Is alkaline water better?
Question: Is alkaline water better for you than plain water?
Answer: The simple answer is no. There is not any evidence to support choosing bottled or home-treated alkaline water over safe tap water or regular bottled water.
To better understand what is meant by alkaline water, let's start with a review of pH. This is a measure of the acid-base balance of a fluid. The range of pH is zero to 14, with a pH of 7 being neutral.
A pH above 7 means the fluid is alkaline (basic) and a pH below 7 is acidic. The higher the pH number the more alkaline it is, and the lower the number the greater the acidity. For reference, the normal pH of our blood is slightly alkaline, with a range of 7.35 to 7.45. The fluid in the human stomach is very acidic, with a usual pH of 1.5 to 3.5.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that town water pH should range between 6.5 and 8.5, with most town water averaging around 7.5. Common bottled waters are usually close to neutral at a pH of 7.0. Bottled alkaline water has a higher pH between 8 and 9.
Because the fluid in the stomach is so acidic, once regular or alkaline water gets down to your stomach there will be little difference in the resulting stomach fluid pH. You could potentially raise the stomach fluid pH by drinking a lot of alkaline water, but it would only be temporary. Even if you drank enough alkaline water to slightly raise the pH of your blood, your kidneys would quickly go into action to rebalance your blood pH.
One potential benefit of alkaline water is to provide symptom relief of heartburn from acid reflux. But again, this would only be temporary. There are much more effective options, such as antacids and drugs that block stomach acid production.
There are possible disadvantages from drinking alkaline water with pH levels above 9. The water will likely have a bitter taste. And for people who regularly take stomach acid production blockers called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to maintain a higher stomach pH, drinking strong alkaline water could be dangerous. Adding alkaline water could raise that pH even more and might result in an increased blood pH, which can alter the normal blood levels of chemicals like potassium, especially if they have kidney disease.
About the Author
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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