13 Years of Alkaline Water: Lessons I’ve
Learned
Ian Blair Hamilton is the founder of AlkaWay and Ion Life, and has been a
researcher, writer and advocate for alkaline health philosophy for over 13
years.
Lessons I Have Learned
When I began drinking alkaline ionized water I didn’t even know
what an ‘ion’ was.
I failed miserably at chemistry at school. I was the class disruptor. The
idea of a universe of elements confined to a single table of values was anathema to me. I wanted
infinite possibility rather than the confines of a periodic table that explained the ‘Theory of
Everything’.
Times have changed.
I am still no expert in chemistry but I’ve grown to love the process of learning about a subject that
fascinates me; the relationship of pH balance to my – and others’ – health. It has taken me into
physics, chemistry, biology and psychology as I learned why the world in general refuses to
understand the huge advantage of an alkaline body. Strangely, I look back on myself at school and
understand that unless a person is ready to learn – and change – they simply can’t hear even the
words of their best friends when it interferes with their idea of normal life.
Enough of the philosophy; you are reading this to learn about alkaline water,
so let’s get on with it.
If you are here you’ve probably already been exposed to some form of information, most likely from
someone attempting to sell you a water ionizer. So let’s begin at the beginning with the word ‘ion’.
An ion is an atom. Got that? Good. But it’s an atom that carries an electrical charge, or is in need of
an electrical charge, so if you like it’s an electrically unbalanced atom.
Of course nothing is imbalanced in nature. So an atom with a positive
electrical charge has just one purpose in creation; it is looking for an
ion that is missing a charge so it can donate its charge, and return to
normal atom state. It’s a completely beneficial meeting for both
atoms involved return to being just atoms instead of ions. They
return to balance.
It took me some time to get the significance of this and I wish my
chemistry teacher had told me about ions and what I’m about to
share.
(Actually, he probably did tell me, but I was too busy teasing the girls to notice.)
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We read about chemical reactions everywhere; in the air, in the earth, in industry and medicine, and
within our body. A chemical reaction is the action of ions co-operating to create a new molecular
substance. They give and they take and they become a substance rather than simple separate
atoms. So ions are the key to all chemical reactions plus the formulation of new substances. This
extends from simple salt – a joining of ionic sodium and ionic chlorine – all the way up the high level
multi-atom substances.
But we don’t need to worry about getting into the understanding of complex substances because
ionized water is a very simple ionic transfer. Basically, it’s the creation of a new form of water that
has more infused hydrogen gas in it than usual. More “pH”. Percentage of hydrogen.
You probably think that there’s just one way to do this.
There are a number of ways including magnetics, electrolysis and passing water over certain reactive
elements. The latter is the cause of the amazing so-called ‘healing’ springs around the world,
evidenced simply by a lighter molecular weight of these special waters.
I have experienced excellent health (in the main) over my 14 years of alkaline life. I don’t attribute all
of it to alkaline ionized water but it’s my firm belief that so many years without my usual annual
colds and flu has something to say about the water’s immune support abilities.
You’ll find hundreds of testimonials for the water online and although in my opinion most of them
are real, I need to caution you that nothing fixes everything and every case needs to be seen in the
context of their previous lifestyle choices.
To give a simple example – when did you ever see a diet that didn’t claim miraculous benefits from
‘Mrs J. Smith of Alabama”. The reality for all diets is that if a person is already slowly killing
themselves with the SAD (Standard American Diet) anything a little healthier will provoke a healing
response. Was it the specific diet? Yes.. and no. the specific diet provoked the response but any diet
of equal quality would probably have done the same.
So please… be a little careful in your research. I think I can assist you hugely today because I’m going
to share a meta analysis of over 100 international studies of the health effects of natural alkaline
water. And then I’ll attempt to show you the differences between electrically created - and natural
alkaline water. There are very important differences as well as very important similarities.
