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Addressing the Myth that Stomach Acid Renders Drinking Alkaline Water Useless

One of the common myths and objections we hear is that drinking ionized alkaline water can’t possibly affect the alkalinity of the body since our stomach acid will destroy any alkaline substance ingested.

What people need to understand is that there is no hydrochloric acid pouch in our body, and the stomach wall makes sodium bicarbonate to alkalize our food not to digest it. HCL is only produced when we eat or drink acid-forming foods and drinks and is balanced in equal proportion by sodium bicarbonate production. When we consume alkaline forming foods and drink alkaline ionized water, the body does not need the sodium bicarbonate production and thus the HCL production is not required either.

People also mistakingly assume that when we drink ionized alkaline water we are trying to impact the alkalinity of the blood, which must remain at a very precise pH in order to live. In actuality, drinking ionized alkaline water can affect the alkalinity of our intracellular fluids and detox on a cellular level. It is not our goal to mess with the pH of the blood but rather to give the body the bioavailable alkaline minerals it requires to balance the blood pH naturally without having to steal from other places in the body such as the bones, teeth and eyes.

However, in one 2014 study titled Hydrogen-rich water affected blood alkalinity in physically active men, 26 men were given 2 liters of hydrogen-rich (alkaline) water to drink for 14 days while another 26 men were given a placebo (tap water). The results of this double blind randomized study were that
the intake of HRW significantly increased fasting arterial blood pH by 0.04 and postexercise pH by 0.o7 which suggests that drinking alkaline water can have a positive impact on the blood and that stomach acid does not destroy the alkalinity of the water.Click here for the study

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