Home Uncategorized Alkaline Water: 5 Popular Health Benefits of drinking it

Alkaline Water: 5 Popular Health Benefits of drinking it

water pouring in a glass

Alkaline water is water that has been ionized towards alkalinity, which means pH level of water has been increased. Commercial water industry also commonly refer it as Ionized water, hence, also in this article.

pH is a scale used to specify how acidic or alkaline (or basic) a water based solution is. Acidic solutions have lower pH while basic solutions have higher pH.

The pH of any substance is measured on a scale of 0 to 14. pH level of 7 is considered as neutral i.e. neither acidic or basic. Acidic substances have a pH of below 7 down to zero, while alkaline substances have a pH of above 7 up to 14.

Normal water generally has a neutral pH of 7. Alkaline water typically has a pH of 8 or 9.

What is in this article?

  1. How does alkaline water maintain body’s pH?
  2. Health benefits of drinking alkaline water
  3. How to make alkaline water at home?
  4. Careful!! Do not go overboard without knowing
  5. Conclusion
  6. Frequently Asked Questions

How does alkaline water maintain body’s pH?

The human body, in particular the lungs, liver and kidneys control and maintains a normal and neutral pH of 7.4 in blood.

You would not want your blood pH to deviate much from this value i.e. your blood to be more acidic or alkaline, else that would indicate an underlying health problem. Blood that is too acidic or alkaline could be a sign of liver, kidney or lung disease.

Ionized water is said to be believed that it helps neutralize the excess acidity in your body owing to its alkaline nature. This process of neutralizing acids in the body helps prevent various minor illnesses.

We in India mostly eat the kind of foods that are acidic in nature. All vegetables are alkaline but fruits are mostly acidic. Grains and cereals in your meals, spices, rice and even milk is acidic.

If you consume these foods in excess then your body tends to become more acidic. So you need to make the blood alkaline to balance this. Hence it is suggested that consumption of ionized water will help neutralize the acid level in your body and bring it to a balance.

Health benefits of drinking alkaline water

infographic on benefits of alkaline water

There are not a lot of research and conclusive evidences that may solidify the claim of many health benefits of drinking alkaline water. However, despite the lack of proven scientific research, majority of sections claim to believe the proposed health benefits of drinking it.

Let us discuss on some prominent benefits that it provides to your health. The root benefit it provide by its ability to maintain the body pH from acidic to a balanced level, it being alkaline in nature. This provide the below mentioned associated benefits also.

Helps in Detoxification

Detoxification typewriter image

It flushes out toxins from the body that lead to number of health problems. The reason is it raise the pH level of your urine, thereby improving your kidney function and detoxifying your body.

Prevent from excess weight gain

a woman wearing a bigger jeans than her waist size

People now days are in a habit of consuming too much of fast foods or junk foods which significantly increase acidity in your body. Our body absorbs these acidic components by forming fat cells and these fats cells keep increasing with more consumption of acidic foods, thereby resulting in weight gain or obesity.

So by consuming alkaline water, it balances your body acidic level and prevent from producing more fat cells thus preventing from gaining excess weight.

Improve bone and muscle health

Minerals like calcium, magnesium and potassium are present highly in ionized water. Calcium is the most important element for healthy bones that makes your bones stronger and builds perfectly. Magnesium and potassium are most helpful for muscle health which also prevents muscle pains by reducing chronic fatigue.

Improve Immune system

It helps boost your immunity by neutralizing free radicals and cleansing the toxins present in your body.

Improve Hydration

a boy drinking water from a bottle

It shows better hydration process than normal water and cells in our body absorbs it better. There are tiny channels in cell walls called aquaporin. These tiny channels can move a billion water molecules per second and pH control them.

Cells allow water with an alkaline pH to pass through and makes it easy for cell to absorb it than that of water with acidic pH.

How to make alkaline water at home?

There are many readily available packaged ionized water bottles in the market but to purchase and drink regularly may be economically very costly. A more affordable and efficient option will be to use a water ionizer. It is a machine to make ionized water from normal water.

Now water purifier companies are incorporating a new process, re-mineralization in their RO (Reverse Osmosis) purifier system. During this stage, adding a small amount of calcium and magnesium into the water to slightly increase the pH thereby producing the water to be slightly alkaline.

However you can make it at your home in simple steps with simple items readily available in your kitchen.

Make alkaline water with baking soda

Add half a teaspoon to a gallon (around 4 litres) of water. Shake or stir vigorously to make sure the baking soda mixes thoroughly in the water. Mixing baking soda increases the alkaline properties of water as it itself is alkaline in nature.

But also you need to be cautious on a thing or two. If you are on a low sodium diet then you should avoid adding baking soda in your water as it is high in sodium content.

Also if you are on some medication, just be wary of drinking baking soda water because its impact on your stomach acid could affect how certain drugs are digested in your body.

Make alkaline water with lemon

lemon immersed in a jar filled with water and pouring the water from the same jar to a glass

Though lemon being acidic in nature but when added to water and consumed, its effect is alkalizing.

Cut a lemon into eight pieces and add it to a pitcher filled with water. Do not squeeze it, simply place in the water. You may add a tablespoon of sea salt (preferably pink Himalayan seat salt) to your lemon water.

Let the mixture sit overnight for 8 to 12 hours at room temperature. Kick start your morning with a glass full of lemon alkaline water.

Also, you can make your water alkaline by adding cucumber in it. In a litre of water, put four cut pieces of cucumber and two small pieces of lemon.  Let it stay overnight and your water is ready to consume.

Careful!! Do not go overboard without knowing

Everything in excess is harmful; this stands for drinking ionized water also. There may be some potential benefits of drinking alkaline water but some side effects also come with this in consumption of excess amount.

Too much intake of alkaline water will make your body more alkaline and may lead to a metabolic alkalosis, a condition that occurs when your body has too many bases (or alkaline). This may lead to many health symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, skin irritation, gastrointestinal issues, muscle twitching etc.

Too much of drinking alkaline water also neutralizes the natural acid in your stomach, which helps in digestion of your food and kills harmful bacteria and other undesirable pathogens, preventing them to enter into your bloodstream.

Conclusion

The main aim of drinking alkaline water is to balance the acidic pH in our body caused by the excess intake of acidic diet. However if you are already consuming a balanced diet and all your body systems are functioning well (especially kidney, liver and lungs), the blood pH is not going to vary much. Consuming it over that will not be much of a necessity.

So, rather than following all the marketing hypes, it is better to know your health condition first whether you are required to consume it or not. It is advisable to consult your physician before blindly following the trend of drinking alkaline water as consuming proper diet and drinking plain water also does a great job to keep you healthy.   

Frequently Asked Questions

Can alkaline water cause weight gain?

No. Water is an element which always helps in weight loss be it alkaline or normal.

When is alkaline water good for you?

When you mostly eat foods which are acidic in nature like grains, cereals, rice etc then to balance the acidity in your body, alkaline water is good. However, if you are already consuming a diet balanced with alkalinity and acidity then drinking alkaline water will not have much significance.

When is the best time to drink alkaline water?

Drinking alkaline water half an hour before the meals can be the best time, especially for weight reduction.

Can you boil alkaline water?

Yes. It can be boiled like normal water without losing its properties. There will not be any reduction in the benefits it provide to the body.

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