The Study and What I Learned.
The study is the best piece of information on alkaline water I have read for 13 years.
It is completely cross referenced to actual studies, which makes it head and shoulders above any
other form of document you would usually read on the net. What it says is as correct as science has
managed to make it. (The foundation of scientific inquiry relies upon your study’s result being
accepted as correct only until someone proves otherwise.)
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So what does it say?
It concentrates on the two major elements of alkaline water in nature; Calcium and Magnesium.
“Both of these elements are essential for the human body. Calcium is a part of bones and
teeth. In addition, it plays a role in neuromuscular excitability (decreases it), good function of
the conducting myocardial system, heart and muscle contractility, intracellular information
transmission and blood coagulability.”
It goes on to say that osteoporosis (my problem) and osteomalacia are
the most common symptoms of Ca and Mg deficiency.
Please note: it does NOT say directly that more calcium will cure these
conditions. We’ve independently researched this and there’s a much bigger
story here. But let’s move on. (If you’d like to know more go here)
Download the Meta Study here
The report then talks about the superstar of alkaline minerals, Magnesium:
“Magnesium plays an important role as a cofactor and activator of more than 300 enzymatic
reactions including glycolysis, ATP metabolism, transport of elements such as Na, K and Ca
through membranes, synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids, neuromuscular excitability and
muscle contraction etc.
… Magnesium deficiency increases risk to humans of developing various pathological
conditions such as vasoconstrictions, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, atherosclerotic
vascular disease, acute myocardial infarction, eclampsia in pregnant women, possibly
diabetes mellitus of type II and Osteoporosis.”
Is there a pill anywhere on earth
that gives so much benefit?
It’s so commonly available, so well researched to
PROVE these claims, yet most of us (according to
the report) are severely lacking magnesium in our
diet!
Although there were some scattered studies as
early as 1927 recommending hard water over soft,
it wasn’t until 1950 when Japanese scientists concluded that hard (alkaline) water was
more beneficial than soft water in prevention of cardio vascular disease. To be very
clear, they found higher mortality rates from cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) in the
areas of Japan with more acid (i.e. softer) water compared to those with more alkaline
(i.e. harder) water used for drinking purposes.
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Many studies followed across the world with similar conclusions. In the two decades of
investigation of water hardness and its association with heart disease, over 100 studies
were completed! My question that must be asked is that if it is so obviously scientifically
proven, why have our health authorities not advanced a diet giving the required
amounts of both?
Some people may correctly ask how sure researchers are that it is calcium and
magnesium that has such an effect. Could it not be any of the other essential minerals
we all need? Yet in study after study, no significant association with other minerals was
found.
(One significant finding was the effect of acidic water on home reticulation systems and
its tendency to corrode sufficiently to cause leaching of toxic heavy metals)
By 1992 it was generally agreed that Magnesium was the great healer
and that calcium had only a supportive effect against heart disease.
But as you’ll soon see,
magnesium in water is
quite different to
magnesium in food.
By 1990 studies had
advanced to a stage
where even more hard
data and beneficial
correlations between
Ca, Mg and CVD was
available. Before this
time there were a
number of studies
questioning the methodology of some earlier studies. These are to me, a healthy debate
phase and although some earlier studies were not as rigid as they could have been, the
basic fact of the correlation survived the rigour of scientific debate.
The later studies extended the benefits of magnesium beyond CVD to AMI (Advanced
Myocardial Infarction)
“…the persons enrolled in the group with the highest water Mg level
had a risk level of death from AMI by a third lower (odds ratio 0.64)
as compared to the groups consuming water containing less Mg than
8.3 mg/l.”
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I like to try to see what a statistic looks like in real life. A reduction by one third of death
from myocardial infarction looks like the pic above.
