This is not a horror story. This is not even a warning about ionized alkaline water. This is simply an account of my family’s experience with ionized alkaline water.
As a background, we drink bottled water at home. We buy 5-gallon bottles, three at a time, and use an electric water dispenser with hot and cold functions (left photo, below). For months, we have been buying our bottled water from Forta Aqua whose water undergoes a 17-stage purification process.
Late last week, I was so swamped with work that I failed to notice that we were on our last bottle of water. Finally, on Sunday, I called up Forta Aqua — no one answered. Speedy went out late in the afternoon and came home with a 5-gallon bottle of ionized alkaline water (right photo, below). He said he had been hearing about the health benefits of ionized alkaline water and figured we could give it a try.
Sam complained that the water was “hindi masarap.” Now, Sam has very sensitive taste buds. She’s the kind of person who can tell exactly what kind of herbs went into a dish even if everything had been chopped so finely that they are unrecognizable. She can tell if there’s lemon in the dressing even if I only used a few drops. She’s like that. So, I didn’t pay much attention.
We drank the ionized alkaline water for three days. The girls bring drinking water in Coleman jugs to school so, on Monday and Tuesday, they were drinking the same water even while in school.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sam came home feeling weak. She had some salad then fell asleep on the sofa. Alex said her sister was tired because they went trekking to the creek a few kilometers from the school as part of a class activity. Sam missed dinner, got up around midnight, took a shower and ate a little but said everything was “walang lasa”. The following morning, she was still too weak to go to school.
On Wednesday afternoon, Alex came home from school complaining of stomach ache. She said she felt tired and fell asleep on a chair in the classroom. Now, Alex has a history of hyperacidity. She gets these stomach trouble every once in a while though not as bad as when she was younger when she had to be hospitalized every few months. When she mentioned stomach ache, the first thing I said was no milk, no coffee, no potato chips. Those were the most obvious culprits.
By Wednesday, we had switched back to the Forta Aqua bottled water. The delivery service of the ionized alkaline water supplier was bad with directions and apparently got lost going to our house. I didn’t have the patience to wait for them to get wiser. Sad thing was, even at that point, I didn’t really see any reason to give up the ionized alkaline water.
By Wednesday evening, I felt sick. I thought it was indigestion because I had this heavy feeling in the lower part of my abdomen. Or, maybe, I was going to get my period. But I felt so tired that I actually laid down on the bed after preparing dinner.
Speedy said it must be the weather. The days have been very warm while the nights have remained relatively cool. It’s like there was no real transition from the cool weather to summer. In fact, it felt like we were still savoring the wonderful cool Christmas season one day, then, the next day, it was summer all of a sudden.
The thing is, Speedy didn’t feel sick. Whether or not it’s relevant, I must note that he’s out most days and only got to drink the ionized alkaline water on the evenings of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
So, is the ionized alkaline water the culprit? I don’t know for sure. But it isn’t wise to take chances. Ionized alkaline water may make some people feel healthy; I only know we got sick following the consumption of a 5-gallon bottle of ionized alkaline water.
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
inna 02.22.07 at 4:04 pm
i didn’t find anything that would cause your fatigue and stomach upset, but below is a link about ionized alkaline water. you can skip the chemical stuff if you want, but this is the one link i found that is not selling water or the equipment…..hope you guys are feeling much better.
http://www.chem1.com/CQ/ionbunk.html
Connie 02.22.07 at 5:56 pm
Thanks, Inna. We’re feeling better. It’s also possible that we just have sensitive digestive systems. Kaloka lang talaga.
Sam 02.22.07 at 6:31 pm
masyadong “macho” si daddy kaya hindi siya naapektohan.
auee 02.22.07 at 6:36 pm
hi sassy… malamang nga di maka-adjust ang tummy nyo dun sa water. I remember back in the late 90’s nung lumabas yung “distilled” water may particular brand na di ko talaga maatim na inumin, it’s like drinking radiator water, nasusunog lalamunan ko. Nasa dulo ng dila ko ang brand, green yung plastic label nya (Absolut yata). Whe n I came back a few years ago, yun ang binili ni hubby while we’re out & i wanted to refuse kaya lang uhaw na uhaw na ko, iba na ang lasa. So they must have changed the processing dahil the label still said distilled.
