Had a good Q from Peter today…
“Hi Ian,
I have been asked a question by an elderly friend whom we organised a UltraStream for! He showed his doctor the brochure…..and the question was asked…
The Alkalizing effect on stomach acid levels!”
Firstly, Peter, we need to compare alkalinity and pH.
alkalinity is a measure of the amount of alkaline minerals in a liquid. A good example would be water with added calcium carbonate.
pH is the measure of hydrogen ions in water. Hydrogen ions in water may be increased by alkaline minerals reacting with the water, but they may also be in water as a result of electrolysis (electronic water ionizer) or passing through magnesium (UltraStream).
If we drink high alkaline water, the minerals in the water will continue to react with our body fluids in our body. They are known as ‘buffer’ minerals for this reason.
High pH water, on the other hand, has high levels of molecular hydrogen but not necessarily high mineral content. molecular hydrogen is actually acidic, but let’s not get caught on that, because from our research, the amount of H2 in water needed for a measurable therapeutic effect is less that one part per million.
A further point is that your tap water almost certainly has calcium carbonate in it to balance out the acidifying effect of chlorine on your pipes. So if you are drinking tap water you are already drinking alkaline water!
Now as to effect on the stomach’s acid levels. I am often amazed that doctors say that the stomach is a bag of acid. It’s simply not. The miracle fo the stomach is that it relies on signals from our salivary system to determine – in advance – exactly how much acid to produce for the food. It’s not to ‘digest’ it – it’s to break it down sufficiently for digestion in the lower colon, using alkaline digestive juices. If it was a bag of acid waiting patiently for food to arrive, we’d be faced with a continuous energy drain in producing bicarb to protect the stomach wall. As it is, we produce the exact amount of bicarb at the same time as we produce acid, so when the acid enters the stomach, fresh bicarb has already coated the stomach walls. How cool is that!?
Some experts say that drinking alkaline (not high pH) water does ‘kickstart’ the stomach to rebalance with an injection of acid. In this sense, the alkaline water is helping the stomach’s acid production. Others say that the water quickly passes into the lower intestine because the pyloric valve at the outlet to the stomach is hard-wired to open when an alkaline substance is detected in the stomach. This makes some sense to me because if something is alkaline and already less than solid, it’s ready for digestion. So the valve opens and the water passes through. This also makes sense because of the number of people who report a total lack of bloating with our water (me included). My interpretation, after observing this for the last 15 years, is that it goes down easily because unlike acidic water, the pyloric valve responds immediately.
Finally, although the electronic systems do concentrate alkaline minerals, the UltraStream does not, so apart from a small amount of magnesium that dissolves as the water passes through it, you’re only getting the alkaline minerals you get in the tap water. However, it is loaded with molecular hydrogen, and being the smallest molecule in the world, H2 is passing through our body tissue with ease, seeking free radical oxygen to unite with. It’s not as if it remains for any time in the stomach. In fact, it’s important to drink your UltraStream water as soon as it leaves the unit because you begin to lose H2 from the water immediately.
No-one knows why H2 is so beneficial, especially considering that we create ten to fifteen litres per day from breaking down fibre in the gut. But.. 400+ studies can’t be wrong, can they?