It’s also interesting to see how some of the studies learned about hard water’s health benefits. In
one Swedish study, the hard water benefit was only discovered when health authorities investigated
why one particular geographic region consumed less heart drugs. It was the water!
Another peculiarity of one study was the discovery of a correlation between ambient temperature
and heart disease. While this seems to have nothing to do with magnesium or water, it reminded me
that Chinese Shaolin monks alkalize with cold dips in mountain streams.
As the studies rolled on, it became clearer and clearer that it was magnesium that was doing the
work in preventing Advanced Myocardial Infarction, not the calcium.
Next, a study popped up showing less danger for sudden infant death syndrome,
“It is hypothesized that magnesium deficiency is implicated in cardiovascular spasms and
cardiac arrhythmias leading to death.”
More good news followed. Unlike most trace minerals, which take many months or years
to have a beneficial effect, studies emerged showing that the effects of drinking hard
water surfaced in a matter of weeks rather than years. This probably explains the
sometimes ‘miraculous’ reports we get from users.
(I remember one man who was dragged into our offices by his wife and was very against
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the whole idea. He said nothing but drank a glass to keep his wife happy. They were
back the next day. “For the first time in years I had
no reflux!” he explained.)
Ever heard of the old
adage;
“A glass of milk
before bed for a
good night’s sleep”?
Milk is loaded with
calcium!
Here’s where it gets really interesting.
If switching over to alkaline water is good for you,
what happens if you have been drinking alkaline
water all your life and you change to soft water?
This is an example of what happened in a number of
recorded cases:
“…among Czech and Slovak population who started to
use reverse osmosis based systems for final treatment
of drinking water at their home outlets in 2000-2002
and several weeks later reported different health
complaints suggestive of acute magnesium
deficiency.”
More benefits studies rolled in. A French study found that calcium in the water
contributed to a lack of neurological disturbance in the elderly.
In Spain a report found schoolkids drinking alkaline water suffered less fractures.
Another report found that hard water drinkers had consistently lower blood pressure. A
second report discovered the same in pregnant women, which is no surprise to me given
that the embryonic child is dragging all his/her mother’s alkaline minerals out to create a
new skeleton. And it wasn’t only mothers who benefited. A Taiwan study of 1751 women
found that hard water gave better protection against low pre- and post birth baby
weight. Furthermore,
“Higher intake of calcium is believed to decrease smooth muscle contractility and tonus,
which clinically results in lower blood pressure and lower rate of pre-term births.”
Next came a study showing low Magnesium levels in drinking water to be a factor in
motor neurone disease, closely followed by another with similar indications for
preeclampsia.
Not all studies agreed with each other. A Taiwanese study correlated low Mg and
diabetes but a US one found no such correlation. Personally, given the fact that diabetes
is often the result of bad diet and excess fat accumulation, which renders the body
almost permanently in a state of inflammation, I would theorize that magnesium’s antiinflammatory abilities were probably what the Taiwanese observed.
More studies, more results.
Low Ca and Mg levels were linked with Amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis A.K.A. Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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Even dental caries and periodontal disease are reduced with a sufficiency of Ca and Mg
in drinking water… even when fluoride levels are low! So.. if we all had the right amounts
of Ca and Mg perhaps we wouldn’t have fluoride forced upon us in our drinking water; a
chemical already proven to reduce children’s intelligence.
From Russia came studies linking low Mg and Ca in drinking water with a whole range of
ailments including:
“significantly higher incidence rates of hypertension, IHD, adrenergic function disturbances,
gastric and duodenal ulcer and other diseases in the areas with soft water.”
Water Hardness and Cancer
Please note: This is not a substitute for proper medical advice. Please consult a qualified
physician before embarking on any health regimen change.
Here’s a simplified list of a host of studies coming out of Taiwan.
All of them relate to the consumption of hard water and the beneficial effect.