Connie 02.22.07 at 8:26 pm
Sam, “macho” o sobrang tapang ng tyan? hehehehe
auee, yes the one with the green label is absolut. Another brand na hindi ko ma-take ang lasa is Viva.
brenda 02.23.07 at 3:04 am
hi con,
you know dito din sa office, we got that same brand of ionized alkaline water when we transferred to our new building. The first time I’ve tasted it, I did’nt like it. Before, I have managed a water refilling station for more than 2 years and I shld say i’m very knowledgeable about the water process plus the fact that I could tell if it went thru a 9 or 18 stages process. This alkaline water tasted something that is very hard to explained. So, in the office we got about 35 hot & cold water dispensers and we consume maybe an estimate of 80pcs of 5-gal water per day. Now, in a call center you always drink water because your throat tends to go dry because of constant talking and since we got this alkaline water, everybody started complaining about the taste. At first I thought because its not cold, because I dont drink very cold water while in the office coz it might hurt my throat, but even if its very cold, it tasted the same–awful! So, we complained about it and eventually management changed it back to a purified water instead. Although I’m not really sure if somebody felt the same way you were and your kids, but for me, I eventually avoid drinking that alkaline water and bought my own water instead.
ben 02.23.07 at 8:46 am
I’ve never been caught up with the choice of water one should drink because by going on the assumption that you have to drink only a particular kind or label, then it follows that you would have to bring this stuff with you wherever you go. I like telling my own stomach and the rest of my system to ‘deal with it’, hahaha! It’s a psychological suggestion I send to my body that as long as you’re not outright drinking or eating poison, any kind of clean water should be okay to drink. It’s ridiculous to think that given the amazing way the body adjusts to all that it takes in and including the food and yes, the air — that it can only deal with one type of water, right?
erleen 02.23.07 at 11:46 am
Hi! I always visit your site and admire you for the energy you always seem to have =)
Speaking of water, there is this one brand that tastes like sabaw ng buko. I do not know if it is a good thing but hindi ko tlga kaya mainom ng matagalan.
tutubi 02.23.07 at 4:41 pm
better stick with mineral or distilled/purified water
ionized alkaline water may have altered your stomachs chemical makup resulting to reactions
glad you’re ok
rhodora 02.23.07 at 10:40 pm
Ionized alkaline water.. first time to hear this. Isn’t alkali dangerous when too much?
I too sometimes worry about our drinking water, to the point that I refuse to have them delivered. We pick them up and I see to it that I watch as the assists refill our gallons in the station. The reason I don’t like them delivered is, I am not sure how long the water has been stored in those containers. And also, I don’t like the idea that the containers were previously used by some other households, or worse - (forgive my morbid imagination) - in funeral parlors. OMG!
franco 02.24.07 at 5:26 pm
We had a well dug up in our backyard and that solved our dependency from the public water system. Not to mention that if they dig deep enough the water is much safer to drink specially if you are located in a higher elevation like Antipolo.
vic 02.25.07 at 12:06 pm
Sassy, when my kid sister family were still living in Cainta, I sent them a ten- gallon a day “reverse osmosis filtration system” (hyper filtration) made by G.E. and all it did was filter all the the impurities and lead and other harmful chemical and eliminates the sometimes smelly taste of deep well supplied water and they used continuously for years for their cooking and drinking and the kids got used to it and now they are just using a Brita one stage filtration in a pitcher for their tap water, but that is Northern California water and that’s all it needs. The only drawback for the hyper filtration system the filters are very expensive and considering the state of the source in manila water a frequent replacement is necessary to maintain safety..
noemi 02.25.07 at 5:03 pm
The usual drinking water we buy (like you) is purified water which goes through heat process. Now I don’t know if the ionized water goes through heat process. If it doesn’t , most likely there are some amount of coliforms as is common in tap water. Distilled water or purified water that passes through heat have very little coliforms. It is possible that you were not used to the water . There was a study before that not all bottled water are free of coliforms (E Coli) .
bayi 02.25.07 at 9:54 pm
I have taken ionized water and I liked it although there wasn’t any visible benefit from its consumption. But the water I took wasn’t alkaline.
I don’t see any connection between you and your children’s fatigue and the water, apart from the possibility that your systems are accustomed to the other kind of drinking water.
