sizes with NMR, you can also measure surface tension in dynes, with appropriate instruments. You can taste the water. Do a double blind test with 100 subjects, ask them to try city tap water and the same water ionized. I bet that a statistically significant number will say that the ionized water is lighter, more easily absorbed. What could account for this, it's the same water? JK]
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There is no scientific evidence to support the assertions about the existence of water clusters or its beneficial effects on tissue hydration. See the Water Cluster Quackery page for more information on this bunk.
[What does the science of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measure?
If water is more hydrating (as the measured smaller clusters would suggest) then it will reach the cells, so benefit the cell, otherwise it will by-pass the cells and provide the cell with no hydration or nutrients or assist with the waste removal.
See comments below about clusters. JK]
The diagram on the right is incorrect and misleading. There is no way that H2O molecules in liquid water can be stabilized or retained in the hexagonal configuration shown.
[It is no where stated the structure is a stabilized configuration; it is dynamic, moving configuration, like a molecular dance. How can anything in water be stable? Japanese and Korean scientists are not the fools that Dr Lower appears to make them look! JK] |
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Alkaline water
- Increases energy, decreases recovery time and improves capacity for aerobic activities.
- "Reverses the aging process, lowers blood pressure and helps the heart work less hard."
- Neutralizes and flushes toxins and acidic waste from your body. Your body can focus on achieving optimal health.
- The electrolysis process rearranges healthy minerals that are native to your tap water according to their electrical charge. As a result, alkaline ionized water contains essential calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium minerals in a form that can be assimilated.
- Cancer does not thrive in an oxygenated and alkaline environment while health does.
[Website's try to reach customers attention. What about car sales sites that use women models (i.e. sex) to sell cars? Most readers take such claims with a pinch of salt - just look at the description of any herb or essential oil and see the possible benefits that are listed for it
These statements may be true. I don't know what statistical evidence there is, but it would make sense as water is needed for every bodily function and most of us are dehydrated. Just viewing water from the hydration aspect alone, it could be argued that all these are possible benefits from drinking water. If you look at the many studies, and the many health and anti-aging literature, you have to conclude that it is possible that alkaline water may be helpfully
The last one was proved by Dr Warburg, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine see his paper 'The Metabolism of Tumors', London, 1930. JK]
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There is no credible scientific evidence for any of these statements, which you will find only on Web sites promoting commercial products.
[I don't think you need some silly, unreadable 'credible scientific evidence' in an elite scientific Journal before you decide whether or not to drink pure natural water. Just a little common sense will do. People have been drinking alkaline water from mountain springs and glacier water sources for thousands of years, modern science is barely a hundred years old. There are chinese writings going back to 5000 years ago about Taoist masters that lived on high mountain air and spring water and had life spans of several hundred years.
There is no 'credible scientific evidence' that proves that McDonalds fast food is bad for your health or makes you fat.
All the 'credible scientific evidence' says that McDonalds food is good for you, and there are many people that have been made bankrupt for saying that it's not.
A big mac (a chemist will tell you) has x grams of protein, y grams carbs, + a full list of nutrients - a chemically balanced meal in fact. A cola has lots of sugar that you need for energy they will tell you.
Does this mean that we should keep eating it? JK]
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Beneficial uses of acidic water:
- Natural astringent for improving complexions. It removes skin oil and greasy dirt without harsh chemicals.
- Natural hair conditioner.
- Highly antiseptic for cuts, abrasions, and wounds
- Soaking in warm acidic ionized water improves healing from athletes foot, rashes, nail fungus infections and insect bites
[I just let my acid water drain into the sink, but a lot of studies have been done on the the antiseptic effects of acid water. JK] |
Claims such as these are widely propagated by water ionizer hucksters without any supporting evidence. If you really want to sample the "benefits" of acidic water, try a dilute solution of vinegar or almost any fruit juice.
[You can test some of these things, for example acid water is an antiseptic. JK] |
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References to ionized water
A few articles on this subject have appeared in the scientific literature. Some examples are:
- S. Okouchi et al: Water desirable for the human body in terms of oxidation-reduction potential (ORF) to pH relationship: J. Food Science 2002: 67(5) 1594-98.