Cerebrovascular diseases (Mg)
Hypertension (Mg)
CVD (Hard Water)
Esophogeal cancer (Hard Water)
Pancreatic cancer (Hard Water)
Rectal cancer (Hard Water)
Breast cancer (Hard Water)
Gastric cancer (Calcium in water)
Colorectal cancer (Calcium in water)
The report stresses;
“Further studies from other countries are needed to confirm these results. Although previous
studies dealing with relationships between water hardness and the incidence of cancer
elsewhere in the world were mostly suggestive of
protective effect of hard water, the results were ambiguous
as stated in a review paper (Cantor, 1997) underlining the
need for further studies in this promising field.”
Not Detox but AntiTox.
We all know what detox is, but what about antitoxic?
Antitoxic in this sense means that something has the
ability to neutralise toxins as they enter the body. To
explain how this applies to calcium and Magnesium, I quote:
“Calcium and to a lower extent also magnesium in both drinking water and food were
previously found to have a beneficial antitoxic effect since they prevent – via either a direct
reaction resulting in an nonabsorbable compound or competition for binding sites –
absorption or reduce harmful effects of some toxic elements such as lead, cadmium etc.”
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We are, I believe beginning to see alkaline water for the powerful protector it really is.
The next study looked at how much hard water one would need to drink to reduce heart
disease. This 1999 study concludes;
“…relatively low magnesium intake with drinking water (usually
less than 10 % of the total daily magnesium intake) can reduce
mortality from CVD by even 30 %.”
As a doctor friend said, “If I could patent that I’d be a billionaire!”
Modern Food
There is no argument that the nutritional value of modern supermarket food has
dropped. A very early casualty was magnesium. It means that virtually all of us live in a
state of permanent Magnesium depletion. Now that you and I understand the amazing
health support that this natural mineral offers us, we have to be wondering how to
reverse this situation, especially now that we also know from these studies that we can
have a health turnaround in as little as a few weeks!
Now here’s something extremely important to us in our quest for magnesium
self sufficiency.
If you eat 1000mg of magnesium in your food,
your body will get 300mg. Magnesium in water,
however, gives an extra 30% absorption. It’s
30% more efficient to take magnesium in water
than in food.
There’s more; we’ve all seen ‘megadose magnesium
supplements. Well, studies show that the higher the
dosage, the lower the absorption level for food, whereas
water absorption levels remain constant.
Cooking with Hard Water
If you choose high magnesium vegetables to cook, then cooking
with soft water has been found to deplete magnesium even before
you get to eat the vegetables.
Conversely, cooking with hard water increases the levels of Mg and
Ca in the food. You will also retain far more of the wider range of minerals in the food.
One study goes so far as to conclude that it’s the bioavailability of magnesium in water
that makes it a far superior way of getting your daily quota. This is due “to its increased
utilization probably resulting from the biologically advantageous (hexahydrated) form of
water magnesium.”
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“Repeated tests on animals yielded highly surprising results: the animals given the element
studied (i.e. Zn or Mg) with drinking water showed statistically significantly higher increase
of this element in the serum than those given a much higher amount of these elements with
food and demineralized water to drink.”
‘Pure” Water
Remember we talked earlier about a study of a population that changed over from hard
water to RO water?
They quickly displayed signs of magnesium deficiency. Further proof of the basic
principle was found in the observation that patients being fed pure water intravenously
quickly lost their normal levels of a whole range of electrolytes (minerals).
Can you imagine how you are going to ‘kick the habit’ and regain your birthright
evolutionary health model with this simple change?
Relationship of Magnesium Levels to Health response.
Here are some interesting summary statistics that should banish any doubt in your mind.
And remember as you read these that the RDA for magnesium for us is 700-1000mg per
day.


