Understanding
The Science of Alkaline Water
By Dr. Hidemitsu Hayashi,
M.D.
Heart Specialist
and Director at the Water Institute of Japan
Nisshin Building, 2-5-10 Shinjiku,
Shinjiku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 160
Table of
Contents
Water, the natural solution to avoid illness
What is Alkaline Ionized Water?
THE ALKALINE WATER IONIZER
Tap water: What it is and isn't
How an Alkaline Water Ionizer Works
What the Alkaline Water Ionizer Produces
Redox potential comparison
Redox potential, not pH, is the crucial factor
USING THE ALKALINE WATER IONIZER
What Alkaline Ionized Water Does
Reduced Water
Oxidized Water
Ionized Alkaline Water The Superior Antioxidant
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Upstream and Downstream Theory
Prevent disease at the source
Upstream
Downstream
The water boom
Water, the natural solution
There
is no substitute for a healthy balanced diet, especially rich in
antioxidant materials such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and
other foods that are good for us. However, these substances are not the
best source of free electrons that can block the oxidation of healthy
tissue by active oxygen.
Water treated
by electrolysis to increase its reduction potential is the best solution
to the problem of providing a safe source of free electrons to block the
oxidation of normal tissue by free oxygen radicals. We believe that
reduced water, water with an excess of free electrons to donate to
active oxygen, is the best solution because:
The reduction
potential of water can be dramatically increased over other antioxidants
in food or vitamin supplements.
The molecule
weight of reduced water is low, making it fast acting and able to reach
all tissues of the body in a very short time.
What is ALKALINE IONIZED WATER?
Ionized water
is the product of mild electrolysis which takes place in the ionized
water unit. The production of ionized water, its properties, and how it
works in the human body are described in the next section. Ionized water
is treated tap water that has not only been filtered, but has also been
reformed in that it provides reduced water with a large mass of
electrons that can be donated to active oxygen in the body to block the
oxidation of normal cells.
THE ALKALINE IONIZED WATER UNIT (Microwater ionizer)
Tap water: What it is and isn't
Normal tap
water, for example, with a pH of 7 is approximately neutral on the pH
scale of 0 to 14. When measured with an ORP (oxidation potential) meter
its redox potential is approximately +400 to +500 mV. Because it has a
positive redox potential, it is apt to acquire electrons and oxidize
other molecules. Reduced Ionized Water, on the other hand, has a
negative redox potential of approximately -250 to -350 mV. This means it
has a large mass of electrons ready to donate to electron-thieving
active oxygen.
Before
discussing the properties of Ionized Water further, let's take a look at
what happens inside an Ionized Water producing unit.
How an ALKALINE IONIZED WATER Unit Works
The Ionized
Water unit, slightly taller and thicker than a large dictionary on end,
is an electrical appliance connected to your kitchen water supply to
perform electrolysis on tap water before you drink it or use it in the
kitchen for cooking or cleaning.
A special
attachment re-directs tap water out of the faucet through a plastic hose
into the Ionized Water unit. Inside the Ionized Water unit, the water is
first filtered through activated charcoal. Next, the filtered water
passes into an electrolysis chamber equipped with a platinum-coated
titanium electrode where electrolysis takes place.
Cations,
positive ions, gather at the negative electrodes to create cathodic
water (reduced water). Anions, negatively charged ions, gather at the
positive electrode to make anodic water (oxidized water.
Through
electrolysis, reduced water not only gains an excess amount of electrons
(e-), but the cluster of H
2O
seem to be reduced in size from about 10 to 13 molecules per cluster to
5 to 6 molecules per cluster.
The reduced
water comes out of the faucet, and the oxidized water comes out of a
separate hose leading into the sink. You can use the reduced water for
drinking or cooking. The oxidation potential of the oxidized water makes
it a good sterilizing agent, ideal for washing hands, cleaning food or
kitchen utensils, and treating minor wounds.
