I was not surprised to see my friend pull out a bottle of water when we reached the peak of our hike this past weekend, but I was surprised to see the pH was labeled in large print as being above 9! Drinking enough water is important for countless reasons, but should we start paying attention to the type of water we ingest? Is the new artificial alkaline water fad potentially dangerous? Supposedly the theory behind the benefit of drinking alkaline water is that it counter-balances extra acid in the body. Pepsin is the major digestive enzyme in our stomach and is also the protein responsible for producing acid reflux. Therefore, there are potential benefits for someone who experiences frequent episodes of acid reflux to inactivate pepsin by drinking alkaline water (Koufman J., Johnston, N, 2012). I was unable to find human subject experiments relevant to potential medicinal use of alkaline water otherwise. Either way, it seemed dangerous to attempt to overcome the body’s homeostatic mechanisms, especially on the top of a mountain! However, there is much controversy regarding the risks and benefits of drinking artificial alkaline water.
Those who argue against intaking artificial water with an unnatural pH explain our body’s buffering system. Our body tries to maintain a pH around 7.4, and homeostatic mechanisms are at risk of being disrupted from drinking an excess of basic water. Without conscious thought, if our blood does become too acidic, we increase our respiratory rate to exhale more carbon dioxide and our renal system kicks in to excrete the excess acid in our urine (Patel, 2020).
Those who argue for drinking alkaline water point out the benefits of reducing acidity in our body. An acidic environment can be created from several environmental factors, internal stresses, and diet. Alkaline water may balance out the acidic environment to protect our organ systems (Chycki, Kurylas, Maszczyk, Golas, & Zajac, 2018). Alkaline water also contains a larger abundance of magnesium and calcium to maintain the integrity of bones (Magro et al., 2016).
What type of water will you pack next time you take a hike?
References:
Chycki, J., Kurylas, A., Maszczyk, A., Golas, A., & Zajac, A. (2018, November 19). Alkaline water improves exercise-induced metabolic acidosis and enhances anaerobic exercise performance in combat sport athletes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6242303/
Magro, M., Corain, L., Ferro, S., Baratella, D., Bonaiuto, E., Terzo, M., . . . Vianello, F. (2016). Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4906185/
N;, K. (2012). Potential benefits of pH 8.8 alkaline drinking water as an adjunct in the treatment of reflux disease. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22844861/
Patel, S. (2020, June 24). Respiratory Acidosis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482430/
It seems that those who are in favor of alkaline water should only be supporting its use when there is a reasonable suspicion that an individual will have particularly high amounts of stomach acid (Beer et al., 2016). The ingestion of any solid or liquid immediately goes to the stomach, where it will be forced to interact with the highly acidic environment there. Unless the water is at an equally high pH (think 11.5-13), it seems logical that the water will be immediately neutralized, leading to minimal effect on the overall body pH.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately given the relatively recent introduction of this fad, there is minimal research done by independent third party sources (Callahan, 2018). However, it seems that much of the hype is done through marketing and attempting to prey on those vulnerable to misleading advertising.
Either way, without hard scientific evidence to back up either side of the argument, it feels wrong to me for this water to be advertised as a health improver.
Beer, A. M., Uebelhack, R., & Pohl, U. (2016). Efficacy and tolerability of hydrogen carbonate-rich water for heartburn. World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology, 7(1), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.4291/wjgp.v7.i1.171
Callahan, Alice (2018, April 27). Is Alkaline Water Really Better for You? The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/well/eat/alkaline-water-health-benefits.html
I remember my mother saying that everyone in my family should switch to drinking alkaline water because it eliminates the acidic environment of our body. She also said that in doing so, we prevent the formation of tumors and said that all that knowledge came from stuff she read on the internet and that she trusted it. I was skeptical but I did my own research of why alkaline water could be good and why did my mother link it to preventing tule formation? From what I could gather, I found that alkaline water is a great therapeutic for patients with acid reflux problems. A pH 8.8 alkaline water can denature and irreversibly inactivate human pepsin (Koufman). Moreover, I found out that a low pH tumor micro environment acts as a “shield” for growing tumor cells because the acidity causes anti tumor effectors T and NK cells to lose their function and eventually undergo apoptosis (Huber). However, I could not find any scientific evidence that alkaline water prevents tumor growth, and it is doubtful that drinking a high pH water can even prevent tumor formation because tumors can happen due to many reasons. If alkaline water would be such a great tumor suppressor, we would have seen its widespread use in oncology throughout the whole world.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Koufman JA, Johnston N. Potential benefits of pH 8.8 alkaline drinking water as an adjunct in the treatment of reflux disease. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2012 Jul;121(7):431-4. doi: 10.1177/000348941212100702. PMID: 22844861.
Huber V, Camisaschi C, Berzi A, Ferro S, Lugini L, Triulzi T, Tuccitto A, Tagliabue E, Castelli C, Rivoltini L. Cancer acidity: An ultimate frontier of tumor immune escape and a novel target of immunomodulation. Semin Cancer Biol. 2017 Apr;43:74-89. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2017.03.001. Epub 2017 Mar 6. PMID: 28267587.
Surprisingly, my preliminary research on alkaline water supported that this substitute leads to better hydration, stabilizes acid-base equilibrium and improves anaerobic exercise (Chycki et al. 2018). I was shocked to say the least. I have always been very skeptical of health fads, especially something as simple as water; however, it appears that alkaline water is a reasonable substitute to sodium bicarbonate in the prevention of exercise induced metabolic acidosis (Chycki et al. 2018).
ReplyDeleteReference
Chycki, J., Kurylas, A., Maszczyk, A., Golas, A., & Zajac, A. (2018). Alkaline water improves exercise-induced metabolic acidosis and enhances anaerobic exercise performance in combat sport athletes. PLoS ONE, 13(11), 1–10. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0205708