Anyway, the best thing to do is to stick to what your body agrees with. One man’s meat may be another man’s poison. Hope you are better now that you have resumed drinking the water you normally consume.
sexy mom 02.26.07 at 1:24 am
i read that “Ionized water” is nothing more than sales fiction and that the term is meaningless to chemists. my guess is that your systems were so used to the former brand such that the sudden change affected your system. 5 gallons for a family of 4 is kinda significant amount. i hope everyone is ok now.
btw, sometime in october, i met with some officials of manila water. they swear that the water running through our pipes is potable. in fact, they plan to compete with the water dealers by bottling water and carrying their own brand. what make it risky to drink the water are the pipes through which the water passes, (manila water pipes included, and the pipes in our households, esp the old ones)
analyse 02.27.07 at 3:59 am
you’re system might not have reacted well with the high amount of mineral salts in the water. .. it’s my first time to hear ionized alkaline water to be sold as a drinking water, why not.. it’s simply mineral water to me.. with more salts probably?
James 02.27.07 at 6:08 am
You should produce your OWN ionized alkaline water from tap water using a Water Ionizer. These units can be bought from shops and websites. This way you know that the alkaline water is fresh.
Bottled water is not a good thing because some of the carcinogenic substances in the plastic do get into the water. Also, the tons of plastic bottles cause environmental pollution.
On this website (edited by me) there is comprehensive information about alkaline water, including History, video clips, medical case studies, clinical studies, and more.
I also have a detailed 7 part response to the ’snake oil’ site that inna pointed to:
http://glowing-health.com/mb/your-questions/alkaline-water-science-and-myths/snake-oil-part1-summary.html
Please read and judge for yourself.
pinaygourmand 02.28.07 at 1:02 am
Just a reaction from several comments here, alkaline water is the safest next is distilled water. I had a year study about this back in college and it is a fact medical diet/fastings require drinking up alkaline water. It is actually advised that hyperacidics take alkaline water, and it is prescribe to dengue patients locally.
The only reason I could assume why your daughter could have felt ill is that there must be a mistake when the water was packed/bottled. A water ionizer actually splits the water from the faucet to an alkaline water and acid water. Maybe, just maybe!… the one who bottled it could have mistakenly got the water from the wrong end?
Or another possibility is the body is reacting to an alkaline water’s ability to detox. Since your daughter is hyperacidic, alkaline water will actively swipe out the extra acids from her body and as it is on a process of washing out, she could possibly feel ill but after the flush it will be beneficial and no more discomforts. Naku so it must be the other way around eh, your husband must be “cleaner” than all of you. hehehe
True it has a different taste but if you ever consider adopting alkaline water, I should say don’t purchase bottled ones. Purchase a good quality water ionizer na lang. I have been using alkaline water at home, sanay na.
Connie 02.28.07 at 1:41 am
I’m reading all your comments — including the links.
Pinaygourmand, re my husband is “cleaner” — I object! I object! hahahaha
Baranggay 02.28.07 at 12:33 pm
given only the consumption of a single jug of water ,
to weigh in , for any report to health agencies, if any, for
‘ionized water fatigue syndrome’,
bare a gap, or few, between public safety and action.
a gap assured to be swiftly closed, by our matinee idol studded public servants assuming offices next year.
Mike 04.20.07 at 10:24 pm
Alkaline water is known for being healthy because it flushes the acid from your body. However, like most detoxifying agents you should start slowly. Most likely you were drinking high alkaline water, whereas new drinkers should typically start with low alkaline levels and work up to the higher. If your body is hit with too much alkaline too fast, then it has no way of adequately displacing and removing all the acid. This explains your illnesses, especially the stomach ache.
Hope this was helpful,
Mike
Geoffrey Dee 05.21.07 at 5:17 pm
Re: Best healthiest drinking water - from all the above I read and all the research I have made, I conclude that the healthiest water is still ALKALINE IONIZED WATER whether some claims are true or not if you weight them one by one, still more advantage and benefit are said about Alkaline so why take the risk of having cancer from a bottled water.. All you need is an Alkaline ionizer water purifier with 4 stage of filtration with carbon filter this is more than enough for a safe drinkable water.. see brief info other the other types of purified water.
