Understanding the Principles of the Alkaline Water Ionizer

SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION by SANG WHANG

This excerpt is taken from the book ‘Reverse Aging’, written by Sang Whang.

We live in a century of highly accelerated advancements in science and technology. At the turn of the century, man began to fly. Today we can even fly to the moon. Isn't it reasonable to expect that science today should discover the technology of reverse aging? Well, it has! This series of articles is to explain scientifically the simple truth about the process of aging, how to combat the aging process and going further, how to attempt to reverse this process.

Here is the simple process of aging. Every living cell within our body creates waste products. The nutrients from our food are delivered to each cell and they burn with oxygen to provide energy for us to live. The burned nutrients are the waste products. Whether you eat gourmet or junk food, all food generates waste products. The food that is either good or bad for you is determined by the amount and quality of the wastes produced: toxic, acid, alkaline, etc. Most of our cells go through metabolism and old dead cells become waste products.

These waste products must be discharged from our body. In fact, our body tries its best to dispose of them through urine and perspiration. Virtually all waste products are acidic; that is why urine is acidic and skin surface is also acidic. The problem is that, due to several reasons, our body cannot get rid of 100% of the waste products it produces.

The main reason for this is our life style. We stay up late and get up early. We do not take time to rest; some of us work more than one job. We, therefore, spend more time producing waste products than processing and discharging them.

The second reason is food. Most of the food we like is mainly acidic. Acidic food does not necessarily mean that it tastes acidic, but that the wastes it produces are acidic. Grains and meats are mainly acidic; fruits and vegetables are alkaline. Citric fruits may taste acidic but they are considered to be alkaline because they contain alkaline minerals.

The third reason is our environment. More healthy cells are killed by air, water and soil pollution than the natural death of cells caused by normal metabolism. Thus, more waste products are created.

The question is: "What happens to those non-disposed acidic waste products?" The answer is simple. These waste products become solid wastes, such as, cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid, kidney stones, urates, phosphates, sulfates, etc., and, unknown to us, they accumulate and build-up somewhere within our body. This accumulation of non-disposed acidic wastes within our body is the aging process.

Alkaline neutralizes acid. Drinking alkaline water helps our body dissolve acid wastes and make it easier for the body to dispose of them safely. Since the accumulation of acid wastes is aging, the reduction of acid wastes is reverse aging. Alkaline water is not a medicine to cure any disease. However, if consumed regularly, alkaline water gradually reduces the accumulated acid wastes. As a result of acid reduction, there are many reports of natural health improvement in Japan.

We use alkaline soap to wash acidic dirt accumulated on our skin; we must wash the acidic dirt accumulated within our body by using alkaline water. Alkaline water has been available in Asia for over 30 years; water ionizers to produce alkaline water have been approved by Japanese government agencies as medical devices.

In future publications more detailed scientific explanations will be discussed on the subjects of water, acidity and alkalinity, effects of acidic wastes on the human body, causes of some adult diseases, effects of alkaline water, and simple methods of making alkaline water.

WATER AND LIFE

Water sustains all forms of life, including human life. The Chinese character "sea" consists of three parts, namely water, man and mother. In other words, sea is the mother of mankind. Although water is all around us, it is one of the most mysterious substances on this planet. Scientists are still discovering amazing facts about water.

Most substances are lightest in the gas state, heavier in the liquid state and heaviest in solid form. However, water gets lighter in its solid form than in its liquid form, that’s why ice floats in water. If water didn’t have this mysterious property, lakes and ponds would freeze from the bottom up in the cold of winter, killing all living things within them. One can appreciate the great wisdom of the Creator in the preservation of life. Water not only sustains life, but also protects it.

More than 70% of our body weight is water; that translates into about 10 gallons of water for a person of 120 lbs. It is very important to have a good understanding of water and to drink the right kind of water. Water is a strong solvent; therefore, it carries many invisible ingredients: minerals, oxygen, nutrients, waste products, pollutants, etc. Sea water is salty because, through eons, it dissolved minerals and salts from the mountains and carried them down stream to the ocean. Inside the human body, blood (90% of which is water) circulates throughout the body distributing nutrients and oxygen, and collecting wastes and carbon dioxides, delivering them to the disposal organs. If water was not a strong solvent, it could not perform these functions.

Water molecule is H₂O; that is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom stuck together. The shape of the water molecule is like a Mickey Mouse face; the head is oxygen and the two ears are hydrogen. Since oxygen is electrically negative and hydrogen is positive, the water molecule is electrically polarized. For this reason, a water molecule cannot exist independently; it must combine with other water molecules to form a five- or six-sided structure called a water cluster. In lower temperatures, most of the structures are hexagonal; therefore, snow flakes are hexagonal.

