The Alkaline Water Myth?

Hey folks water is a whole big issue but in this post I wanted to look at Alkaline Water as I've had several people recently musing about whether or not it is something to consider with cancer. I don't give advice here - I'll leave that to others, but here are some of my thoughts and link to a video that might interest....

When I was first diagnosed with cancer several people recommended I get an expensive alkaline water machine including a former GP. I spoke to suppliers at a Festival and they were convincing. There were many claims also on the internet about how alkaline water can help weight loss, detoxification, pH balance, bone health, hydration, heart health, energy levels and even claims around cancer - it is said that cancer cells can no longer develop in an alkaline environment. 

I bought pH strips for a few quid to test my urine, thinking this might help inform my decision - but I had nagging doubts. I couldn't see how it could work.

The pH scale is how you measure acidity; zero being the most acidic and 14 being the most alkaline. A pH level of 7 is neither acidic nor alkaline. The human body apparently has a controlled pH level of about 7.4 - but levels vary in certain parts of the body. The stomach needs to be acidic between 1.35 and 3.5 to break down food and it seems urine is also naturally acidic. 

So testing pH of urine doesn’t give an accurate reading of your whole body’s pH level. So the strips were a waste of time in terms of this - but have been put to good use in chemistry experiments with a granddaughter.

It seems to me if a person drinks alkaline water it may increase pH, but only very temporarily - as it goes through the stomach it is surely impacted by digestive juices so that the contents all have the same pH? Since most uptake of water happens in the intestines, the water that enters the bloodstream will have the pH of the small intestine digestive juices rather than the pH present at the time of drinking. So how can alkaline water impact?

So it seems consuming alkaline water has little effect on changing the pH of the blood, but a few studies have also looked at the effect of alkaline water or diet on the development or progression of cancer. Very Well Health report on 'a large systematic review (combining 252 abstracts) looking at alkaline water and cancer' that 'there did not appear to be any evidence that consuming this water had any effect on the initiation (development) or treatment (progression) of cancer. In only one of the studies was any significant association found, and that, in turn, was slight (between pH and bladder cancer)....A Finnish study looking specifically at men with bladder cancer and an alkaline diet, however, found that a lower urine pH (reflective of the alkaline measures) did not significantly reduce the risk of developing bladder cancer.'

It is true cancer cells typically alter their environments and do seem to prefer a more acidic environment; converting glucose/sugar into lactic acid. The acidic pH levels of the area around cancer cells appear to help tumours grow. However the alkaline water has to go through the stomach so I am not clear on how it could work? Whereas an alkaline diet could have more impact because of the food nutrients rather than the alkalinity?

Dr Kevin Connors dismisses alkaline water and comments in his book 'Stop Fighting Cancer and Start Treating the Cause', "Vegetables and whole fruit help to bring balance back to the system and are alkalizing to the tissue, not because they register higher on the pH scale (lemons are extremely acidic) but because of what they do inside us. They are filled with nutrients and enzymes that aide healing."

Overall it seems alkaline water appears to have little effect on the development or progression of cancer. I didn't buy one of those expensive machines and it highlighted to me early on in my cancer journey how important it is to do research and check everything out. There is so much out there from so many well-meaning folks - as well as less-meaning folks!

If you want to hear more about this issue I think an interesting place to start is this video: Markus Rothkranz interviews James Sloane who explains acids and alkaline substances and how they affect our bodies, in particular why not to use baking soda or alkaline water as healing methods: https://youtu.be/7O6GhVCvVgE