Water 27 August 2009
In my opinion, the adequate intake of high quality natural spring water is the most important factor in maintaining health. Newborn babies are 90% water, the elderly are 50% water and everyone else is around 70% water. Muscles are by volume about 75% water, brain and kidneys 83%, lungs 86%, eyes 95%, bones 22% and blood 90%. That’s why making the effort to ensure the intake of high quality water is so important. Consuming the wrong type of water can actually cause fatigue, illness and weight gain.
Natural spring water is electron, magnesium and bicarbonate rich. Unfortunately most water is acidic (confirmed by independent testing at the Emerson Health and Wellness Centre). Ingestion of acidic water increases acidity in the body which promotes disease. It also promotes weight gain as fat is used to store acidic waste. A study published in the September 2002 edition of the journal Diabetes Care found that children who drank water with a pH between 6.2 and 6.9 were 3.7 times more likely to develop type 1 diabetes compared to children drinking more alkaline water.
The quality of the water can not be determined by taste alone. Quality of water is determined by:
- pH
- mineral content (hard or soft water)
- electron activity (ORP)
- presence of environmental toxins
Has water always been acidic? No. Water thousands of years ago was much different. Acid rain, increasing atmospheric CO2 and pollution has forever changed the quality and pH of our water. It should also be energised which means it is full of electrons the body can use in energy production. Natural spring water is negatively charged because of the electrons while acidic water is positively charged and therefore steals electrons from the body.
Water can also either be ‘hard’ or ‘soft’. Hard water has a high mineral content, soft water a low mineral content. Hard water lathers poorly with soap and can form mineral deposits on cooking utensils (from the calcium and mineral content). On the other hand, very soft water can corrode the metal water pipes it is carried in and therefore may contain elevated levels of cadmium, copper and lead. Soft water is harder to negatively charge in a water ioniser because of the lack of mineral content.
The electron activity of water is measured by the Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP). Free radicals are oxygen atoms with an unpaired electron and are an unfortunate byproduct (like pollution) of cellular metabolism. They do actually have a role in the body however because they can be used to attack and destroy invading organisms. Problems arise when too many free radicals are formed- because they are unstable, they steal and electron from normal molecules- a damaging process known as oxidation. Disease can be prevented if we minimise this process. One way of doing this is to provide free electrons to the free radicals and preventing their need to react with normal tissue.
Drinking electron rich water is the easiest way of neutralising the free radicals. ORP is a measure of waters ability to donate electrons to neutralise free radicals. The lower the ORP, the more electrons there are to donate. The healthiest water has on ORP of between -150mV and -300mV which provides electrons to neutralise acids in the body. Most tap water measures around +500mV and therefore tends to acquire electrons (rather than donate them) and therefore oxidise tissue.
The other benefit of electron rich water is that it reduces the formation of putrefactive substances in the gut. When food in the gut (particularly animal proteins and sugars) undergoes putrefaction, toxic substances which give stool its unpleasant odour are formed including hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, histamines, indoles, phenols and scatoles. If these substances leak back into the blood stream, they cause disease. Hydrogen sulfide and ammonia can damage the liver, histamines contribute to allergic disorders such as eczema and asthma, indoles and phenols are carcinogenic. Drinking electron rich water results in a cleaner stool with no offensive smell.
So if we are trying to stay alkaline and one way to do that is to drink natural spring water, what are the drinks to avoid?
- Soft drinks- full of acidic sugar, phosphoric acid or acidic, cancer causing artificial sweeteners. They have a pH of about 3. Not very good when we are struggling to stay slightly alkaline! Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones which contributes to osteoporosis.
- Sports drinks- pH of about 2.9
- Soda water- contain carbonic acid which drops the pH to around 2.5
- Coffee and alcohol (both very acidic)
- Fruit juices- all sugar without the fiber.
Other alkaline liquids that can be consumed include vegetable juices (no more than 1/4 carrot juice because of its high sugar content), coconut milk and fresh coconut water. Coconut water is also very high in potassium and other minerals.