Study 1: America. An increase in the water magnesium level by about 8 mg/l led
to reduction of mortality from all CVD by about 10%.

Study 2: South Africa. An increase in drinking water magnesium by 6 mg/l led to
reduction of mortality from IHD equally by about 10%.

Study 3: Germany. If drinking water magnesium is reduced by about 4.5 mg/l,
the incidence of myocardial infarction increases by 10%.

Study 4: England. An increase in total hardness .. from 0.5 to 1.5 mmol/l – …
should result in a 7.2% decrease in CVD mortality.

Study 6: Los Angeles. the decrease in the absolute cardiovascular mortality
ranged from 0.1 per mg (of Mg) per 100,000 population.

Study 7: Finland. The relative risk decrease ranged from 0.001 to 0.034 per mg
of magnesium.
Ratio of Magnesium to Calcium
We are now getting very close to decisional safety here. We should
never take health decisions if we don’t feel safe doing them, but in this
case the confirming data is overwhelming. There are only a few more
points we need to complete our ‘due diligence’, and one is how much
calcium we should have with our magnesium.
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A very significant number of studies have all come to one answer. One unit of
Magnesium to two units of Calcium.

A decrease in the Mg to Ca ratio was associated with increasing risk for mortality
from IHD and AMI.

An increase in the Mg to Ca ratio was associated with
increasing risk for gastric cancer.
The good news is that the right ratio is often similar to actual Mg and
Ca ratios in our hard water supplies. The slightly bad news is that it
may be a good idea to check with your local water supplier.
Misinformation: the Paul C. Bragg Legacy
Paul C. Bragg self- proclaimed “Father of the Health Movement in
America”, certainly had dedication. According to his website, “This Crusader for
worldwide health and fitness is responsible for more firsts in the history of the natural
health movement than any other individual.” He worked hard all his life to propagate his
own vision of health. Unfortunately many people followed his ill-founded advice to drink
only distilled water. His theory behind it has never been proven. On the other hand,
multiple studies have shown that intestinal absorption of calcium from drinking or
mineral water is as effective or even more effective as compared with that from dairy
products.
Although Bragg claimed advanced scientific degrees in newspaper and magazine
interviews, including, but not limited to, his 1975 People Magazine article, it is unknown
if these claims are accurate. The just released 1940 Federal Census (accessible on-line),
showing him living on National Avenue in Burbank, California, gives his age as "45" and
the highest attained academic grade for him as "H1", which would be only one year of
high school. None of the known Bragg books refers to any specific educational
accomplishments.
“Meta-analysis of the studies published in 1966 – 1998 even evidenced that calcium
absorption from mineral water is statistically significantly higher than that from dairy
products.
Based on this evidence, it was recommended to use waters richer in calcium as an important
additional source of calcium in menopausal women, lactose intolerant people or those
avoiding dairy products because of their taste or high fat content.”
Just to make the point clearly…

Study 1: France. Intake of drinking water rich in calcium correlated with higher
bone density in elderly women in France.

Study 2: Italy. Similar results were obtained in an experiment with mineral water
in menopausal women.
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
Study 3: Italy. Lower bone resorption and osteoporosis were observed in women
after drinking calcium rich water.

Study 4: Spain. A lower incidence of fractures in small school children of the
areas supplied with harder water.
Bioavailability
“Bioavailability of water magnesium was documented by the studies of the 1960s and 1970s
that found a positive correlation between the drinking water magnesium level and the
magnesium content of the heart muscle.”
Here is further proof comes in the form of more varied health outcomes.

A three-week drinking of magnesium rich water (120 mg/l) resulted in 79
patients in lower pain intensity and frequency of migraine.

Similar results were obtained in a more recent study by the same authors with 29
migraine patients and 18 controls.