>> Bottled water if stored for more than 8 hours can be carcinogenic due to the leaching of the plastic.
>> Distilled and osmotic water or so called “Mineral water” have been purified to the point that they are lifeless. Lacking minerals, electrons and oxygen, this equals dead water. Freshly distilled water rapidly absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and reaches an acidic pH of 5.5 in a very short time. Acidic water is not a healthy choice for drinking water.
>> Alkaline ionized water has more benefit vs others..
Vegetable & Fruits are more Alkaline base so this is very good anti-oxidant for Cancer patients.
Hydrate the body three to six times more effectively than conventional water
Allow you to absorb nutrients more effectively
Promote overall health and healing, prevents diseases. Our body is more acidic we are, the greater the chances for diseases such as cancer and arthritis to flourish. People who are always sick have very low body pH, the sicker they are, the lower their body pH level.
And many many more benefits was said about Alkaline ionized water vs others..
Thanks Geoffrey
Karl 07.27.07 at 4:02 pm
Hi Connie,
I’m really very sorry with the experience your family had with Ionized Alkaline Water. I for one have been using this kind of water for many years now. In fact ever since my wife got pregnant with our first child we have been drinking this kind of water. Our 3 kids eldest is 10 years old have been drinking this kind of water since they were infants and we never experienced the bad episode your family had. So I made this comment to share some researches I had made regarding Ionized alkaline water.
Ionized Alkaline Water has been very popular in Japan and Korea for many years now in fact in Japan most of the hospitals have their own alkaline system. That is why most of the clinical studies were done there
- http://glowing-health.com/health-articles/ionized-water-clinical-studies/clinical-reports-ionized-alkaline-water.html
- http://glowing-health.com/health-articles/ionized-water-clinical-studies/medical-case-studies-alkaline-water.html
Now with regards to the link that INNA posted “http://www.chem1.com/CQ/ionbunk.html” here is a link that will answer the allegations found there http://glowing-health.com/your-questions/science-and-myths/is-alkaline-water-snake-oil-part1-summary.html
Lastly whenever an alternative medicine or a new remedy is found and shows great potential, suddenly websites pop out of nowhere and try to smear its credibility and tells you that it’s a fake or a scam like quackbuster.com. It’s because websites like this are funded by large Pharmaceutical companies that would like you to buy and use drugs, only drugs and more drugs. Investigators have found that many web sites that attack natural remedies as ‘Quacks’ are actually funded by drug companies. This is a link to a court case ruling involving Dr Stephen Barret, the Quackwatch.com founder.
I believe that as long as I am paying for the water that my family is drinking, then I might as well pay for water that gives my family health benefits.
Karl
Connie 07.27.07 at 4:53 pm
Thanks for the links, Karl.
Re “Pharmaceutical companies that would like you to buy and use drugs, only drugs and more drugs”
Oh I so agree with you. And that includes the makers of formula milk.
Alexander Lodi 08.03.07 at 5:04 am
Hello.The bottom line with ionized alkaline water is that it will NOT do anyone much good if you are keeping it stored in plastic containers.The plastic will leach out into the water over time and defeat the purpose of the water we want.Reverse Osmosis water is dead and lifeless.Bottled water is worse than tap water in that it holds a PH of 2.5 (Poland Spring) because of the plastic and long shelf life.Tap water is neutral at 7.0 but the bad news is that it is treated with chlorine and other chemicals to get it up to a neutral PH.We all need a water ionizer that hooks directly up to our sink and plugs into the wall.This will generate the best and most effective results because the water is “ALIVE” when it comes right out of your unit.Please go to http://www.kangenislife.com and look at the website closely.Watch the videos.especially “colon therapy”.Dr Hiromi Shinya,creator of the colonoscopy (he has performed over 300,000) is an advocate of Enagic.I have not met one person that used our device and not benefitted from it in one way or another.And we receive daily tedtimonials.Enagic DOES NOT cure or heal anything.It is just allowing the body to get back to an alkaline state,there by allowing the body to heal itself.And it works.I myself only moved my bowels once every other day before I found Enagic.After just one week on the water, I go at least three times a day and have never felt better.I have been a proud owner of Enagic now for 6 months plus.I would not trade it for the world.You be the judge.You have nothing to lose and great health to gain.Peace and good health to all.God Bless !
