Does H2 Infusion make better Alkaline Water?

H2 infusion is a marketing term used by some water ionizer companies to sell ionizers. They claim that the

water made by their ionizer has additional antioxidant properties which are supplied by molecular hydrogen. One problem is: Hydrogen can only be absorbed in the lungs, not the intestines. If there is any hydrogen in the water you’re drinking, it comes back up as a burp, rather than being absorbed by your body. In fact, currently, there are no FDA approved therapeutic regimens involving hydrogen gas or dissolved hydrogen. Another problem with H2 Infusion is that hydrogen doesn’t dissolve well in water, so the actual amount of hydrogen you could get from a glass of water is vanishingly small.

You already have lots of hydrogen in your gut

There are several animal studies that suggest that hydrogen has the ability to reduce tissue damage after an injury, but all of those studies have one thing in common: The hydrogen used in them was inhaled. There have been no studies on drinking hydrogen-rich water for health for a very good reason. You can’t absorb hydrogen in your intestines. In fact, you don’t even have to drink hydrogen rich water to get hydrogen gas into your intestines. Some intestinal bacteria, including Escherichia Coli, produce lots of hydrogen when through the fermentation of nondigestible carbohydrates.

What are non-digestible carbohydrates? Any food with fiber in it contains non-digestible carbohydrates. Their role in your gut is to reach your large intestine undigested. Once there, non-digestible carbohydrates are fermented by the beneficial probiotic bacteria in your gut. This fermentation process leads to growth of beneficial probiotic microbes in your gut. It is why doctors and health experts tell us to get more fiber in our diets.

H2 Infusion pseudoscience

So how much hydrogen do you actually get in a glass of “H2 Infused” alkaline water? Not much. Hydrogen is a non-polar molecule, so it does not readily form bonds with water molecules. A liter of water could hold about 0.00078 moles of hydrogen at normal atmospheric pressure. How much is a mole of hydrogen? It’s exactly one gram. So one liter of H2 Infused water will hold about 78 hundred thousandths of a gram of hydrogen. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, you already have a lot more hydrogen in your gut thanks to non-digestible carbohydrates than you’d ever get from drinking H2 Infused water.

Companies that promote H2 infusion pseudoscience claim that there are over 500 studies that show benefits from hydrogen therapies, here’s what they don’t tell you: The hydrogen in all of those studies was inhaled, and a typical treatment with hydrogen would last about 2 hours and take place in a hyperbaric chamber. The amount of hydrogen absorbed by your body during a hyperbaric session would be on the order of several cubic feet. The 78 hundred thousandths of a gram of hydrogen you could get even by drinking a full liter of  water is nowhere near enough to have any effect.

What makes alkaline water good for you

So we’ve dispensed with the H2 Infusion pseudoscience. Since ionized alkaline water doesn’t get any of its beneficial effects from hydrogen, it begs the question: What does give alkaline water its healthy qualities?

Minerals – Alkaline water’s acid-fighting abilities come from the highly alkaline mineral hydroxides in it. Those mineral hydroxides – mostly calcium and magnesium hydroxide – have higher alkalinity than the mineral bicarbonates that are in your tap water. Because of their higher alkalinity, those mineral hydroxides can neutralize some acidity.

Essential nutrients – The minerals you get from alkaline water are essential nutrients, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), water is the best place to get your minerals. In fact, the WHO recommends you get 10 – 20% of your daily needs for calcium and magnesium from the water you drink. Why does the WHO recommend this? Because your body absorbs minerals from water 30% faster and easier than it does from food or supplements.

Antioxidant potential – Ionized alkaline water gets its antioxidant potential from the hydroxide ion. The hydroxide ion has a negative charge, which means that it has excess electrons. Radicals in your body do their damage to your tissues and DNA when they steal electrons from them. The hydroxide ion acts like an antioxidant by giving up excess electrons to harmful radicals, which neutralizes them.

What you really want in a water ionizer is power

If you want ionized alkaline water with the most acid-fighting ability and antioxidant potential, then you want a water ionizer with lots of power. The more power you can push to the plates, the more you will convert the mineral carbonates in your tap water into the healthy mineral hydroxides you want. Remember, those mineral hydroxides are what delivers the health benefits that you’re buying an ionizer to get. It just makes sense to buy a powerful ionizer, because it will give you more of what you’re paying for!

Did you know? Top-of-the-line Life Ionizers like the Life M-13 can adjust up to 800 Watts of computer-controlled SMPS power. Compare that to the Kangen Machine’s paltry 235 Watts of power and you can easily see why the healthiest alkaline water is made by Life.

Want to know if something you’ve read or heard about alkaline water is actually true? Call 855 959-7977 for a free, no obligation alkaline health consultation

References

Jing-Yao Zhang. (2012) A review of hydrogen as a new medical therapy. Retrieved from

http://www.mylivingwater.com.my/dwld/cs1.pdf