I want to clear something up right away: If you have a good memory of high school chemistry class and can’t ever remember coming across the term ‘ionized water’, don’t worry, your memory isn’t failing you. Because, scientifically, there’s no such thing as ionized water.
So what is ionized water then? It’s actually the marketing term used to describe a drinking water product that has gone through the electrolysis process. Putting the science hat on again, the correct term would be electrolyzed water. But we’re not scientists (well, most of you reading this aren’t!) so what is ionized water‘s raison d’être (remember French classes?No?!) that should make everyone sit up and take notice? And why should you consider drinking the stuff?
Let me try to explain. As you’ll discover, the science behind ionized water translates to powerful curative properties that everyone could do with more of.
The spring water of Lourdes, France has long been recognized for it’s remarkable healing properties. Millions and millions of people travel to Lourdes each year in the hope of finding healing from the waters in the Grotto of Massabielle.
And it’s not just all symbolism and myth; the spring water from there has been tested to confirm that it is probably the healthiest drinking water in the world as it is healthy alkaline water packed with antioxidants.
The water gets these properties from energy, and in a spring like the ones in Lourdes, this energy is gained naturally from the sun, which makes the water very alkaline and packs it with antioxidant minerals. The same process happens in other natural springs or glacial streams, and it is why drinking these waters is good for you. Want to know what else has the same effect on water? Electrolysis, performed inside a water ionizer machine. So what is ionized water? It’s water that has come out of one of these machines.
Ok, science lesson time again: all waters and all aqueous solutions contain both H+ and OH- ions. If the quantity of H+ exceeds that of the OH-, the water is acidic. If there are more OH- ions than H+, the water is alkaline. The healing spring water from Lourdes (as indeed any healthy natural spring) gains more OH- ions naturally as it is energised by the sun. And water inside a water ionizer gains more OH- ions all the same by electrolysis inside its electrolysis chamber.
These machines use platinum and titanium plates connected to positive and negative electrodes to deliver these good ions to your tap water just like in nature. And these ions are important as the more of them present in the water not only makes it more alkaline, but increases the amount of antioxidants too.
Forget about the question what is ionized water for a second. Something you definitely should have learned about in high school science class are free radicals. If your memory bank is failing to register the term again let me give you a quick refresher – free radicals arise usually during metabolism in the body. Sometimes the body’s immune system cells purposefully create them to neutralize viruses and bacteria. However, free radicals are also spawned by our environment from things like pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides.
Because a free radical is a molecule with an unpaired electron, they damage other cells to try and ‘steal’ another electron from another molecule, which in turn turns it into a destructive free radical. This cell damage, over time, causes diseases like cancer and accelerates the ageing process. In short, free radicals are a very bad thing.
Luckily, ionized water has special properties that make it a free radical destroyer. The antioxidants neutralize free radicals by donating one of their own electrons to the free radical molecules, ending the electron ‘stealing’ process. The antioxidant molecules themselves don’t become free radicals by donating an electron because they are stable in either form.
So if I go back to the original question at the start of this article now that the science is out of the way (phew!), and asked you what is ionized water good for, you would tell me this: ionized water is good for being an alkaline antioxidant water that is extremely healthy to drink. And that would be a lesson well learnt, don’t you think?
To your health,
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