- K. Hanaoka: Antioxidant effects of reduced water produced by electrolysis of sodium chloride solutions. J. Appl. Electrochem 2001: 31(12) 1307-13.
- S. Shirahata et al: Electrolyzed-reduced water scavenges active oxygen species and protects DNA from oxidatioin damage. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 1997: 234 269-74
- K. Kikuchi et al: Hydrogen particles and supersaturation in alkaline water from an alkali-ion-water-electrolyzer. J. Electroanalytical Chem 2001: 506(1) 22-27.
None of these papers is very convincing to me, and I doubt that they would have passed muster in the more prestigious journals which may explain the rather strange publishing venues the authors have chosen which are quite outside the medical and physiological fields. One wonders if these journals have reviewers qualified to give papers on this subject adequate scrutiny. It's interesting to note that the last journal in the list also published the now-discredited article on cold fusion in the 1980s.
This is an underhand attempt to pooh-pooh some of the published evidence! To discredit the last scientific Journal because it published a paper on cold fusion, so implying that it can't be any good, ignores the fact that cold fusion has made a comeback! The prestigious Nature journal has recently published a report of table top cold fusion at the UCLA. This is an interesting article from the New Scientist looking at 13 things that do not make sense, including homeopathy (i.e. water has a memory, see water clusters below), placebo effect and cold fusion!
Some of the alkaline water research papers may not have been presented in the prestigious journals that the chemical giants use, but in true science the validity of a experiment is NOT related to the prestige of the Journal that publishes it. What is important is that you can reproduce it.
This is an excerpt from the Shirahata et al paper: Electrolyzed-reduced water scavenges active oxygen species and protects DNA from oxidatioin damage: "These results suggest that the SOD-like activity of reduced water is ...due to the active hydrogen. ...reduced water decreased the amount of H2O2 produced by XOD. Reduced water...could directly scavenge H2O2. Reduce water suppresses single-strand breakage of DNA by active oxygen species produced by the Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of ascorbic acid in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that reduced water can scavenge not only O2.- and H2O2, but also 1O2 and .OH"
The study shows quite clearly that alkaline water is a very effective anti-oxidant like SOD (super oxide dismutase, a very powerful antioxidant) that removes active oxygen species and protects your body (DNA) from active oxygen damage. I'm afraid I don't have abstracts of the the other three, but there are many, many other studies that have been conducted. Again, seek and you shall find. Start with clinical acid (oxidized) water studies and clinical alkaline (reduced) water studies that list abstracts from 100+ papers published in wide range of scientific journals. Also look at the medical case studies and livestock studies.
Water Clusters (Images by Dr Emoto)
Spring Water of Saijo, Japan |
Biwako Lake, the largest lake at the center of Japan and the water pool of the Kinki Region. Pollution is getting worse |
Spring Water of Sanbuichi Yusui, Japan |
Yodo River, Japan, pours into the Bay of Osaka. The river passes through most of the major cities in Kasai. |
Antarctic Ice |
Fujiwara Dam, before offering a prayer |
Fountain in Lourdes, France |
Fujiwara Dam, after offering a prayer |
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From the point of hydration, the only point of interest here is that the less clumped together water molecules there are the better the absorption, the less 'boated tummy' you get from drinking the water. This is often the first thing experienced when you drink ionized water. This is confirmed by NMR figures for tap water and ionized water. The clumping-together is caused by van-der-waals forces between water molecules. The other alleged properties of clusters like 'memory' is not relevant, because electrolysis reset the memory to a blank state. This is why it's sometimes called 'virgin water'
This phenomena, and the common 6 molecule pattern, led researchers to wonder; if there is a clumping-together of water molecules, what pattern would they make? What would it look like? Could it that there is a mystery of life hidden in there? Could there be a message in the water patterns? Japanese and Korean scientists have been exploring these Structured Water Clusters for many years.
Dr Lower discredits the work of all researchers in the field of Structured Water Clusters like Dr Emoto, Dr. Mu Shik Jhon and Dr Hayashi, but I feel his views are like a bull going into a china shop! UK and many other universities are looking at structured water.