It was also found in a separate study that drinking only 110mg of magnesium per
litre gave good usability of water magnesium - leading to higher levels of
intracellular magnesium and conservation of the serum magnesium level.
Just think about that. Most people don’t drink more than 2 litres per day so all the
participants of the study received was 220mg per day.. far below the RDA of 700 to
1000mg, but still the results were positive.
Kidney Stones and Hard Water
We’ve heard some people say that kidney stones are caused by hard water. Conversely
we’ve heard people equally vehemently assert that they are caused by oxalic acid. The
one accepted truth coming out of studies is that permanent dehydration is the major
reason. Other factors include genetic predisposition, eating habits, climate and gender.
There have been studies that concluded that hard water caused stones, but there has
been an equal number that concluded that soft water did the same. More recent studies
now say hard water isn’t a factor.
“Any correlation between water hardness, or the drinking water calcium or magnesium level,
and the incidence of urolithiasis was not found in the last vast USA epidemiological study
with 3270 patients”
There is still some controversy over extremely hard water and it does appear that there
may be some correlation.
“A long-term intake of drinking water harder than 5 mmol/l results in a higher local blood
supply in the kidneys and subsequent adaptation of the filtration and resorption processes in
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the kidney. This is believed to be protective reaction of the human body which may lead, if
the conditions persist, to alteration of the body‘s regulatory system with possible subsequent
development of urolithiasis (kidney stones) and hypertension.”
Very hard water has been linked in Russian studies to a number of ailments so I think
we can say generally what we know already – that very hard water is not good to drink.
Disadvantages of Drinking Alkaline Water
There are some obvious disadvantages so in the interests of balance I
think it’s fair that I include them.
Firstly, both calcium and magnesium have a threshold of taste. Add over 300mg
per litre to pure water and you’ll taste it. At 500 mg/l it will taste bad. Magnesium’s taste
threshold is above 170mg/l, but the taste of both at these levels is complicated by other
minerals in the water. I talked to an Israeli engineer who mines pure magnesium from
the Dead Sea. He has developed a patented system for creation of bottled magnesium
water that has no taste but delivers the RDA. I
expect to see it on the shelves soon.
Hard water takes longer to cook things.
It can leave scale on pots, glasses hot water
systems and cisterns.
Aromatic substances in food will bind to calcium
and lose their power.
On the other hand, very soft water is usually
described as having a ‘soapy’ taste.
‘Good’ Drinking Water?
One repetitive example that has been related to me over my years as an alkaline water
specialist is of the family dog choosing the water over less alkaline tap water. And the
studies appear to support the dog’s choice, saying that good drinking water does have
some minerals to make it taste good. Whether this taste is acquired or hereditary is
another question entirely, but we could reasonably assume that our paleo ancestors
were more accustomed to drinking mineralised spring water, in which case we can also
assume that we have evolved in relationship with the dominant food and water sources
we had over the many thousands of years since we began as humans on the planet.
If we accept that we can see why pure water is not what we like, and probably not what
we were ‘designed’ to drink.
Very soft water, such as distilled and rain water as two extreme examples, is of an
acceptable taste for most people who usually report it to be of unpleasant to soapy
taste. A certain minimum content of minerals, the most crucial of which are calcium and
magnesium salts, is essential for the pleasant and refreshing taste of drinking water. At
least for this reason, demineralized drinking water should be fortified with minerals if
obtained by desalination from sea water on a ship or by ultrafiltration from waste water
on a spaceship.
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For the health reasons given above, we prefer harder water but it is not absolutely true
the harder the water, the better.
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An optimum is hard to set.
Perhaps the following ranges could be given:

For magnesium, a minimum of 10 mg/ and an optimum of about 20-30 mg/l.