Wil 08.22.07 at 6:07 am
Karl above mentioned that whenever a new remedy was found which showed great potential, websites refuting it would be popping out from nowhere.
Well, I made a Google search for “ionized water” and “health” and found more than 600,000 listings. ALMOST ALL of the sites on that list were selling some kind of water ionizing device and, of course, were in favor of ionized water. I was not able to go through all the sites but after well over a hundred sites, I came across only 2 sites that were against.
Unless there are any published test results in a reputable scientific journal confirming the efficacy of drinking ionized water, I think (at $2,000 - $3,000 per ionizing device) this is all a monumental waste of our hard earned money. I wouldn’t touch it even if it were offered to me at $50.
Alexander Lodi 08.30.07 at 9:19 pm
Hello,
I have read your entire story.I cannot say what it was that made you and your family feel ill.However,I can say this.I am in the alkaline water business.And it is sad to think that there are people in our community that will sell you “alkaline water” in a plastic bottle! You see,that (the plastic) is what you do NOT want to use to hold your water as the plastic,over time,has a tendency to leach into the water.This will create a very low PH in your water.Not to mention the fact that if you have done your research,you should know that you want a very high negative ORP (Oxidation Reduction potential) in your water.And that ORP value will leave your water source within 24 hours if not consumed.Therefore,ridding you of the benefit of ionized,alkaline water.
Our Enagic water unit hooks up directly to your sink.Creating the exact kind of water you are looking for at the touch of a button and is not housed in plastic.That is the key to fresh,on-demand water that is not only great for you but tastes great.
I hope this helped.You may contact me anytime with questions or concerns.
All the best,
Alexander Lodi
864-684-1008
Jack 10.15.07 at 7:02 am
Hi - Just a quick new addition and a couple reiterations of previous observations.
a) alkali water should not be stored in plastic - glass or cermaic only because of leeching
b) you should start slowly - drink less water or water of lower ph - too much high ph water too suddenly will shock you system
c) i had digestive trouble when i 1st started drinking alkali water - but it was almost always when i drank the water with or near a meal. if you think about it - your stomache needs/produces acids to digest your food - by drinking alaki water with the meal you are neutralizing the stomache acid - causing problems.
Hope this helps ..
Jack
Malou 01.04.08 at 8:57 pm
Hi, i have read your story, experienced after drinking the alkaline water. Well, your family is not really sick, but the water is cleansing your body. Continue drinking until all toxins remove from your body.
tom 01.05.08 at 10:11 am
As an owner of a water treatment company lay your fears to rest about Ionized alkaline water. As with any information source one should research thoroughly what they are saying. Unless the new bottled water actually had a large content of minerals there isn’t any way of raising the Ph value of water.
I would say the company that bottled that water wasn’t bottling in a “clean room” which led to some type of contaminant to be allowed to get in the bottle or was already existing on the equipment used for bottling. Either way I wouldn’t purchase any more water from this vendor. I also would purchase water in glass bottles unless you can be sure that the last stage of the bottling process is ozination. Ozination should also occur in the rinsing phase of the bottling as well, not to mention UV lighting of the capping and filling process.
Jomar S. Mendoza 04.26.08 at 12:17 pm
We have a water ionizer unit that separates acid and alkaline water from tap water. Unlike some water stations, our unit uses titanium platinum plate for this process. If you need more info., feel free to drop me an email or call/text me at 09273423638.
Jomar S. Mendoza
Sr. Health Consultant
Health Care Enterprise
Connie Veneracion 04.26.08 at 2:13 pm
Hey Jomar, you’ll be hearing from me. I charge for advertising space.
kitkat 04.30.08 at 1:46 pm
hi
i’ve just read your comments about alkaline water for me we’ve been using it since my husband is doing the machine by himself we’re the one who is testing it as a living testimonial about the machine i would just say that we’ve been using the usual distilled water and it makes us acidic whenever we drink it but with alkaline it gives us energetic day. the reaction of the alkaline water is that at first when you drink it it will detoxify your body by then you will experience burp if you are acidic and by then you will feel asleep also as the water sweep the toxins and removes free radicals in your body the alkaline water prevents many sicknesses as well. see http://www.waterworks4u.com by the way the technology itself is from japan and korea . If you want to test how acidic the water that you are drinking you can test it by ph tester you can purchase the ph tester in pet shops choose the brand name sera and test it i’m sure you’ll be amazed how acidic your water is. For more information about the machine you can call us at 4460886 or 09163017263 look for cris.
