What Water pH is Good for Health? Water with an alkaline pH
Generally speaking, your drinking water should have an alkaline pH to be good for your health. The reason drinking water with an alkaline pH is better for your health is that pH determines what you absorb from the water you drink. Water with an alkaline pH supplies essential minerals – alkaline and magnesium – that the World Health Organization says you need to get from your drinking water every day for good health. The reason they make that recommendation is that if you don’t get adequate mineral nutrition from your water, you are at higher risk for heart attack and stroke.
As a general rule, for daily drinking, health experts recommend you drink water with a pH range between 8.5 and 9.5. But there are times when you may choose to drink water with a higher pH than that.
Why Acidic Water isn’t Good for your Health
Acidic water generally lacks minerals, so you don’t get the minerals you need from it. Another problem is that water pH affects what your body absorbs. In a Swedish study, women who drank acidic well water had higher levels of mercury in hair samples taken from them. The women who drank alkaline water absorbed beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium. In fact, the difference between alkaline water drinkers and acidic water drinkers was so large that the researchers who conducted the study concluded that “drinking alkaline water may protect against the harmful effects of mercury”.
Alkaline water can help undo the damage that acidity can do. A recent study showed that people who started drinking alkaline water discharged 10 heavy metals in their urine during the study period.
Why pH Neutral Distilled and Reverse Osmosis water isn’t good for health
Distilled water and water filtered by reverse osmosis is pure water. While pure water may sound healthy, it’s not. Pure water has no minerals in it, so you don’t get the minerals you need to get from your drinking water every day for good health.
Health practitioners may have their patients drink pure water for short periods of time as a detox. But long term consumption of pure water is not recommended.
Drinking water with a pH of 8.5 – 9.5 is perfect for health
Health experts from Japan, which is the only country so far to study drinking water to find the best pH for health, have stated that the best range for daily consumption is a pH range of 8.5 – 9.5. The reason that this pH range is ideal is that it is very close to the ideal pH level for absorption in the intestines.
Should you drink water with a pH higher than 9.5?
Yes, there are two situations when it’s helpful to drink water with a pH higher than 9.5:
- Upset Stomach/Acid Indigestion – Help neutralize the excess acidity
- Workouts – Help neutralize muscular acidity
Acid indigestion is a symptom of excessive acidity in your digestive tract. The only way to neutralize an acid is to mix it with an alkaline. If you own a water ionizer, use level 4 alkaline water. Keep in mind that alkaline water provides gradual relief of upset stomach conditions, it took about two weeks in the Japanese studies for sufferers to get relief. So DO take Tums or another antacid for more immediate relief of symptoms.
Workouts dehydrate your body as well as producing large amounts of lactic acid – which causes the burning sensation in your muscles. Alkaline water has been shown in multiple studies to both rehydrate you, and to help neutralize muscle acidity.
What level of alkaline water should I start drinking?
New alkaline water drinkers who have a water ionizer should begin drinking level one alkaline water to give their body time to adjust. Continue drinking level one for two weeks, then switch to level two. Your water ionizer should produce alkaline water in the ideal 8.5 – 9.5 pH range when on the level two sets.
A water ionizer is the best source of ionized alkaline water
The best way to make alkaline water is to use a water ionizer. Water ionizers filter your water of impurities, so you get clean water every time. A water ionizer also enables you to adjust the pH of the water you get, so that you can get the right pH every time. Water ionizers also charge alkaline water with antioxidant potential, a healthy benefit you don’t get from bottled water or any other kind of water for that matter.
Life Ionizers Guarantees You will get the highest antioxidant benefit level possible in every pH balanced glass of water you drink. This means that when you’re drinking alkaline water at the ideal pH level for your health, you’ll be getting the highest level of antioxidant benefit from it – guaranteed.