For calcium a minimum of 20 mg/l and an optimum about 50 (40-80) mg/l

For total water hardness, 2 to 4 mmol/l
Although the question of how much hardness and pH has actually reached legislation
with the W.H.O., the only country that has taken a real stand about water quality with
regard to pH, Mg, Ca and hardness in the UK.
“The Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy of the Department of Health concluded:
“…in view of the consistency of the epidemiological evidence of a weak inverse association
between natural hardness and cardiovascular disease mortality, it remains prudent not to
undertake softening of drinking water supplies…”
The Drinking water Inspectorate in the UK even went further, advising people who
installed water softeners to ensure an alternative supply.
“…if you do install a water softener you should make sure that you have a supply of
unsoftened water for drinking and cooking“
The Practical Advantage of Hard Water
In my experience we are a nation of great health regimen starters and bad finishers.
Take a look in the cupboard and chances are you’ll see all those supplements you never
finished, even though, as the report reveals, in truth many supplemental minerals need
quite a long time before effects happen.
I’m bringing this up because as we all know there is a plethora of Cal-Mag supplements
on the market, which supply the required RDA in various forms, but the reality is that
most of us are very poorly disciplined to regularly and continuously take supplements.
Given the brilliant response time of the body to Ca and Mg water, often in a few weeks,
even with less than RDA, it seems to me that drinking hard alkaline water is a natural
discipline. Simply doing what you already do – drinking water – will have beneficial
effect. It’s so obviously simple.
Hard Water and “Ionized Water”.
The hot health subject today is (generically speaking) alkaline water, but the devices
being promoted are not simply hard water producers, and there are a few important
points to consider before investing heavily in a machine of your own.
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I’ll show you the basic difference between the types of water ionizers and hopefully you’ll
understand what is best for you, but first, a quick description of an electric water ionizer.
An electric water ionizer uses an electrolysis chamber to electrically charge minerals
according to their valency (electrical charge). Because there is only two states of
valency, (positive and negative) this means that all alkaline minerals are drawn to one
side of the flow chamber, and all acid mineral are drawn to the other. By keeping a
steady flow up as the water passes through the electrolysis chamber, water is drawn off
the chamber in two streams; alkaline water and acid water. You drink the alkaline water
and the acid water goes down the drain.
I’m keeping this description simple and I acknowledge there’s a lot more to the process,
but here we’re simply describe the process in relation to the availability of Calcium and
Magnesium in the output water.
So let’s look at a few examples. Let’s assume that the input water from your tap has the
same as the water we used for our University Laboratory results. It had 4.1mg per litre
of calcium and 4.7mg of magnesium (It was a special witches’ brew of minerals and
contaminants).
If we put this water through an electric ionizer, (depending on how it was set up) all the
Ca and Mg would pass into about 60% of the total outlet water. To make this clear, if
you pass 1 litre though the unit, you’ll get about 600ml of alkaline water and 400ml of
acid water. So the 4.1 mg of calcium and 4.7mg of Magnesium in the input water, is now
concentrated in 600ml of output water. This means you now have 6.56 mg available per
litre. You’d also have about 6.58 mg of magnesium in each litre. You’re not getting any
more Ca or Mg: it’s just the same amount in less water.
The amount of Ca and Mg you get in your output water is still dependent upon the
volume of Ca and Mg in your source water, so if your water is soft (low minerals) you’ll
get low output.
Now I’d like to share some ‘advanced’ theory of body alkalinizing that is important and
related to you decision for the type of alkaline water system you choose.
Alkalinity comes in two forms, known as ‘buffered’ and ‘unbuffered’.
‘Buffered’ is alkalinity in actual mineral form. A mineral is the base material used for
creating alkalinity. Alkalinity is the amount of hydrogen ions in a liquid, so to take a
simple example, if you put a lump of magnesium into a glass of water, hydrogen will
continue to be generated by the reaction between the magnesium and the water until
the magnesium is depleted. The physical form of the magnesium is a ‘buffer’ for the
alkalinity/hydrogenation process to draw upon.
‘Unbuffered’ alkalinity is water with an excess of free hydrogen ions, without the physical
presence of the magnesium.
If you look at the pH an electric water ionizer can achieve (up to Ph 12) it looks like it
has lots of alkaline minerals in it. However as we already said, you can only have the Ca
and Mg that was in the source water. The ionizer can’t ‘add’ minerals, so what caused
the huge pH?
Unbuffered water. Water with a large amount of dissolved hydrogen.
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The dissolved hydrogen is a byproduct of the electrolysis process. As well as separating
the acid and alkaline minerals it also converts the water at a molecular level so more
hydrogen comes out the alkaline outlet.
This is, in one way, wonderful because hydrogen is the element that does the work. It’s
a byproduct of oxidation of magnesium and it’s what acts so effectively as an antioxidant
in the body, producing so many of the health changes we have seen or heard about.
Hydrogen is the original primal antioxidant in nature and is naturally attracted
