Water ionizers vs hydrogen sticks: Comparison

Water ionizers vs hydrogen sticks: Compared

Water ionizers and hydrogen sticks both make water healthier to drink. They both add molecular hydrogen to water, and they both raise the water’s pH. But there is where the similarities end.

The main benefits of a water ionizer are that they make antioxidant alkaline water and molecular hydrogen at the same time. You get the benefits of both alkaline water and hydrogen water in the same glass. Water ionizer machines allow you to control the pH of the water, so you can make alkaline water that is beneficial for a range of health needs.

Hydrogen sticks add magnesium to water along with hydrogen gas. They raise the pH of the water, but you can’t control the water pH like you can in a water ionizer. The main advantage of hydrogen sticks is their portability, you can bring them anywhere.

Filtration

Water ionizers filter contaminants like chlorine that can make your water toxic, hydrogen sticks don’t. Chlorine is the big problem here, mix it in alkaline hydrogen water and it makes bleach. Thus, if there is any chlorine in the water (and all tap water has chlorine in it) you put your hydrogen stick into, it will make that water toxic. To safely use a hydrogen stick, you have to make sure the water you use it with is properly filtered. This means you have to buy a high-quality filter system or bottled water, and this will wipe out any cost savings you’d expect to gain from a hydrogen stick.

Life water ionizers come with multi-stage custom filtration that protects you from a lot more than just chlorine. They protect you from heavy metals, VOCs, chloramines, carcinogenic disinfection byproducts like trihalomethanes, and more.

Life Ionizers customizes your filter system based on the pollutants that are reported by your local water utility to the EPA. You get the right filters to optimize your water quality, so you get water purity you can depend on.

Does hydrogen in drinking water have any medical value?

Yes. hydrogen has been shown to have antioxidant benefits that can help improve your health. Research suggests that molecular hydrogen may help improve heart health, reduce the harmful oxidation in the brain that leads to Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and it may even help with psoriasis and arthritis.

The research on molecular hydrogen is preliminary: This means it needs to be researched further before we truly understand how it can benefit our health. The good news is that it shows a lot of promise as a medical gas, and drinking it in water is the easiest way to consume it.

Water Ionizers vs Hydrogen Sticks: Health benefits

There are over 40 studies on the health benefits of electrolyzed reduced water. That is the medical name for the ionized alkaline water made by a water ionizer. There are some studies on health benefits from hydrogen sticks, but there is a confounding factor:  Hydrogen sticks put magnesium hydroxide into the water they make. Magnesium hydroxide is a drug that has health effects of its own. Studies based on hydrogen sticks thus have a problem: Is the health effects that are observed caused by the hydrogen, the magnesium hydroxide, or both?

You should talk to your doctor before using a hydrogen stick: A hydrogen stick generates hydrogen by slowly oxidizing a stick made of magnesium. This ends up putting a lot of magnesium into your water. Water with a high amount of magnesium in it has only two known medical uses:

• Laxative – Magnesium hydroxide is the active ingredient in Milk of Magnesia
• Mineral supplement – Helpful for addressing magnesium deficiencies

Be careful, if you take in too much magnesium, it could adversely impact your body’s calcium levels. It’s best to keep your calcium and magnesium intake balanced at a ratio of about 4 parts calcium to every one part magnesium.  Hydrogen sticks don’t supply calcium, and that could adversely affect your health. Follow your doctor’s guidance closely.

Did you know? You get about the same amount of hydrogen in alkaline water from a water ionizer that you do from a hydrogen stick. That is because any hydrogen that isn’t actually dissolved in the water is lost as soon as you pour it into your glass. Hydrogen is lighter than air, so it simply bubbles up and floats away as soon as you fill your glass with water.

Water ionizers act on the calcium and magnesium in your tap water to make antioxidant alkaline water. The alkaline water made by a water ionizer has the right balance of calcium and magnesium. That is because tap water has the right balance of calcium and magnesium in it. What a water ionizer does is make the calcium and magnesium in tap water more bioavailable, so your body can absorb it easier. The problem with tap water is that the calcium and magnesium in it are hard for your body to absorb. Ionized alkaline waters have many health benefits, including:

• Reduce blood pressure, improve heart health

• Preserve bone density

• Help with controlling blood sugar

• Weight loss

• Detoxification from heavy metals like mercury

• Improve hydration

• Many other benefits

Why water ionizers beat hydrogen sticks

Ionized alkaline water from a water ionizer is better for your health than the water made by hydrogen sticks for a very important reason: Every biological process in your body requires calcium. In many cases, calcium and magnesium have to work together. A hydrogen stick supplies lots of magnesium, but no calcium. For that reason, any health benefit from a hydrogen stick will be very limited. Molecular hydrogen has therapeutic uses, but more research needs to be done. One thing is clear, you need to get calcium with magnesium for best results. For your health, your best bet is to drink ionized alkaline mineral water.

Find out what antioxidant alkaline water can do for your health. Call us at 877-959-7977 for a free, no obligation alkaline health consultation.

References

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Burckhardt, Peter. “The Effect of the Alkali Load of Mineral Water on Bone Metabolism.”

The Journal of Nutrition. American Society for Nutrition, n.d. Web. 26 Mar 2014. <http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/2/435S.long>

Rylander, Ragnar, and Maurice Arnaud. “Mineral water intake reduces blood pressure

among subjects with low urinary magnesium and calcium levels.” BMC Public Health. BMC Public Health, 30 Nov 2004. Web. 1 Jul 2013. <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/4/56>

Lee, MY, YK Kim, and et al. “Electrolyzed-reduced water protects against oxidative

damage to DNA, RNA, and protein.” Springer Link. Humana Press, 01 Nov 2006. Web. 2 Jul 2013. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1385/ABAB:135:2:133>

Hiraoka, A, M Takemoto, and et al. “Studies on the Properties and Real Existence of

Aqueous Solution Systems that are Assumed to Have Antioxidant Activities by the Action of “Active Hydrogen.”Journal of Health Science. Journal of Health Science, 09 Jun 2004. Web. 2 Jul 2013. <http://image.sciencenet.cn/olddata/kexue.com.cn/upload/blog/file/2009/8/200986121047259319.pdf>

Abraham, Guy, and Jorge Flebas. “The effect of daily consumption of 2 liters of

electrolyzed water for 2 months on body composition and several physiological parameters in four obese subjects: a preliminary report.” Highbeam Research. Original Internist, 01 Sep 2011. Web. 2 Jul 2013. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-269433201.html>