In distilled water, at room temperature, one out of 10 million (1 in 10⁷) water molecules is ionized. When a water molecule is ionized, it is split into hydrogen ions H⁺ and hydroxyl ions OH^-. Neutral water means that the number of hydrogen ions equals the number of hydroxyl ions in a container. The number is 10^-7 times the entire number of water molecules in that container (that number we will call N). We abbreviate this by saying that the water has a pH value of 7.

Acid water has a larger number of hydrogen ions than that of hydroxyl ions. For example, the number of hydrogen ions in acid water, with a pH value of 4, is 10^-4 times N, and that of hydroxyl ion is 10^-10 times N. The law of nature is such that the exponents must add up to 14 (4+10). The number of hydrogen ions in alkaline water, with a pH value of 9, is 10^-9 times N, and that of hydroxyl ion is 10^-5 times N. Note that 10^-5 is larger than 10^-9 by 10,000 times and, again, 5+9 is 14. Because the exponents must add up to 14, pH value of 7 is considered neutral. Since the value of pOH is 14 minus the value of pH, we don't measure nor mention its value; it will be known once the pH value is known. For that reason, there are only pH meters and no pOH measuring instruments.

Since alkaline water has more OH^-s than H⁺s, there are more oxygen atoms in it than in neutral water; that's why alkaline water is sometimes called oxygen rich water. In the same manner, acid water is oxygen deficient water. An interesting trivial fact is that there are approximately 10²⁵ H₂O molecules in a 10 ounce glass of water. If that water has a pH value of 10, there are approximately 10²¹ hydroxyl ions (OH-) and approximately 10¹⁵ hydrogen ions (H+). The number of hydrogen ions is one millionth of that of hydroxyl ions, which is negligible.

It is this abundant amount of hydroxyl ions that neutralizes acid hydrogen ions in our body to reduce the accumulated acid wastes, thus reversing the aging process.

ALKALINE WATER AND STOMACH ACID

Among the people who question the validity of alkaline water, the biggest question is, "What happens to the alkaline water once it reaches the stomach, which is highly acidic?" People who have some knowledge of the human body, including medical doctors, ask this question. Let me answer that question once and for all to erase any doubts about the health benefits of alkaline water.

In order to digest food and kill the kinds of bacteria and viruses that come with the food, the inside of our stomach is acidic. The stomach pH value is maintained at around 4. When we eat food and drink water, especially alkaline water, the pH value inside the stomach goes up. When this happens, there is a feedback mechanism in our stomach to detect this and commands the stomach wall to secrete more hydrochloric acid into the stomach to bring the pH value back to 4. So the stomach becomes acidic again. When we drink more alkaline water, more hydrochloric acid is secreted to maintain the stomach pH value. It seems like a losing battle.

However, when you understand how the stomach wall makes hydrochloric acid, your concerns will disappear. A pathologist friend of mine gave me the following explanation. There is no hydrochloric acid pouch in our body. If there were, it would burn a hole in our body. The cells in our stomach wall must produce it on an instantly-as-needed basis. The ingredients in the stomach cell that make hydrochloric acid (HCl) are carbon dioxide (CO₂), water (H₂O), and sodium chloride (NaCl) or potassium chloride (KCl).NaCl + H₂O + CO₂ = HCl + NaHCO₃, or KCl + H₂O + CO₂ = HCl + KHCO₃

As we can see, the byproduct of making hydrochloric acid is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3), which goes into blood stream. These bicarbonates are the alkaline buffers that neutralize excess acids in the blood; they dissolve solid acid wastes into liquid form. As they neutralize the solid acidic wastes, extra carbon dioxide is released, which is discharged through the lungs. As our body gets old, these alkaline buffers get low; this phenomenon is called acidosis. This is a natural occurrence as our body accumulates more acidic waste products. There is, therefore, a relationship between the aging process and the accumulation of acids.

By looking at the pH value of the stomach alone, it seems that alkaline water never reaches the body. But when you look at the whole body, there is a net gain of alkalinity as we drink alkaline water. Our body cells are slightly alkaline. In order for them to produce acid, they must also produce alkaline, and vice versa; just as a water ionizer cannot produce alkaline water without producing acid water, since tap water is almost neutral.

When the stomach pH value gets higher than 4, the stomach knows what to do to lower it. However, if the pH value goes below 4, for any reason, the stomach doesn't know what to do. That's why we take Alka-Seltzer, which is alkaline, to relieve acidic stomach gas pain. In this case, hydrochloric acid is not produced by the stomach wall, therefore, no alkaline buffer is being added to the blood stream.

