On Why Kangen Water Is Silly

by sothatshowiwork

Or:

The Only Thing About That Really Nice Restaurant That I Feel Comfortable Complaining About

So not too long ago I go to a really nice restaurant and notice at the bottom of their menu that they serve Kangen water with a pH of 8.5. This struck me as a very odd choice for a restaurant that seemed very hip and health conscious. A friend of mine later tried to convince me that “adding oxygen to the water means that you are more oxygenated and it’s better for you!” I’m not believing it.

Problem #1: Structure of oxygen
The type of oxygen we breath is two oxygen atoms very closely bonded. This state lasts for a very long time. Oxygen is highly electronegative, which means that it will not easily give up electrons.  This can be present dissolved in water. Because of this bonded arrangement the molecule it is not going to affect the pH as Kangen claims it would. This negates most peoples understanding of how Kangen “adds oxygen” to the water.

Problem #2: What pH actually means
The definition of pH is that it is a measurement of how many hydrogen atoms you have wandering around in a water based solution. Pure water (think distilled or deionized water) will have a pH of 7.  This means that most the molecules in the water are what we think of as water H2O, and there is a perfect balance of OH- and H+.  As we increase the amount of H+ the solution becomes acidic and the pH will range from 0 to less than 7. These H+ will often interact with other molecules, and in a water based solution you’ll actually have more H3O than H2O.  If we lower the amount of H+ the water molecules will begin to break apart and we will have lots of OH- compared to water.  This is what Kangen filtration systems accomplish.  They are increasing OH- and filtering off H+. (Slight aside: blood has a very specific acceptable pH range and a system to keep it within that range.)

Problem #3: How your stomach works
Food and liquids that we intake need to be broken down into simple parts so that we can absorb the nutrients in them.  Absorption takes place in our small intestines. The stomach’s role is to break down food.  This is accomplished in two ways.  Mechanically the stomach mixes and churns food causing pressure to break it down even smaller than you chewed it. Chemically some very interesting things happen.  First, the stomach produces an acid (HCl, which will release lots of H+ into the mix).  Second, there are enzymes that the stomach produces.  One of these, pepsin, is actually released as pepsinogen and needs H+ to be ready to break down proteins.  The acid is also going to cause proteins to unfold, making it available for break down by pepsin.  What a great cycle!

If we are adding OH- to the water we drink with a meal, it is going to accept the H+ from our stomach acid making neutral H2O. This reduces the H+ available for pepsinogen. It reduces the denaturing effect of the acid on proteins. Also, if somehow OH- is going to add oxygen to your blood stream, this effect is entirely negated by it bonding with H+ to make water.  You might as well just drink water to start with. By the way, if you are happy to help pepsin to be formed you would be interested to note the pH of beer is around 5.

Problem #4: Absorption of oxygen
So, even were we to  accept that OH- does indeed make oxygen available to your system and that it is able to make it past your stomach, that doesn’t mean that your body is actually going absorb it.  Oxygen is carried by a protein called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin bonds with oxygen when more oxygen is available than the blood is carrying. Hemoglobin bonds with carbon dioxide when there is more of that than the blood is carrying.  The blood that comes to the intestines to pick up nutrients is coming directly from the heart.  It is full of oxygen and so is unlikely to pick up any more.

*Quite a lot of physical break down occurs in our mouths, and saliva has a chemical that begins the break down of carbs.  Additionally in the very beginning of our small intestines quite a lot of enzymes are added which cause chemical breakdown. However, break down is the stomach’s main role in digestion.