Well, if the water in your body is anything like the ideal shown at the top, then I have bad news: you are dead, and are no doubt residing in a deep-freeze!
Very funny! Shall we all have a big laugh over these mad Japanese and Korean scientists? Ha, Ha, Ha, crazy Japanese mystic, crazy Koreans professor with over 250 published articles; they think that water is made of solid crystals...Ha, Ha, Ha!
Dr Emoto does not say that water has solid structures in it. He is trying to show that there is a hidden, invisible 'structure', a pattern or memory held in water. He has devised a method to try to capture, decode or make visible this hidden information. His method is not perfect, but nature does not reveal it's secrets that easily. His starting point was when someone told him that EVERY snow flakes made a different pattern. He wondered, and then showed that this pattern that a water crystal (snow flake) makes is greatly influenced by our thoughts, words, music and so on. It could be that there are flows in the experimental procedure, but to prove that you need to duplicate the findings, approaching the experiment with the same mind-set. If you approach it convinced that THOUGHTS CAN NOT POSSIBLY HAVE AN EFFECT on water, then chances are that that is the results that you'll get.
Look at the photographs and ask yourself why a particular thought should create a particular pattern/picture? What is it saying? Why do you perceive one photograph as 'beautiful', another as 'ugly'? Why does water subjected to 'beautiful' classical music look appealing, where as the one subjected to rock music looks nasty. How do we judge beauty? Supposing you wanted to program a camera to take 'nice' photos, how would you define 'nice', 'ugly', etc? Dr Emoto didn't draw the photographs, he just took the pictures - they appear to reveal a hitherto hidden aspect of nature.
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More of Emoto's photos and pseudoscientific rubbish can be found at the Hado site. For even more far-out phantasy, see More Messages in Water or The Power of Prayer Made Visible.....Emoto's book "The Message from Water" contains photos of ice crystals from waters which have been exposed to
music, words spoken, words typed and taped to the glass containers, photographs and long-distance thought messages. Some of the photographs are amazing and all of them show a response from the water.
Many of the photos are quite nice, but the shapes of ice crystals are highly dependent on the conditions and rates of freezing, so Emoto's fanciful interpretations have no scientific validity
Yes, they may not have 'scientific validity' (particularly from the point of view of a chemist!) but these are true scientists that are presenting the evidence, which others are invited to replicate. I believe that Massaru Emoto's photographs are the first evidence that water is able to store or hold a memory in its structure and that it responds to or reflects our thoughts. This explains why homeopathy works, and possibly explains many other mystery water cures like at Lourdes in France.
As we are mostly water, this means that if you have loving thoughts, these will change the cells in your body and the water clusters in your body will reflect this love. Conversely, thoughts of hate, fear, and so on will create the corresponding nasty looking, toxic 'clusters' in your body. This could be the primary cause of all ill health and disease, which over time manifests in visible forms. To explore some of the mysteries of water, read Water and the Tao.
The 'hexagonal' water that Dr Emoto, Dr Jhon and other scientists are researching is a soft, moving water 'clustering' or clumping phenomena that is continually changing, like a dance of the molecules; our thoughts are able to change it. The research is not related to any device that is marketed as being able to produce such water; it is about exploring a mystery of life. The clusters and images of water crystals give us clues to something hidden, invisible to our sight. Remember, 'a picture paints a thousand words'. Could memory, knowledge, experience be 'stored' or 'reflected' by water. Like paintings or flowers, Dr Emoto's water crystal images are saying things about the mysteries of life that words can not express, the rational mind can not comprehend.
What we know (scientifically speaking) is that hexagonal crystals are formed when water is frozen (e.g. a snowflake); we also know from NMR values that electricity appears to reduce similar clusters in water molecules, a property that lasts for 1-2 months, after which stored water reverts to 12-13 clusters for some reason. From Dr Emoto's work we are introduced to the possibility that somehow the thoughts, intentions, music, spoken words are somehow are reflected by water molecules. This, he suggests, is by means of intriguing patterns of water clusters, that are invisible, but could be made visible by Dr Emoto's method.
