|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The positive benefits of ionized alkaline water are the subject of controversy. A study was conducted over a three-year period with 150 mice.
Beginning in the second year of life, nonparametric plots suggested mice that were watered with ionized alkaline water, showed a better survival rate than the control mice.
Statistical analysis indicated that ionized alkaline water provides higher longevity in terms of the aging factor. Mice watered with ionized alkaline water live longer than control mice. Improving body weight, ionized alkaline water is primarily used as an electrolyte supplement after engaging in an intense workout. Studies early on reported that drinking ionized alkaline water has a positive effect on and in the development of offspring in mice.
Biochemical markers were analyzed and it was determined that ionized alkaline water supplementation causes an elevation in metabolic activity. This was observed in 15-week-old rats and there were pathological changes of necrosis in the myocardial muscle.
Ionized alkaline water is produced from minerals like magnesium and calcium, characterized by supersaturated hydrogen. The hydrogen-rich functional water is being used as a therapeutic strategy for the promotion of health and disease prevention.
Ionized alkaline water has been shown to suppress the effects of free radicals on living organisms, resulting in disease prevention, as well as having various biological effects. For example, antidiabetic and antioxidant actions, DNA protecting effects, and growth-stimulation activities were recorded.
The effects of alkaline water on lifespan and longevity in vivo is still unknown, even though a variety of bioactive functions have been reported. Animal alkalization has been shown to be well tolerated, as well as, to increase tumor response to metronomic chemotherapy and such the quality of life in pets with advanced cancer.
Biological effects of alkaline water were evaluated on a selected population of 150 mice (CD1, by Charles River, Oxford, UK). The Pathogen-free mice were purchased and placed in a specific breeding facility where no other animals were present. Contact with the caretakers was minimized to feeding and watering. The mice were separated into three different groups.
Group (A) the 50 mice were fed and watered with alkaline water produced by the water Ionizer (a home treatment device for producing alkaline drinking water). Group (B) the 50 mice were fed and watered with alkalized water obtained by dilution of a concentrated alkaline solution. Group (C) mice were fed and watered as the control group and tap water was used.
After a 3-year study on the biological effects of alkaline water on the population of the 150 mice, the study showed that the mice watered with alkaline water overwhelmed the control group. The second thing that the data analyzed with accelerated failure time (AFT) model, that alkaline water had benefits on longevity, in terms of the “deceleration aging factor.”
Furthermore, histological examination of the mice kidneys, hearts, intestines, livers, and brains was performed in order to verify the risk of diseases correlated to alkaline watering. No significant damage, but aging changes emerged. The organs of alkaline watered resulted to be superimposable to the organs of the control group, further shedding a light on the alkaline water consumption in humans.
By Sheena Robertson
Source:
NCBI: Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study
Image Courtesy of Chuck Holland’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License