Let me give you another example of a body organ that produces acid in order to produce alkaline. After the food in the stomach is digested, it must come out to the small intestine. The food at this point is so acidic that it will damage the intestine wall. In order to avoid this problem, the pancreas makes alkaline juice (known as pancreatic juice). This juice is sodium bicarbonate, and is mixed with the acidic food coming out of the stomach. From the above formulae, in order to produce bicarbonates, the pancreas must make hydrochloric acid, which goes into our blood stream.

We experience sleepiness after a big meal (not during the meal or while the food is being digested in the stomach), when the digested food is coming out of the stomach; that’s the time when hydrochloric acid goes into our blood. Hydrochloric acid is the main ingredient in antihistamines and that is what causes drowsiness.

Alkaline or acid produced by the body must have an equal and opposite acid or alkaline produced by the body; therefore, there is no net gain. However, alkaline supplied from outside the body, like drinking alkaline water, results in a net gain of alkalinity in our body.

AGING AND DEGENERATIVE DISEASES

Aging, as I define it, is the accumulation of acidic wastes within our body. Our body must maintain slightly alkaline pH level to survive. Our blood pH value is 7.4 at the artery and the cellular fluid pH value is 7.2 to 7.3. In spite of the fact that our cells produce acidic wastes constantly, the body fluids maintain this alkaline pH. Our body is an amazing surviving machine.

Our body tries very hard to dispose of acidic wastes. Most of these wastes come out of our body through urine and perspiration. That's why urine is acid in general (the pH value fluctuates between 4.6 to 8 depending upon what the body is dumping) and the skin surface is acidic. The acidic skin surface kills most of the germs and viruses that it comes in contact with, including the AIDS viruses.

In order to reduce acidity of the blood, our lungs remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) and exhaust it through breathing. Carbonic acid H₂CO₃ becomes water H₂O when CO₂ is removed. This is perhaps the fastest way to reduce blood acidity. The pH value of blood in the veins fluctuates widely depending upon the waste products dumped into them. That's why we only talk about the artery blood pH value, which is fairly constant.

With all these efforts to dispose of acidic wastes, we still make more wastes than our body can get rid of. In the meantime, the body must maintain alkalinity in the body fluids to survive. The secret is to convert some of the liquid acid into solid acid. If substance is not dissolved into water, it does not influence the pH value of the water. Some examples of these solidified acidic wastes are: cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid, kidney stones, urates, phosphates, etc. Cholesterol is incompletely burnt carbohydrate. Cows don't eat cholesterol-rich food yet they are full of cholesterol because they don't exercise and don't burn carbohydrates completely.

Acid coagulates blood! This is the fundamental problem that comes from the accumulation of acidic wastes. Buildup of acid clogs up capillaries and prevents smooth blood circulation. Body organs create all kinds of problems when blood circulation is cut off. It is amazing how the various body organs recover once blood circulation is restored, unless permanent damage is done. Even if the circulation is not completely cut off, when the amount of blood supplied is reduced, the organs function poorly and aging symptoms appear. Buildups of too much cholesterol and plaques in the artery can cause stroke, as we know very well.

Most of the degenerative diseases are caused by too much acidic wastes somewhere in our body that slows down blood circulation. Depending upon where our body accumulates the acid, disease symptoms are different. However, the causes are the same: too much acid. Modern medicine is concerned with the treatment of symptoms rather than the elimination of the causes of diseases. In the treatment of social ills, we seem to do the same thing. We address the symptoms of crimes caused by firearms by building more jail cells rather than outlawing gun sales and teaching morals in public schools to prevent youngsters from committing crimes.

The primary place where we accumulate solid acidic wastes in our body may depend on the individual's genetic makeup. This may explain why some of the degenerative diseases are hereditary. Diabetes itself is not hereditary. What is hereditary is the accumulation of solid acidic wastes around the pancreas. If we do not allow wastes to accumulate around the pancreas, there will not be diabetes in that family even if family members reach the age of 50 or 60.

Cancer cells are acidic while healthy cells are alkaline. Cancer is clearly the result of acidic wastes accumulation. Cancer and acidic environment will be discussed in other articles on Science and Health Series. Uric acid crystals in the joints cause gout. Uric acid comes from nitrogen in proteins. In Korea, gout is referred to as "the rich man's disease". Only rich men could afford to eat meat in the old days.

