Alkaline Water: Costly Nonsense Or Heal-All Hydration?

An empty bottle of water is just an empty bottle, right? Not in the opinion of some. Wellness and celebrities Alkaline water is suggested by TikTokkers for a variety of issues, including "detoxing" your body and delaying the aging process. When there's money to be made from marketing a bottle of the thing, it makes sense to investigate whether the promises are true.

Alkaline water: what is it?

In general, alkaline water is defined as having a pH level that is higher than average—pH is the unit used to describe how acidic or basic a substance is. While anything beyond pH 7 is considered alkaline, bottled alkaline water typically has a pH of 8 to 9, which is higher than the pH 6.5 to 8.5 that the US Environmental Protection Agency recommends for drinking water.

Does it offer any advantages for health?

"It hydrates better than ordinary water."

The 2017 study, which had 36 male soccer players split into three groups—one drinking highly mineralized water, the other low mineral, high alkaline water, and the third drinking table water—largely supports the idea that alkaline water is more hydrating than ordinary water.

Everybody was required to consume around four litres of the designated water type every day for seven days, in addition to engaging in a rigorous exercise regimen both before and following the water intake week.

The study concluded that the "results indicate that the habitual consumption of alkaline water may be a valuable nutritional vector influencing [...] hydration status in active healthy adults" because it had shown that after exercise, the people who had been drinking the low-mineral alkaline water were better hydrated than the other two groups.

But in this instance, "indicate" should be interpreted with caution because there are just 36 participants in this tiny study. The data is even referred to as "preliminary" by the writers. For doctors to begin recommending that we increase our intake of alkaline water to stay more hydrated, they would need to see far more proof, including clinical trials.

In the interim, a standard glass of water will do just fine to prevent dehydration.

It is effective for kidney stones.

Not only may kidney stones be uncomfortable, but they may also need specialized treatment to lower the acidity of your urine in cases where they are caused by an accumulation of uric acid, which is produced when the body breaks down purines, or cystine, which is a derivative of the amino acid cysteine. The issue is that the course of treatment isn't exactly inexpensive and necessitates frequent tablet intake, which means some patients don't follow through.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine set out to investigate if bottled alkaline water may serve as a more convenient substitute. They achieved this by determining how alkaline five distinct brands of alkaline water were. It contrasted that with the alkaline content of the pills that are typically used for treatment, as well as a few other liquids like sports drinks, orange juice, lemonade, and nutritional supplements. The researchers discovered that there was no extra advantage to consuming alkaline water instead of tap water for the kidney stones in question.

"While alkaline water products have a higher pH than regular water, they have a negligible alkali content, which suggests that they can't raise urine pH enough to affect the development of kidney and other urinary stones," said senior author Dr Roshan M. Patel in a release.

"It will delay aging."

Drinking alkaline water regularly may seem like a reasonable anti-aging strategy in the face of some of the more bizarre ones, but is there scientific evidence to support the idea that it will delay the aging process?

Perhaps if people were mice. According to a 2020 study, mice given alkaline water supplements for ten months improved in several number of cellular aging markers, including the length of telomeres, and the protecting chromosomal ends.

Unfortunately, whilst animal studies can provide researchers with a starting point, people and mice differ greatly from one another, therefore the findings of this study cannot be generalized to humans. Several long-term clinical trials involving, well, humans would be required to determine whether alkaline water slows down the aging process.

Is drinking okay?

Is it okay to drink this if you find yourself thirsty in a particularly bougie part of town and have no other option but to drink alkaline water? Although it may not yet have any proven health advantages.

A bottle now and then probably won't harm most people; it might just taste a little strange. Dr. Howard E. LeWine of Harvard Health Publishing, however, advises patients taking proton pump inhibitors—drugs that reduce stomach acid and raise pH—to exercise caution.

"Introducing alkaline water could further elevate that pH and perhaps lead to an elevated blood pH, which can modify the typical blood levels of substances such as potassium, particularly if they have kidney disease

In summary

Although there are many bizarre health claims made about alkaline water, the data for these claims is, to put it briefly, contradictory. Studies looking at its purported advantages do exist and are even able to support them, but not enough to make using it to manage health warranted.

Nothing stops you from grabbing a bottle, of course, but if you have to choose between it and normal water, you're usually better off conserving your money for the latter.