Dr Emoto is not selling any quack products (and neither was the late Dr Jhon). After Dr Emoto made his discovery, and took the photographs, Japanese publishers wouldn't publish them, which he self-published, and the water messages spread by word of mouth to today become a New York Times best seller. Now many people throughout the world have seen them.
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Prof. Paul Shin, of California State U. - Northridge and an expert on NMR, has demolished this nonsense in a very readable article.
In the linked article Prof. Paul Shin admits that he confirmed Dr Jhon's experiments: 'Sure enough I was indeed able to replicate his data precisely!'. This is not exactly 'demolishing this nonsense', but rather confirming that NMR does give an indication of the cluster size of water molecules, and that it is different for different waters. Prof. Shin seems to have an axe to grind, probably because a commercial device is being marketed on the back of the translated book, but this is not scientific attitude, and the late Dr Jhon probably was not aware of this product.
Prof Shin mentions that the NMR results for other waters like Urine, Distilled, Strawberry Juice, etc was the same as the Hexagonal water, and therefore implies that Dr Jhon's work or translation is flowed - i.e. hexagonal property is not unique to a particular water. But this does not mean that the research is flowed - Dr Jhon and people like Dr Hyashi show that the water in the body is ideally hexagonal, this is the case for all water in the body - urine, blood - and the water in nature and water existing in plants. This is confirmed with NMR readings. Lab tap water, on the other hand (from Dr Shins results), shows cluster sizes of twice this size, i.e. 12-13 clusters. If you take this water and pass it through an ionizer, you'd find that it will then give lower NMR/cluster size values.
There are a number of products, often sold via multi-level or pyramid marketing schemes that make various claims about producing such 'Structured Water', which seem to be dubious, as Prof. Lower explains. But this does not mean that the research by people such as Dr Shik Jhon and Dr Emoto is flawed by association. In connection with this, it can be demonstrated that certain naturally occurring substances like certain ceramics, tourmaline and even the natural flow of water along streams results in a water with lower surface tension and smaller clusters as compared with 'dead' tap water.
Remember, your thoughts are able to change the water cluster patterns - and this for me is the most important aspect of the water clusters work and the messages from water that are contained in the patterns.
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My Experience
I had been drinking filtered water for some 12 years and switched to a water ionizer 2 years ago after hearing about it from Daniel Reid (here is an interview), who has been drinking it for 8+ years. I'm glad I switched as I now virtually live on ionized water. I have done several 7 day water fasts with it, and find ionized water is much better then the previous 7 day fasts with filtered water. I find this water much easier to drink, I drink a lot more of it and I wouldn't give it up for anything. My family (a very large family!) all drink it, and won't drink anything else. I have introduced 100's of people to it, who all say that they are drinking a lot more water then they used to
As for any health benefits, I don't really know as I have always been in good health. But when I'm abroad, as I often am, and don't have access to ionized water, I feel that my health suffers (sore throats, etc).
As water is the main substance consumed during detox, fasting and cleansing programs, Daniel Reid devotes much of his new book to it. Here are some excerpts: Tao of Detox excerpts. Dan is a living Taoist master and has over 30 years personal experience of such things. Many other health practitioners, particularly those that take up detox, fasting and cleanse programs have also switched to using alkaline water for their water purification needs.
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The Horses mouth: You can't argue with observed phenomena
When I was at the Middlesex, my supervisor and friend Dr Phillip Edwards told me a story about the importance of getting it straight from the horse's mouth in any true scientific endeavor.
Several centuries after Socrates two experts were discussing the number of teeth there are in a horses mouth, one said it was 'X' because the horses evolution (and he explained this line). The other guy followed the line of argument, but disagreed at a point and said it was not 'X' but had to be 'Y'. He then and explained what he thought was the mistake in evolutionary line that the other told. This argument continued for several months when a third guy, who was passing by said 'You're both wrong, the number of teeth in the horses mouth is "Z"'. Both the experts laughed out loud, 'who ever heard of 'Z', where did you get that number from?' they asked laughing.