(remember? It’s a negatively charge ion in this form!) to free radical oxygen.
So we have a Magnesium and Calcium concentrator – IF the Mg and Ca are there in the
first place, and we have a hydrogen generator. The downside is that if you already have
hard water and the electric ionizer does what it does best – concentrate the hard water
minerals, you are drinking water that, (due to its higher hardness level and according to
the studies in the report), has quite a number of possible serious health effects.
This is exacerbated by the fact that much of our world does already have hard water, yet
I’ve never heard a water ionizer vendor warn potential customers of the problem of
excessively hard water being produced before they sell it to them.
The other way many people are now opting for is a ‘natural’ water ionizer which uses
special ionizing media (basically high purity magnesium) within the filtering device. The
magnesium makes contact with the water and creates the same hydrogen as the electric
systems. More advanced medias also slow-release Mg and Ca above that received and
passed through from the input tap water. To give a real life example from University
tests of our own natural water ionizer, the
UltraStream, calcium in the tap water of
4.1mg per litre came out of an electric water
ionizer at 6.4 mg/litre. Magnesium entered
the UltraStream at 5.5mg/l and exited at
13mg.
Free hydrogen production was equal to or better than an
electric system in a side-by-side, same water source test, and
the free hydrogen lasted longer in the glass than the free
hydrogen from the electric system.
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It’s my theory that the electrolysis system in electric ionizers excites the hydrogen in the
electrolysis process and turns much of it to gaseous form, meaning it will escape the
water soon after pouring.
The natural method, very like the process of
water seeping through rock, does not excite the
water and therefore the hydrogen remains is
solution rather than turning to gas.
There is a third method; a normal water filter is
fitted with a post-filter cartridge with Calcium. In
my experience, although the post filter cartridge
does increase the pH of the water and infuse it
with some Calcium, there is little or no free
hydrogen produced. Other cartridges with
specifically purposed pure magnesium media
create excellent levels of infused hydrogen.
Summarizing, the report clearly indicates
that can assist your longevity and
immediate health by ensuring a regular
easy to access supply of calcium and
magnesium.
The study I have based this article on is a
metastudy, meaning it’s not just one study. The
conclusions have been derived by comparing
similar studies from around the world.
In the many years I’ve been researching alkaline water I’ve never sighted anything so
conclusive and compelling for alkaline water.
I’m not suggesting that everyone should rush out and buy a water ionizer. The point was
well made that if you are drinking moderately hard water daily you will already be
experiencing the health advantage it offers. If you are not, then I would seriously
suggest you investigate the products.
I’d like to point out that we have brought in another factor here; infused
molecular hydrogen.
Of itself it’s a big subject and there are many studies of its effect. Molecular hydrogen,
as I mentioned, is the primal antioxidant and as such is equal to or more effective in
delivery than all of the antioxidant supplements, fruits and berries we are sold as ‘the
best and strongest antioxidant’. It is the subject of 300+ scientific studies and over 60
disease-specific studies. Believe me when I say hydrogen will be the biggest natural
health subject of the next five years.
I would also strongly suggest you take the time to read an excellent website on
molecular infused hydrogen here. Tyler LeBaron is a young biochemistry expert who
singlehandedly exposed many myths about ‘ionized microclustered’ water. Tyler readily
admits that scientists still don’t actually know why hydrogen is so effective on such a
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huge range of disease conditions, but says that whoever ‘cracks the code’ with be up for
a Nobel Prize.
I am very optimistic about the future of ‘hard’ water and hydrogen water. Both have
been proven beyond doubt to contribute significantly to our ongoing health, and I’m
happy to say we’ve been able to incorporate both in our own water system, the
UltraStream.
Years ago I attended a health exposition as an exhibitor. I was demonstrating our water
ionizer every day from ten am to ten pm. By the last day I was very, very tired. A friend
visiting the expo came by and asked me if I’d seen the antioxidant measurement
system. I had not, and so I asked him to mind our exhibit, and wandered across. The
device was quite sophisticated. It measured the amount of Vitamin E in your epidermis
using a laser. It transmitted the results to a laptop the exhibitor sat behind.
To cut a long story short, he applied his device and looked at me suspiciously (he was
trying to find people with low antioxidant ability so he could sell his antioxidant pills).
“Are you on some form of super antioxidant tablet?” he asked. I replied in the negative.
He frowned and looked at the screen. “Why?” I asked.
“Because you’re off the chart. My computer measures people with good
normal antioxidant ability at a maximum of 30 on the dial. You measured
40. What do you do?”
I looked at his face to watch his reaction.
“I drink alkaline water.”
Thank you for taking the time to learn about alkaline, hydrogen infused water.
For more, go to www.alkaway.com
If you enjoyed this, please pass it on. I wrote this to help more people access the huge
benefits of alkaline hydrogen water. With your help we can help thousands learn what
we now know.
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