When phosphoric acid or sulfuric acid is created by the oxidation of nutrients that contain phosphor and sulfur, the strength of the acid is too strong for the body to take. To overcome this problem, our body removes calcium from our skeleton to make phosphate or sulfate which is a much weaker acid. Urates and phosphate in kidney stones are the combination of acid and calcium. This is how osteoporosis develops. Simply taking calcium pills does not help much because calcium does not dissolve well. Vitamin D helps dissolve calcium.

Dr. Sebastian has successfully treated osteoporosis by administering potassium bicarbonate (KHCO₃) to his patients. Our lungs remove CO₂ from potassium bicarbonate and potassium hydroxide (KOH) remains. Potassium hydroxide is a strong alkaline, which kicks out ionized calcium from urates, phosphates and sulfates to restore calcium to the skeleton.

We take vitamins, mineral supplements and trace minerals with the hope of improving our health. However, if the body acid/alkaline balance is not maintained well, the body cannot absorb these things well and we wind up throwing them out. The solution to combat adult diseases caused by aging is to drink alkaline water. It is too simple for modern medicine to understand.

THE FALLACY OF THE "FREE RADICAL" THEORY

"Free radicals" and "anti-oxidant" are the latest buzzwords of the health industry. The claim is that oxidation of some foods creates free radicals and that these free radicals’ transfer of electrons or "holes" (this is a semiconductor terminology for the absence of electron) damages the human cells. To prevent this phenomenon we have to eat anti-oxidant food or take anti-oxidant vitamins.

Technically, this doesn't make sense. To begin with, the health industry misunderstands the technical meaning of free radicals. Free radicals must have either positive or negative polarity. If the oxidation of food creates free radicals, they all must be of the same polarity. Otherwise, "free" radicals of opposite polarities will mate with each other immediately and there will not be any "free radicals".

If they were all positive polarity free radicals, as the health industry implies, all the positive "holes" will go to the skin surface immediately, because the human body is a good conductor. Remember, like charges repel each other; and the skin surface will become positively charged. If this should be the case, we would get electrical shocks whenever we shake hands with another person.

One example of this phenomenon that we experience physically is when we walk on a carpeted floor in a dry climate and build up positive charges in our body. When we touch a doorknob or shake hands, we get a shock. This is the phenomenon of free radicals. To avoid the pain of shock, we can grab a metal key firmly and touch the doorknob with the key. We will then see sparks from the key as it touches the doorknob, this means that all the charges are discharged instantly. This is how good a human body conducts electricity.

In the human body, there is a high conductivity network that spans throughout the body, in addition to the nerve, blood vessel, and lymph networks. When true free radicals, such as negative ions in the atmosphere, enter the human body in a random stochastic manner, they don't go through our body randomly. They enter and leave our body through this high conductivity network end points. Electrical current always travels through the minimum resistance path, i.e., the high conductivity path. Scientists can detect these high conductivity end points by using conductivity measuring devices. We now know that these high conductivity end points correspond to the acupuncture points that the Chinese had to learn in the hard way through the centuries.

In our body, the function of this high conductivity network is the same as a lightning arrester. The lightening arrester provides a path for the surge of current to go through so that it will not disturb the house or its electric/telephone wires. If not for this high conductivity network in our body, free radicals entering our body will travel randomly and thus disturb the nerve network, sabotaging the orderly flow of brain commands. God has provided this protective network within our body for us to live within an atmosphere where there are many free radicals hitting our body. If there were any so-called free radicals generated in our body, they will be discharged immediately through this acupuncture network.

Free radicals such as negative ions in the atmosphere are good for us. They stimulate the high conductivity path, providing micro level acupuncture treatment. Living in an urban area, we miss negative ions. Up in the mountains or near the sea, there is a higher concentration of negative ions, generating euphoric feeling in us, and people live longer in these areas. Fortunately for us, we can buy a negative ion generator to generate negative ions.

If these troublemakers were indeed "free radicals", the simple solution would be to have a negative ion generator in a room to neutralize all the free radicals and be done with it instantly; and there will not be any need to take so-called anti-oxidants. It is true that oxidation creates acidic waste products, but oxidation also provides energy that is necessary for us to live. Anti-oxidant, therefore, is not the solution. The solution is to discharge the acidic waste products that oxidation creates. Some food products, vitamins or herbs are helpful in getting rid of acidic waste products or transforming these waste products into a safer form. Perhaps these products are what are erroneously called "anti-oxidant agents".

Acidic wastes do have hydrogen ion (H+) radicals but they are not free; they are always mated with organic or inorganic acid elements and not with hydroxyl (OH-) ions, thus creating an acidic environment. To reduce these H+ ions, we need OH- ions. For this, alkaline water is the best remedy. By calling acidic waste products resulting from oxidation "free radicals", we confuse the issue and, therefore, cannot come up with the proper solution. When we truly understand the problem, a solution is easy to find.