kitkat 04.30.08 at 1:59 pm
by the way alkaline water is somewhat taste like what we call bucal in tagalog by the way alkaline water is good for diabetic and for those who want to loose some weight i recommend alkaline water for you to drink.
kitkat
baron 05.01.08 at 6:42 am
as i’ve read alkaline water have studies in japan and korea and they proved to be a one of the altenative medicine to be considered kasi if you’re not eating alkaline fruits and vegetables uminom ka nalang ng alkaline water diba.
kitkat 05.01.08 at 7:17 am
about my article last april 30 it makes our acid in the stomach neutralizes whenever we drink alkaline water
pjr 06.17.08 at 9:36 pm
I thoughtthat it might of been the creek water or the salad you all ate.
Or some leaching went on with the plastics from the colmen bottles you used from the alkalin water.
renee dominguiano 06.28.08 at 7:29 pm
from renee dominguiano
what happened to my comment why it was delisted.
Connie Veneracion 06.28.08 at 7:36 pm
You already posted the same comment on another thread; there’s no need to post the same comment more than twice.
renee dominguiano 07.05.08 at 12:26 am
http://actualjokesindailylife.blogspot.com/
check this out
Cher 08.23.08 at 3:35 pm
Hi Connie,
It is unfortunate that your family had bad experience with drinking alkaline water. I don’t know if this will help or change your perception on alkaline water. Alkaline water should be drank fresh from the machine, if not drank within 24 hours, it just becomes regular purified water. Secondly, if this is your first time to drink alkaline water, you should atart at a lower level of alkalinity then gradually increase the level as you get used to it. We have to give our stomach/body time to adjust in drinking alkaline water. It is recommended that you install a machine in your own home. Maybe what you bought has high level of alkaline in which your body is not yet ready for it. If you buy a unit and use that as your daily drinking water, you will save in the long run bec don’t have to buy those 5 gallon water anymore and panic if you forgot to reorder. The machine is not that expensive when you think of the benefits and savings you will have. I hope this helps
neil sumagaysay 09.14.08 at 9:21 pm
it is true! my wife and i experience worser than yours!
JMonreal 09.14.08 at 11:49 pm
The safest and least expensive water you can use for drinking and cooking is a filtered water right from your kitchen faucet. Just make sure you buy one of good quality that’s guarranted to give you thousands of gallons or years of usage, one that reduces levels of chlorine, lead and other contaminants by more than 90%.
Brad Hamilton 10.01.08 at 7:10 am
After reading many responses, drinking alkaline water for 10 years, and being in the alkaline water business for over 10 years, I can tell there are many misconceptions, opinions, and concerns about alkalinity, acidity, pH and what is really healthy or not when it comes to alkaline water consumption. I have read all of them and there are answers which people will chose to either believe or not.
Here is my two cents, ionized alkaline water in a plastic bottle will not leach the plastic, why? It’s alkaline not acidic and yes, keeping it out of the sun will reduce the leaching. People who are acidic will detoxify and my have discomfort, tiredness, and possibly a headache if they consume too much water too fast initially for the first couple of weeks.
My kids have been drinking alkaline water since they have been old enough to drink water and are very healthy kids and can’t stand RO water, distilled, or even filtered tap. They can taste the difference, and it isn’t me brainwashing them. Do you know all alkaline water has in it are trace minerals that are already in the water you drink? Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium. One of 4 things the ionizer machine does is removes the harmful minerals, chlorine, flouride, and kills the bacteria.
Don’t you think the clinical studies and usage in Japanese hospitals, vegetable fields, milk farms, golf courses and homes plus a certified medical instrument in Japan says anything about it’s validity? The Japanese are some of the healthiest people on the planet and the US is getting sicker and sicker. I don’t know about you, but physiologically, we are 75-85% water and by the time a person dies, they are 45-55% water.
Go to Amazon and get these books, “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water” and “Alkalize or Die”, it may change your mind about water, alkalinity and health.