'I got it from the horses mouth' replied the third guy. End of argument.
With ionized water, if the 'litmus test' from the horses mouth indicates that the water is acid at one end and alkaline at the other, then that should be the end of the argument. A universal indicator comes with every ionizer, so everyone can test for themselves. You can also take the water to labs to have other measurements such as ORP, TDS, NMR. Similarly, if 95% of the people that drink it say that it feels lighter, they can drink more of it and it they don't get the 'bloated' tummy feel from drinking it, then it suggests that the water is better absorbed.
If you take tap water water, pass it through an ionizer to separate water into acid and alkaline. Then feed acid to one plant, alkaline to another and after a while the acid fed plant degenerates, while the alkaline fed plant flourishes then this is clear evidence that alkaline water is beneficial. If you get the same results with rats, chickens, cows then that's also clear evidence. If your chemistry, physiology textbooks or philosophy says that this can not happen (when it clearly does), then you need to change your chemistry and text books.
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Conclusion
I have shown that in the UK/EU the cost of a water ionizer compares favorably with other water purification systems and it can be easily tested that it does indeed produce acid, alkaline and purified waters. The units have manufacturer specifications (for example ORP, acid and alkaline levels) which have been independently tested to be accurate.
Any health benefits are difficult to quantify as people are very different, and any benefits from the water would be gradual, imperceptible over the short term. The reported benefits may not be 'credible', but I think there is enough evidence to suggest that there are some benefits; there is no harm from drinking water that has all impurities, chemicals and acid elements taken out of it. Drinking pure, clean water in it's ideal state (which is alkaline water) is good for your health, and anyone that says alkaline water is not good for your health is not telling you the truth, and you would need to question why he wants you to believe that.
A water ionizer is not a 'snake oil' scam, some 15 Million Japanese people use it. Dr Lower discredits himself when he suggests that it's a scam and that every expert would concur, when every expert that I know clearly does not. As a chemist Dr Lower should not rubbish world renowned experts on nutrition, health and longevity, especially not in their own fields of expertise.
A chemistry professor coming up with basic chemistry equations to try to prove that acknowledged world experts on health, nutrition and longevity like Dr Gabriel Cousin's, Daniel Reid, Sang Whang, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Ray Kurzweil, Dr Terry Grossman, Dr Theodore Baroody, Dr Sherry Rodgers, Dr Susan Lark, Dr Robert Young and others are wrong is a bit like the 'scientists' that reasoned that the earth was flat.
What is needed here is a Paradigm change that the late Dr Batmangheldj called for since his breakthrough in Medicine at the Evin prison. He got it straight from 3000 horses mouths, each crying out in pain, that the body needs water, not drugs.
You can't argue with this evidence - not with basic chemistry equations, not with pseudo science allegations, not with 'germ theories', not with anything.
This is a transcript of a TV documentary called 'Miracle Water', which was made after urging by the Japanese Minister of Health. I wonder if such information would ever be made public in the west. I wonder if Dr Batmanghelidj message will ever reach the general public that's crying out in pain or the physicians who's job it is to alleviate the pain.
Maybe you can help?
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Appendix: Clinical Studies
A. Medical case studies
B. Livestock (large scale dairy trial results) .
C. Clinical Studies on the use and Effects of Alkaline ionized (reduced) water
I. Ionized Alkaline (Reduced) Water Study Abstracts
1. Influences of alkaline ionized water on milk yield, body weight of offspring and perinatal dam in rats.
2. Histopathological influence of alkaline ionized water on myocardial muscle of mother rats.
3. Degradation of myocardiac myosin and creatine kinase in rats given alkaline ionized water.
4. Influence of alkaline ionized water on rat erythrocyte hexokinase activity and myocardium.
5. Effect of alkaline ionized water on reproduction in gestational and lactational rats.
6. Impact of extra waters on immunosystem in mice
7. Selective stimulation of the growth of anaerobic microflora in the human intestinal tract by electrolyzed reducing water.
8. Water desirable for health in terms of ORP (oxidation-reduction potential) to pH relationship
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