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What the
ALKALINE WATER IONIZER Produces
Redox potential comparison
After
electrolysis of the water inside the Ionized Water unit, reduced water
comes out of the cathodic side and oxidized water comes out of the
anodic side. Compare these measurements of these three types of water:
tap water before electrolysis, the reduced water, and the oxidized
water.
Redox potential, not pH, is the crucial factor
Traditionally
we have judged the properties of water from the standpoint of pH, in
other words whether water is acidic or alkaline. According to Dr.
Yoshiaki Matsuo PhD., the inventor of the Ionized Water unit, "In my
opinion, redox potential is more important than pH. The importance of pH
is over emphasized. For example, the average pH of blood is 7.4 and
acidosis or alkalosis are defined according to deviation within the
range of 7.4 +- 0.005. But nothing has been discussed about ORP, or
oxidation-reduction potential."
The pH of tap
water is about pH 7, or neutral. When tap water is electrolyzed into
Ionized Water, its reduced water has a pH of about 9 and the oxidized
water a pH of about 4. Even if you make alkaline water of pH 9 by adding
sodium hydroxide or make acidic water of pH 3 by adding hydrogen
chloride, you will find very little change in the ORP values of the two
waters. On the other hand, when you divide tap water with electrolysis
you can see the ORP fluctuate by as much as +- 1,000 mV. By electrolysis
we can obtain reduced water with negative potential that is good for the
body.
USING IONIZED ALKALINE WATER
What IONIZED ALKALINE WATER Does
The Ionized
Water unit produces two kinds of water with different redox potentials,
one with a high reduction potential and the other with a high oxidation
potential.
Reduced
Water
When taken
internally, the reduced Ionized Water with its redox potential of -250
to -350 mV readily donates its electrons to oddball oxygen radicals and
blocks the interaction of the active oxygen with normal molecules.
A biological
molecule (BM) remains intact and undamaged.
Undamaged
biological molecules are less susceptible to infection and disease.
Ionized Water gives up an extra electron and reduces the active oxygen
(AO), thus rendering it harmless. The AO is reduced without damaging
surrounding biological molecules. Substances which have the ability to
counteract active oxygen by supplying electrons are called scavengers.
Reduced water, therefore, can be called scavenging water.
When taken
internally, the effects of reduced water are immediate. Ionized Water
inhibits excessive fermentation in the digestive tract by reducing
indirectly metabolites such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, histamines,
indoles, phenols and scatoles, resulting in a cleaner stool within days
after reduced water is taken on a regular basis. In 1965, the Ministry
of Welfare of Japan announced that reduced water obtained from
electrolysis can prevent abnormal fermentation of intestinal microbes.
Oxidized
Water
Oxidized water
with its redox potential of +700 to +800 mV is an oxidizing agent that
can withdraw electrons from bacteria and kill them. The oxidized water
from the Ionized Water unit can be used to clean hands, kitchen
utensils, fresh vegetables and fruits, and to sterilize cutting boards
and minor wounds. Tests have shown that oxidized water can be used
effectively to treat athlete's foot, minor burns, insect bites,
scratches, and so on.
Dr. Yoshiaki
Matsuo, Vice Director of the Water Institute of Japan, has developed
another apparatus capable of producing hyperoxidized water with a redox
potential of +1,050 mV or more, and a pH lower than 2.7. Tests have
shown that this hyper oxidized water can quickly destroy MRSA (Methecillin
Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
Although
hyperoxidized water is a powerful sterilizing agent, it won't harm the
skin. In fact, it can be used to heal. Hyperoxidized water has proven
effective in Japanese hospitals in the treatment of bedsores and
operative wounds with complicated infections.
But perhaps
the most exciting future application of hyperoxidized water is in the
field of agriculture where it has been used effectively on plants to
kill fungi and other plant diseases. Hyperoxidized water is non-toxic,
so agricultural workers can apply it without wearing special protective
equipment because there is no danger of skin or respiratory damage. An
added benefit of using hyperoxidized water to spray plants is that there
is no danger to the environment caused by the accumulation of toxic
chemicals in the ground.
