What is Alkaline Water And What Are Its Benefits?

Last Updated on 17 February, 2023 by Sourav Roy

You’ve probably heard people talk about how great alkaline water is and all the incredible benefits it can offer to the body. What is alkaline water, exactly?

What is Alkaline Water And What Are Its Benefits

In this post, I’ll break that down and go into details about this type of water. I’ll also talk in-depth about how it can benefit your health and much more. Let’s get started.

 

What is Alkaline Water?

What is Alkaline Water

To know what alkaline water is, it’s important that you first know one thing: What is pH? In a nutshell, pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The lower its value, the more acidic the solution, and vice versa.

Solutions with a higher pH level than 7 are considered basic, or in other words, alkaline. The alkaline characteristic of the solution increases as the solution goes from pH 8 all the way to pH level 13. An example of alkaline solutions would be solutions made from baking soda; a 0.1 molar solution of it has a pH level of 8.3.

The pH level isn’t the only thing that makes the water alkaline, though. Alkaline water needs to have alkaline minerals and negative ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential).

Recommended Reading: How to check TDS of water

 

The Benefits Of Alkaline Water

Alkaline water is sought out for many reasons. In this section, I’ll discuss a few of them in detail.

1. Balancing pH Levels Of The Body

Balancing pH Levels Of The Body

Normally, the body tries to maintain its pH level on its own. However, when the acid levels rise far beyond normal levels, the body must work incredibly hard to fix things. When that happens, the cells inside the body can’t work properly, making its owner vulnerable to diseases. Drinking alkaline water can greatly help the body take care of those acids and maintain its normal pH levels.

 

2. Detoxifies The Body

Over time, the body collects toxins that can cause significant health problems if left unattended. The kidney is responsible for removing all these toxins. However, if you have high acidity levels in your body, it’ll struggle to work. Drinking several glasses of alkaline water every day neutralises the acid, allowing the kidney to work more efficiently.

 

3. Enhances The Immune System

Alkaline Water Enhances The Immune System

Alkaline Water also helps make your immune system stronger in general. It neutralises free radicals that can cause serious havoc on the body. Essentially, your body also gets long-term health benefits from regularly drinking this type of water.

 

4. Offers Weight Loss Benefits

Some studies suggest that alkaline water can help with weight loss efforts. When a person eats certain junk food, the acidity in your body rises. To counter this, the body creates extra fat cells. This neutralises the acidity but also adds to the body weight. Alkaline water can replace the task of the fat cells and prevent your body from making extra fat.

Do keep in mind that it won’t cause a huge weight loss on its own, though. You’ll still need to put in a good diet and do exercise.

 

5. It Reduces Effects Of Age And Hydrates Better In General

When we get older, our body gets slower with producing collagen, making skin sag and develop wrinkles. Water is a huge part of this collagen production. So your skin stays healthier-looking as you get older if you consume more of it.

Alkaline water works better than regular water in this case. That’s because it can offer even better hydration, and it rehydrates the body faster. This also makes it an excellent option to drink for people suffering from chronic dehydration.

Recommended Reading: Safe Drinking Water Guidelines in India

 

Risks Of Alkaline Water

Alkaline water doesn’t have any adverse side effects on health. Scientists have researched this type of water, and so far, the results say that it’s very safe to drink. For certain people, it does have some smaller side effects such as:

  • Headaches.
  • Runny nose.
  • Hand tremors.
  • Muscle twitches.
  • Fatigue.

In rarer cases, excessive consumption of alkaline water can disrupt a person’s normal pH levels, causing metabolic alkalinity. This condition can make a person feel several unpleasant symptoms. It causes vomiting, muscle twitches, hand tremors, nausea and tingling in the limbs. Most of the time, though, this kind of water is completely fit for consumption.

 

Is Alkaline Water man-made or natural?

Is Alkaline Water man-made or natural

Alkaline water can be collected in both ways. On the natural side, water becomes more alkaline when it passes over rocks- when it does that, it absorbs calcium and other alkaline minerals that make it more alkaline.

