Alkaline water, fact or myth

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ALKALINE WATER
INTRODUCTION
The growth of the internet and increase in the number of literate people has seen a widespread change in the marketing tactics employed by companies. Social media, for example, has become one of the most used platforms by marketing agents in an attempt to boost their sales. The use of grapevines in social media is largely supported by the high number of people who rely on the platforms to get updates on what is trending in the world. Some of these grapevines may provide useful information, but most of them support unconfirmed myths that are often misconceived as truths. Marketing agents also have developed a trend of highlighting the advantages of the product, which in most cases are exaggerated and hiding the disadvantages which the consumer gets to discover on their own. In this savvy technology era, people need to do adequate research on the products they are purchasing, especially ones that are being marketed by celebrities.
THESIS
Water has very many varying uses in the human body. A normal human body is mostly made of water (Mercola). It is used in very many, if not all, of our body functions. It is the single most important resource that we take (Berardi). The ph. scale of natural water should be 7.0 which make it neutral with no acidic or alkaline properties. Alkaline water on the other hand has increased the hydroxyl ions which increase its alkalinity. The argument between the benefits of consuming alkaline water and the myths have people divided, which shows the need for product research before consuming it.

WATER ALKALINITY
Alkalinity is the ratio of the hydrogen ions with the hydroxyl ions. Water has a balanced ration which makes it neither acidic nor alkaline. Alkalized water contains alkalizing compounds such as calcium, silica, potassium, magnesium and bicarbonate. The water is passed through an ionization process called electrolysis. The process can produce both acidic and alkaline products. Scientists have argued that companies provide baseless argument on the machines that conduct the ionization process. There bases for refuting these claims are the stomach’s ph. levels. The stomach is highly acidic and this affects everything we consume. The scientists claim no matter how alkaline the water we take is, the stomach’s acidity ensures everything leaving the stomach is fairly acidic. Blood regulators are also present to ensure the ph. is around 7.35 to 7.45 (Johannes). These clearly show the lack of information spread on the subject. Given the increased sales in the machines, people seem to generally trust the celebrities who are paid to promote the products. These in most cases include athletes who are known to require large amounts of energy to maintain their athletics. Given the high charges for acquiring these ionizing machines, range of 1000 dollars to 6000 dollars, an adequate analysis of the positives and negatives is required.
POSITIVE IMPACT OF ALKALINE WATER
Hydration is the most significant and important advantage posed by the widespread use of alkaline water. This, of course, can be achieved by drinking natural water, but the increased publicity of the alkaline water has made the practice of taking water grow, which in turn increases the hydration levels. The people have acquired the necessary awareness to develop the habit of drinking water regularly, and the half-truths about the curing properties of alkaline water, have been instrumental in achieving the high hydration levels. Hydration ensures the body operates at a maximum capacity with the presence of water. As mentioned above, most if not all body functions involve water that signifies its importance in our lives. Hydration is very important in maintaining the volume of blood in our body which in turn ensures a normal heartbeat rhythm, especially when conducting high energy burning activities like exercises. Hydration also ensures the kidney can effectively remove the waste in our blood effectively. The kidney can be considered the laundry room in our body by keeping the blood in our system clean and depositing the waste into the bladder that is, in turn, passed out as urine. The process ensures the body is toxin free reducing the chances of hostile body conditions. Hydration also ensures the body can regulate its temperature adequately. The water is used to keep the body cool when in hot atmospheric conditions. Sweat carries away the latent heat of vaporization that gives the skin and the whole body a cooling effect.
Another advantage portrayed includes increasing the PH of our bodies especially when undertaking high energy burning activities. When doing exercises or other heavy duty work, hydrogen atoms tend to accumulate leading to fatigue. Alkaline water with the excess hydroxyl atoms seeks to fix that. This allows the individual using the water last longer in very strenuous activities. The water also reduces the general PH of the food we take especially highly acidic junk food. The current world has seen an increase in the consumption of fast foods that have been identified to cause more harm than good. The modern men and women have no time to prepare well-balanced diets that have led to the increased consumption of the fast foods. Alkaline water neutralizes the acidity the foods present that in turn improves our digestive and assimilation process.
Ionized water also seems to hold certain unfavorable conditions to pathogens and disease causing microorganisms. The ionized water has a negative Oxidation Reduction Potential (Andrews) which in turn creates a very un-conducive environment in the stomach for the pathogens. The water also has shown properties in preventing advanced glycation end products, which are responsible for various risks including Diabetes. The ionized water reduces the chances of the sugar molecules combining to lipid fats forming advanced glycation end products. The process therefore displays the given advantage of using the ionized water. Alkaline water also exhibit high antioxidant properties (Nagai & Inoue, 181) which act as reducing agents at the cellular level in the body.
THE MYTHS
The increase in sales of the ionizing machines can be attributed to the increased grapevines which mostly contains false information. Myths such as the water can cure all sicknesses are not evidence based. Ionized water contains a higher PH and few different minerals than the natural drinking water. The water does not cure cancer and other diseases. The PH of the human beings is kept steady by several self- regulating processes which greatly reduces the applicability of the water. In a study of students taking examinations, those who bought water were noted to have better results. The study, however, did not have a complete analysis of those who took the water. The study, however, seeks to show the importance of drinking water and its effect in our normal daily body functions, in this case, the brain. The ionized water, however, has been shown to increase the rate of absorption which can be catastrophic to users taking medicine. The normal medicine dosage is supposed to take a while to be absorbed. Ionized water hinders the expected functioning thus inducing side effects. The myths can be largely differentiated from the truths mainly by their applicability. Curing all diseases and some that have no cure yet seem to be too good to be true thus myths.
CONCLUSION
Ionized water can be compared to affect us, in the same way, natural water does. The advantages exhibited by the alkalinized water are almost similar to the use of the natural water. Laura Johannes, on the other hand, confirms the healing properties if the ionized water by losing the need for antidepressants after using the alkalinized water. This revelation provides an insight on the many un-researched advantages the ionized water may contain. On the other hand, the most information being passed around on the properties the water exhibit is mostly false which often lead to increased sales for the company at the expense of the customers. There is the need for a comprehensive research for all the side effects of using ionized water. The increased consumption though advantageous to the human population may yield negative effects given the high expectations being placed on the water by the myths and misconceptions.
The companies that sell the ionizing machines should also quit passing false information to the customers just to boost their sales despite lacking the scientific explanation (Lower) to back this information up. Regulatory bodies should also ensure the companies pass on information that is accurate to the customers. The customers, on the other hand, have to be very careful on what they are buying. The marketing agents rarely rely on their ethical and moral selves in developing marketing campaigns that leave the consumer to pick on what is real from what is exaggerated. 
Works CitedBerardi, John. “Alkaline Water: Beneficial or Bogus.” The Huffington Post, (2015).
Johannes, Laura. “The Positive and Negative of Ionizing Water.” The Wall Street Journal, (2012).
Andrews, Ryan. “Alkaline Water.” Precision Nutrition, (2014).
Dr. Mercola. Mercola.com, 2010. Web. December 12, 2015.
Lower Stephen. Aqua Scams, 2015. Web. December 13, 2015.
Nagai, Takeshi, and Reiji Inoue. “Preparation and the Functional Properties of Water Extract and Alkaline Extract of Royal Jelly.” Food Chemistry. 84.2 (2004): 181-186. Print.