Ionized Alkaline Water superior to antioxidant diet
Today we read
much about correct dieting principles and paying attention to what we
eat in order to stay healthy. This is a sensible practice, but it is
surprising that many of us don't realize that the bulk of what eat is
composed of water. Vegetables and fruits are 90% water; fish and meat
are about 70% water as well.
Even advocates
of the importance of vitamin C in diet staples have to admit that its
potency, namely, the redox potential of this important vitamin, rapidly
diminishes with age and preparation for the dining table. Carbohydrates,
the main consistent of vegetables and fruit, has a molecular weight of
180 whereas water has a much lower molecular weight of 18.
Ionized Water,
with its low molecular weight and high reduction potential, makes it a
superior scavenging agent of active oxygen. But electrolysis inside the
Ionized Water unit not only charges the reduced water with electrons, it
also reduces the size of reduced water molecule clusters.
NMR
(Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) analysis reveals that tap water and well
water consists of clusters of 10 to 13 H2
0 molecules.
Electrolysis of water in the Ionized Water unit reduces these clusters
to about half their normal size -- 5 to 6 water molecules per cluster.
As the graph
shows, the NMR signal that measures cluster size by line width at
half-amplitude shows 65 Hz for reduced water and 133 Hz for tap water,
revealing that the reduced water clusters are approximately half the
size of tap water clusters.
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|
Other names include: MicroStructured Water
MicroClustered Water Microwater |
This is why
Ionized Water is more readily absorbed by the body than untreated tap
water. Ionized Water quickly permeates the body and blocks the oxidation
of biological molecules by donating its abundant electrons to active
oxygen, enabling biological molecules to replace themselves naturally
without damage caused by oxidation that can cause diseases.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Upstream and downstream theory
Prevent disease at the source
According to
Dr. Hidemitsu Hayashi, Director of the Water Institute of Japan, "To
eliminate the pollutants in a large stream that is contaminated at its
source, we must work on the problems upstream at the headwaters -- the
source of the pollution -- not downstream where we can only try to treat
the evidence of damage caused by the pollution. Ionized Water's
contribution to preventive medicine is essentially upstream treatment."
Upstream
According to
our model, we consider the digestive tract upstream where we intake
water and food. Although many people today in developed countries are
growing more skeptical about what they eat, they tend to concentrate
more on what the food contains rather than the metabolized products of
foods in the digestive tract.
Upstream
For
example, consider the typical balanced diet of meat and vegetables.
Meat protein is metabolized into amines while nitrates from
fertilizers used to grow vegetables metabolize into nitrites in the
digestive tract. These amines and nitrites combine to form
nitrosamine, a recognized carcinogen.
We've already
discussed that odoriferous feces are evidence of excessive fermentation
in the digestive tract, so reduced water performs a very important
function upstream in the digestive tract by reducing this excessive
fermentation as evidenced by cleaner stools within days of starting a
steady regimen of reduced water.
Downstream
Downstream
Downstream
from the digestive tract, starting at the liver, reduced water quickly
enters the liver and other organs due to, first, its lower molecular
weight, and, secondly, the size of its clusters. At tissue sites
throughout the body, reduced water with its safe, yet potent reduction
potential readily donates its passenger electrons freely to active
oxygen and neutralizes them so they cannot damage the molecules of
healthy cells. Normal cells are protected from the electron thievery of
active oxygen and allowed to grow, mature, function and regenerate
without interference from rogue, oddball oxygen radicals which tend to
steal the electrons from the molecules of normal, healthy biological
molecules.
The water
boom
We are now in
the midst of a water boom. In Japan and other countries consumers are
buying various kinds of bottled and canned water even though water is
one of our most abundant vital resources. Research data reveals that
mineral waters have an ORP of +200 mV, slightly lower than the +400 mV
measured for ordinary tap water. We can say that at least mineral water
is marginally better than tap water from the viewpoint of ORP. Compared
to any processed water for sale, however, Ionized Water with its
reduction potential of -250 to -300 mV is beyond comparison due to its
ability to scavenge active oxygen radicals.
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