Does Your Water Need More Ions? The latest health fad is even more ridiculous than most health fads.

Slate ^ | March 22, 2013 | Kent Sepkowitz

[neverdem]

After so many years of neglect, water appears ready to emerge as a cutting-edge health food. Perhaps it’s the fault of Gatorade, that Technicolor concoction of salt, sugar, and water people guzzle to “replenish their electrolytes.” The Gatorade inventors, some dweeby physiologists, were just trying to keep football players from collapsing in the Florida heat. They could not have foreseen what was to transpire in the decades ahead as the concept of the “sports drink” took hold, and then, more bizarrely yet, water itself became a symbol of health and status. 

With each iteration, beginning with bottled waters derived from glaciers (tres European) to the recent “enhanced water,” H₂O has moved closer to the first-class cabin. But the latest version is a real head-scratcher: ionized, alkalinized water. Companies such as Chanson, Kangen, and many others are in the game to sell you a gizmo for $1,000 (or $2,000 or $3,000) to run your tap water through. The devices contain electrodes that purport to realign your water, split off some hydrogen atoms along the way, and rid it of various pesky problems so that it will taste better and be healthier and your arthritis will go away. In a week. Maybe two.  

In every way, water, at least American water, is a strange target for an expensive course in self-improvement. The number of Americans sickened by tap water, leaving aside the flood-induced Milwaukee cryptosporidiosis outbreak of 1993, is minuscule. Top-notch municipal plumbing remains perhaps our greatest achievement. We confront many ubiquitous environmental risks daily, but water is not among them. It is safe and unobjectionable. Plus it’s cheap—and yet...

[GOPJ]

Good story - thanks for sharing.

[ctdonath2]

Sounds like an excuse to frequent a Bavarian biergarten: nothin’ but barley, hops, water & yeast as in accordance with the world’s oldest food purity laws. Heck, monks lived on nothing but for centuries.

[neverdem]

I was diagnosed with Stage Three Leukemia at age 52. I did Chemo, was in remission for a little over two years, then back to Chemo. My numbers are slipping again after four years, so we’ll see.

You may want to check these links.

Engineered immune cells battle acute leukaemia - Modified T cells seek out and destroy blood cancer.

HIV Vector Licks Leukemia

http://clinicaltrials.gov/

[Myrddin]

It's a matter of perpetual vigilance. I'll take a boring diet that doesn't make me sick. Chili's "Caribbean salad with grilled chicken" is a good gluten free choice.

If you like hot cereal, the baking section of Walmart has a nice gluten free brown rice cereal. My preferred mix is: 1/2 cup of the dry cereal, 1 1/2 cups of water, a dash of cinnamon, a squeeze of real honey, a handful of chopped walnuts, a handful of raisins. Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes. Stir and let set for a couple minutes. Another 45 seconds in the microwave to finish. I top it with some Silk Soy milk to thin it. No gluten. No lactose. Tasty.

My stock breakfast is built around the Cytosport Whey Isolate (chocolate flavored) from Costco. 8 oz of Silk Soy milk. A tablespoon of freeze dried Nescafe French roast coffee. A tablespoon of Yerba Prima "Colon Care" and a scoop of the when protein. I use a Hamilton Beach drink mixer to combine the ingredients. That avoids clumping of the powdered ingredients. The "Colon Care" is tasteless. It gives the mix a thick body like an ice cream shake.

The chocolate/almond/raisin "Zone" bars have been a safe item to carry for lunch. Walmart has them at a good price.

It takes a few days to shake off the effects of an unintended gluten exposure. It happens. Stick with a reliable diet and the problems go away in time.

[Myrddin]

I didn't get an allowance either. What I did get was permission to use the garden tools to work for the neighbors. Mowing lawns, raking leaves, washing cars and shoveling snow were common ways to earn money. While living in Federal Way, WA, I earned some money splitting logs for the seniors on the street. Not much opportunity to do that in San Diego.

[Myrddin]

I noticed changes within two days after getting iodine at reasonable levels back into my diet. I've been holding at 25 mg daily to catch up from being so depleted.

You need to supplement with selenium as well. Brownstein's book explains why.

[Kickass Conservative]

Thanks, my Wife mentioned those trials. I have Chronic Leukemia, and that the first group they tried it out on.

A second trial is even working for people with Acute Leukemia, something they thought would be impossible.

Right now I’m half way to the “estimated” expiration date I was given when Diagnosed. My Oncologist used the phrase, “with today’s treatment options”, and that was over seven years ago.

You never know, I might end up getting hit by an Asteroid that NASA missed. My Heirs can blame my death on the Sequester and sue the Government.

[exDemMom]

It sounds like she has orthorexia.

Actually what’s wrong with her is that she is a very, very liberal psychologist.

She continually complains because her insurance rates are going up but wants the state to pay her more for seeing people who have Medicaid insurance. Thinks she should be able to deduct the cost of stockings she wears to professional meetings as a business expense because otherwise she wouldn’t buy them.

If she has a pain or discomfort she goes on the internet and finds an exotic disease that fits those symptoms.

I could write volumes but you get the idea.

It is my experience that, very often, people who have various mental health issues gravitate very strongly towards the liberal side of the spectrum. Michael Savage calls liberalism a mental disorder. I don't think it is, but it sure draws those people.

It sounds to me like the lady you're describing has a few other issues in addition to the orthorexia. She apparently likes to be a victim and has hypochondria.

She must be a pleasure to be around. < /sarc >

[Grams A]

She must be a pleasure to be around. < /sarc > “

I just refer to her as “whiney butt”. Those that know her and my association with her know who I am talking about.

Many of my clients are mental health practitioners, only a couple are libs - got rid of the rest of them. But I really prefer dealing with the guys, most of the female ones are control freaks and a real pain in the dupa.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I used to work with a guy long ago (back in the eighties) that sold ionized water products - he sold for a company called Bio-line IIRC. He talked me into trying it, but I never noticed any positive (or negative) affects from it. I just assumed it was a scam and never bought any more. I remember the look my mom gave me - “You paid HOW MUCH for WATER?” Mom knew best, it seems. Nothing is new under the sun.

[exDemMom]

Which just shows ‘highly edumacated’ people can still be pretty stoopid, too.

It's because they have just enough education to fall for the Dunning-Kruger effect. Scammers selling things like ionized water use big words to make people think they're experts on ionization of water. People with *some* education think they know what all the words mean, and they're impressed and buy the product. People with a greater amount of education recognize that all the big words only add up to a scam. The Dunning-Kroger effect shows up a lot.

I use ionized water for almost everything. Except for scientific research. When I don't want pesky ions interfering with experiments, I use water that has been filtered and deionized through a very expensive water purification system. After washing laboratory dishes, we rinse them with deionized water before setting them out to dry.