Otherwise, it can also be artificially made through a process called electrolysis; the process uses something called an Ioniser. Ionisers are supposed to raise pH levels of water by using electricity to separate its elements and dispose of the acidic parts.

This method isn’t backed up by a lot of research, though. Not to mention, the process doesn’t purify water, so the contaminants from the original source can still carry into the final product. Hence, I’d suggest avoiding buying alkaline water made through electrolysis.

 

What Are The Best Ways To Get Alkaline Water For Drinking?

What Are The Best Ways To Get Alkaline Water For Drinking

As you saw earlier, buying pre-made alkaline water isn’t a very bright idea. Instead, a much better way to do things is to purify water with an RO Purifier and then use an Alkaline Ioniser by yourself to increase the pH levels of the water.

In fact, this method is really good because, with properly purified alkaline water, there’s no real limitation of consumption. The chances of the side effects occurring are far less likely. Plus, you don’t even need to do the second part in some of the best RO Water Purifiers– they come with TDS Controller that can help adjust pH level and add alkalinity.

There’s also a way to make alkaline water at home through lemon or lime. Even though juices from these fruits are acidic, they can provide alkaline byproducts once digestion and metabolisation processes are complete. So, you just need to add a good amount of lemon or lime juice to your water before you drink it.

Another way to make alkaline water completely by hand is to add pH drops or baking soda. I’d personally recommend drinking such water from a purifier; you get the cleanest form of alkaline water without any significant changes to the taste of the water.

Recommended Reading: Which are the best water purifier brands in India: 2023 Picks

 

Does Alkaline Water Taste Different?

Does Alkaline Water Taste Different

Yes, it does. Unlike normal water, alkaline water has a much more pronounced taste. Did you ever taste Artesian Spring Water? It tastes smooth and has a sweet tinge, unlike normal water, which is bland most of the time. Alkaline water practically tastes the same- in fact, that’s usually the pH level of commercially sold Spring Water. The taste is different from normal water because it’s usually purified of the bad components and only contains healthy minerals that have taste.

Recommended Reading: Is RO purified water safe to drink? REVEALED!

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about alkaline water.

Does alkaline water affect bone health?

Alkaline water reduces free calcium in the body, but I wouldn’t say that’s enough to affect bone health. Drinking alkaline water can’t cause bone issues like hypocalcemia; that particular issue is caused by an underactive parathyroid gland.

Is Alkaline water better than Distilled Water?

Both are different water types. I would say that Alkaline water is better, but only if it’s properly purified. Distilled Water is completely purified, but the process required to get it removes everything from the source, including important minerals. Properly treated alkaline water is just as pure, but it comes with extra content that actually helps your body.

What is the ideal pH level for drinking alkaline water?

There’s a lot of debate around this, but based on research I’ve done with input from my team, I would say alkaline water within a pH level of 8.5 is the best for drinking. If you really need its benefits, then you can consume water with a pH level of 9.5 to gain high alkaline content.

Can alkaline water prevent cancer?

No. There’s no way alkaline water can prevent or treat cancer. There are other proven ways to lower the chances of cancer, and it’s absolutely not a good idea for a cancer patient to reject treatment in favour of drinking alkaline water. Some so-called “experts” have tried pushing the theory that this type of water can get rid of cancer, only to be fined a huge amount of money for it.

However, it does assist people in recovery after the cancer treatment is complete. The treatment can lead to dehydration, and we know for sure that alkaline water offers better hydration.

Recommended Reading: How to find the Best Water Purifier: Buying Guide from the Experts

 

Conclusion

What is alkaline water? Now you know. If you’re looking for a healthy and delicious way to hydrate, this type of water is a perfect choice. Start drinking it today and see how your body responds. And if you don’t have an RO water purifier at home, consider investing in one – it’s a quick and easy way to get perfectly safe alkaline water.

That’s it for now, have a good day and stay healthy!

Follow me
Share:

Leave a Comment