My friend Kate has become very basic lately. She seems to have a bottle of alkaline water with her at all times and, the way she goes on about it, you’d think it was the elixir of life. It has improved her skin! Upped her focus! Tastes great! Someone bought her a bottle of the stuff when she was hungover (it’s brilliant for hangovers!) and she’s been a convert ever since.
She’s not the only one. Alkaline water, which is water that has been treated to have a higher pH level than the 6.5-7.5 pH range of most tap and bottled water, is experiencing a surge of popularity. Beyoncé helped kickstart the trend in 2013 when reports surfaced that she included alkaline water on a rider for her Mrs Carter Show world tour. Tom Brady is another celebrity who has professed his love for the stuff. According to data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a research and consultancy group, the alkaline water market has grown from being a $47m business in 2014 to a $427m business in 2017. It’s projected to be worth $687m by the end of 2018.
There are a variety of alkaline water brands on the market including Core, Essentia, and Alkaline88. Essentia has a pH of 9.5, achieved after putting regular water through an ionizing process that removes acidic components. This, the company claims, results in “better hydration”. Alkaline88 meanwhile, has a pH of 8.8 “designed to obtain optimum body balance”.
Why would drinking water with a higher pH level be better for you? Dr Tanis Fenton, an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary and an evidence analyst for Dietitians of Canada, told me that the marketing claims behind alkaline water are based on an old idea called the acid-ash hypothesis. This posits that eating certain food like meat, dairy and eggs results in something called acid ash in your body, which increases your acid levels and causes adverse health effects including osteoporosis.
For more read The Guardian
