We have recently had many inquiries regarding Kangen water and its overall effectiveness as a water treatment process. Manufacturers of this product are marketing it as the healthiest water to drink and comparing it to “healing water” that people have claimed to find in various parts of the world. In order for us to compare this new trend in water treatment, it is important for us to define what Kangen water actually is.
Background:
Kangen is a Japanese word that means “return to origin.” This is simply a marketing term for a product that has been on the market for a number of years. Kangen water is no different from ionized or alkaline water. It does not produce water that is any different from any other water ionizer on the market today. The only difference is that the companies who sell this product have incorporated the name Kangen to try to differentiate themselves from a product that we have long known to be listed as a water pseudoscience.
Kangen means “return to origin”. Water in its origin consists of 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen. Or as globally and commonly known as “Distilled Water”. Sam Maalouf – Director of Sales and Marketing at Pure & Secure, LLC.
As with all ionized and alkaline water treatment processes, the goal is to take water from a feed source and raise the pH to a very basic level (11-14 on the pH scale). The pH scale ranges from 1-14 with less than 7 being acidic, 7 being neutral and greater than 7 being alkaline. Proponents of these technologies claim that drinking water that falls in this range will actually change the pH of the body to an alkaline level. The main reason for this, according to them, is that the water becomes an anti-oxidant and counters acidic compounds in the body to maintain the body’s “natural state” and remove free radicals that account for most diseases. They also claim to have the added benefit of providing essential minerals which we believe we do not need to prove has no real benefit as they’re inorganic.
The Pseudo:
Supporters of Alkaline water believe that it can prevent cancer because some studies have shown that in a test tube, cancer cells grow faster in an acidic environment. In similar tests, chemotherapy drugs have worked more effectively if the area around the tumor was more alkaline. These are only test tube studies and have not been tested in the human body.
According to Dr. Gabe Mirkin, studies show that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment but neither can any of the other cells in your body.
According to the study by the University of Missouri, The normal pH of the body is 7.35 to 7.45. If something happens to change this, the body immediately works to get the pH back to this range. There are certain situations when the pH of the body changes slightly. For example, when lactic acid is produced (during or after a hard workout) or when the kidneys are not functioning properly. In the case of the workout, the body adjusts in different ways to get the pH back to normal. In the case of kidneys not working properly, dialysis is needed to help maintain the pH of the blood. Dr Mirkin states that anything that changes the pH of your body can make you very sick and death could result.
From our point of view, this is not an effective water treatment process and simply a new spin on an old trick. We have long-dismissed the validity alkaline and ionized water as having any overall health benefits. When we compare the claims made by the manufacturers of these products to what we know about the human body’s water needs, it is simple to see that there is really no benefit to drinking this type of water because it still has many impurities in it.
There is no standard pH in the human body because the acidity or alkalinity of all watery solutions, tissues and even individual cells vary within a range of slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. These all remain relatively constant and do not change based on the acidity or alkalinity of what you eat or drink. When a person consumes anything, the pH of that substance is changed by your saliva and your digestive tract in a matter of seconds. By drinking alkaline water, a person is really doing the same thing as taking an antacid tablet but in a smaller concentration. The antacid doesn’t “change the pH of your body” but merely reacts with your stomach acid for a brief time.
The Real Science:
Water has an automatic purification process in Nature. We call it the Hydrologic Cycle. It’s a simple 4-step process. Here’s how this amazing process works to purify even sea-water:
When the sun rises it heats the surface of the ocean.- Heating the ocean surface results in water molecules evaporating and rising in the atmosphere
- Once in the atmosphere the molecule coalesce and, when conditions are right,condensation occurs.
- The precipitating droplets fall to earth as rainwater, which is so much more pure than the sea-water at the start of the process.
What’s Your Position?
It has always been the position of Pure & Secure that the human body needs pure, contaminant-free water to function at its peak. The science of Kangen water, and all other ionizers, is an attempt to make a complex science out of something we view as simple. Water treatment does not need to change the structure of the water but should simply remove the particles that can be harmful to those who drink it. Our products mimic the hydrologic cycle and unlike Kangen systems, our steam-distillation technology does return water back to its origin. So what’s your position? do not hesitate to custom design your AquaNui distiller now.