If we substitute "free radicals" with "acidic wastes" and "anti-oxidants" with "waste removing alkaline substances", all the published articles on "free radicals" make more sense scientifically. We get old because of our "waste mismanagement". Understanding the fact that waste products are acidic, and not free radicals, we are on the right path to finding the solution to anti-aging, or "Reverse Aging".

ALKALINE WATER IONIZER

In tap water, there are alkaline minerals and acid minerals; alkaline minerals are positively charged and acid minerals are negatively charged. A water ionizer converts regular tap water into alkaline water and acid water by electric separation means.

In the ionizer, there are two chambers with opposite polarity electrodes. Alkaline minerals in the positive electrode chamber migrate into the chamber with negative electrode; the positive electrode repels positive charges and the negative electrode attracts positive charges. As these positively charged alkaline minerals enter the negative electrode chamber, they combine with hydroxyl ions (OH-) in H₂O, kicking out hydrogen ions (H⁺). These hydrogen ions then travel to the negative electrode and give up their positive charge and become electrically neutral hydrogen molecule (H₂).

The opposite process takes place with acid minerals. Acid minerals migrate into positive electrode chamber and combine with hydrogen ions (H⁺) in H₂O, kicking out hydroxyl ions (OH-). These hydroxyl ions then travel to the positive electrode, lose negative charge and become water (H₂O) and oxygen (½O₂). In the ionizer, oxygen gas is released from the acid water chamber and hydrogen gas is released from the alkaline water chamber. Both chambers remain electrically neutral.

Alkaline water created by a water ionizer is relatively acid free and, depending upon the alkaline mineral content of the tap water and the setting of the ionizer, the pH value of the alkaline water can range from 8.5 to 10.5. The main alkaline minerals of tap water are calcium and a small amount of magnesium.

HEALTH AND DIET

Looking at the global picture, there are three major categories of diseases. The first is contagious diseases caused by the invasion of foreign live substances. Today medical science is effective in isolating these invaders and finding the killer agents or developing immune shots. I believe that it is only a matter of time when medical science will find a cure for AIDS. We already know that the HIV virus cannot survive in an acidic environment; it cannot be transmitted through skin contact because skin surface is acidic.

The second category is degenerative adult diseases caused by the accumulation of non-disposed acidic wastes within our body. Whether the wastes are distributed evenly throughout the body or concentrated in some specific area, they can cause different diseases such as diabetes, digestive problems, constipation, arthritis, gout, cancer, osteoporosis, wrinkles, etc. There are various means by which concentrated wastes are distributed, such as massages, vibrators, magnetic devices, hot baths, sauna, etc. With the exception of perspiration, these methods simply redistribute wastes from concentration. The best way to get rid of acidic wastes through urine is to drink alkaline water.

The third category is mysterious diseases caused by nutritional deficiency. I say "mysterious" because these diseases are rather new and doctors cannot yet figure out what they are. This category is more common among those so-called health-conscious people. They eat exclusively "healthy foods" and exclude all "unhealthy" ones. After an extended time, they develop nutritional deficiency. Since they eat only healthy food but still do not feel well, they suspect that some substances in their drinking water make them sick. They, therefore, insist on drinking distilled water or reverse osmosis filtered water, believing that pure water is the best water. What these people don’t realize is that distilled water leaches valuable minerals from the human body, further depleting the body of needed minerals and nutrients.

Nutritional deficiency could be the result of special diets, which exclude some food or over-indulge in others. Over-indulgence in one kind of food could cause nutritional deficiency/imbalance. Our body needs all kinds of nutrients; certain nutrients are needed to maintain proper ratios with other nutrients. For example, we must maintain the proper ratio of potassium and sodium in our body; taking in sodium salt without a sufficient amount of potassium can cause health problems, and taking no sodium can also cause problem, as we recently learned.

Mr. Hofgren, a health food store owner from Sweden, visited me after reading my book and told me an interesting phenomenon. When people start a vegetarian diet, they definitely feel health improvement. After a few years, their health deteriorates due to nutritional deficiency. However, their memory of health improvement is so vivid that they think they should eat more vegetables, thus making the situation worse.

With all due respect to nutritionists, there are more nutrients in natural food that we don't know than what we know. It makes me cringe when I hear some nutritionist advising people not to eat certain food because it contains no useful nutrients. Such advice may be doing more harm than help. I have seen many so-called nutritionists disagreeing with one another as to what food is good and what is bad.