The consumer demand for alkaline water has grown steadily in the 21st century. A report by Global Insights Services places worldwide consumption at 300 million liters in 2024, with 60% sold in individual bottles, 30% in delivered bulk sales, and 10% by in-place treatment devices. There’s a projected increase of 100% by 2035.
The beginning of the interest in alkaline water is credited to Henri Coanda, a Romanian physicist who, in early 1930, traced the longest-living people at the time to a Himalayan mountain group called the Hunza people. He postulated the cause for their longevity was their drinking water, which was glacial meltwater that had passed over rocks, thus yielding a chemistry of Calcium, bicarbonate (HCO3-) alkalinity, pH 6.9–8.12, plus Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Sulfate, and Chloride. Mr. Coanda documented similar positive results for Azerbaijan villagers in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as tribal populations in the Andes Mountains. Simultaneously and independently, Dr. Suwa in Japan arrived at a similar belief. Dr. Suwa spent many years synthesizing the process, and in 1958 had a large system in a clinic providing the water to patients. As an aside, perhaps lending credibility to the scientific skills of Henri Coanda, he is the developer of the Coanda effect, which to this day is taught as the major lift component in airplane wings.
No published human studies were found documenting an increase in longevity, but a 2016 NIH-controlled study of 150 mice in 3 groups demonstrated a slight but measurable increase attributed to a higher alkalinity in their water. The support for the alkaline “craze” appears to be anecdotal in nature. Other possibilities could be a feel-better response to water replacing less desirable liquids such as sodas, beer, etc.; a general trend toward being better hydrated; and the simultaneous ingestion of minerals in the water—especially Magnesium, which causes water to be absorbed into the large intestine to promote better voiding of waste.
Alkalinity consists of three different compounds: bicarbonate (HCO3), carbonate (CO3), and hydroxide (OH), which coexist in water samples. Note that only bicarbonate alkalinity is expressed in the records of Henri Coanda. This is the only form of alkalinity that exists in water up to pH 8.3; between pH 8.3 and 10.2, it is in the carbonate form, and above that it is 100% in the hydroxide form. The bicarbonate alkalinity has been documented to be systematically uptaken, whereas the other two forms simply act as antacids.
It appears that alkalinity in the bicarbonate form, as determined by a maximum water pH of 8.3, has potential health benefits if found naturally or by adding minerals to low-pH reverse osmosis water. By going higher in pH, benefits begin to diminish. Perhaps the least effective, if not ineffective, method of raising water pH is via electrolysis, which uses electrical energy to split water into H and OH, which then adds the useless OH form of alkalinity to the water.
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