I'm getting tired of seeing these websites popping up all over Google proclaiming that Alkaline Water Ionizers are some type of scam and that the water is bad for you.  

...so I've decided to Debunk the Debunkers

 Let's get to it, let's take a look at some of these alkaline water related websites that are showing up in Google search today:

Let's take a close look at these claims: "dangers of alkaline water ionizers" from our pals at cleanairpurewater.com  =)

I guess James hasn't heard of these best-selling books which discuss the scientifically proven benefits of pH balance:

Next, if you check out the Wall Street Journal article titled "The Positives and Negatives of Alkaline Water", you'll see it doesn't make any conclusive statements and just gives various opinions.

In response to the following statement  in the WSJ article: "There is no basis for any health claims at all" for alkaline drinking water, adds Santa Barbara, Calif., gastroenterologist John Petrini, past president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. > Check out this Article on Benefits of Alkaline Water for Acid Reflux click here for article - Are you starting to wonder about all these slandering articles yet?

Next, if you read the article from Jane at TakePart.com, you'll see that it talks around the subject without making any points.  zzzzzzz

And Finally, let's look at the last site that came up on the Google listings,  by Kent Sepkowitz, It starts off with the first line:  The latest health fad is even more ridiculous then most health fads..   good grief, are we in the Information age or Misinformation age?

Quotes from Kent

•  "There isn’t even a crummy clinical trial to criticize. Nothing. "  Incorrect: see References
• "If I were living in Asia and maybe even Europe, where public health oversight for drinking water is far short of good-old overweening U.S. government standards, I might buy some filtering doodad, too." 
  
  OK Kent, check out this article titled:

  Study Finds Safety of Drinking Water in U.S. Cities at Risk

• "Water ionization and alkalinization is another fad without science to support it or even a particularly interesting group of nuts pitching it. But so what? One could argue that there is nothing wrong with snake oil, that the crime is victimless but for the money lost."

Ok Kent, strike 3, you're out!  Below are some references and resources to support this article =)

(Please note: most of the articles are from Asia. They have a different philosophy, they look at preventative medicine is seen as one of the "keys to good health". Over here in the west, we tend to look at our body like a car with parts that go and need to be replaced!)

References:

Here's what Clifton Jolley, Ph.D. recently had to say about the alkaline water skeptics:

"Up until recently, the scientific opinion of hydration was that all you need to worry about is whether the water you ingest is verifiably clean. However, a substantial bodyof NEW scientific research into the benefits of “electrolyzed-reduced” or “alkaline water” has yielded an range of potential benefits. PubMed (published by the National Institutes of Health) lists nearly 100 double-blinded, peer-reviewed articles describing demonstrated benefits of alkaline water tested in both human and animal studies.

While it’s true the resting pH of the body is relatively stable at 7.35-7.45, the benefits of alkaline water have more to do with the performance of the water in the body than with the pH of the body. For instance, in studies conducted in Switzerland at the Lausanne University Hospital, calcium resorption was evidenced to be dramatically reduced in osteoporosis patients fed naturally-occurring alkaline water. (The scientists anticipate similar results for alkaline water produced by electrolyzed-reduced ionization.)

Other studies evidence increased absorption of nutritional supplements when ingested with alkaline water; and absorption is decreased as the acidity of the water is increased. So, while it’s true that unscrupulous manufacturers of some ionizing devices may make exaggerated claims for their products, there are reliable manufacturers making claims well within the range supported by recent science. For instance, a major manufacturer of ionizing appliances—recently published a list of claims for alkaline water based on the science reported by the NIH and other reliable scientific sources."

Resources continued:

Check out this comprehensive pdf article titled "The Benefits of Alkaline Ionized Water" by Dr. Hayashi M.D. Director of the Water Institute of Japan

Ionized Water has Inhibitary Effect on Tumours
Ionized Water Suppresses Cancer Cells