Understanding Alkaline Water & (Vapor) Distilled Water

These days, taking a walk down the water aisle of your local store can leave you feeling a little like...well, a fish out of water. Alkaline? Distilled? Purified? What do these words mean? How are they different from our tap water? What is the difference between purified and distilled water? With the multitude of types of water available today, it can be difficult to understand all of the differences!

Fortunately, we’re here to translate.

Alkaline Water 101

First let’s review the pH scale for context:

• The pH scale ranges in measurement from 0 to 14, with 0 being totally acidic, 7 being neutral and 14 being totally base, or Alkaline.
• Orange juice has an acidic pH of 3.3 and coffee is also acidic with a pH around 5.
• Most conventional drinking water has a neutral pH of around 7. EPA guidelines state that the pH of tap water should be between 6.5 - 8.5 though, depending on where you live in the US, it may to fall in the acidic range of 4.3 - 5.3pH.
• Alkaline water has a higher pH of around 8 or 9 (or higher) and also contains alkaline minerals, like Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium (which are all found in ZenWTR.)

How is Alkaline Water Created?

In nature, when water travels over rocks or passes through the ground, it absorbs minerals, including magnesium and calcium, which can increase its pH levels or alkalinity.

You can also create alkaline water through a process called ionization, where a neutral atom or molecule gains or loses an electron, resulting in a positive or negative charge. This can be achieved by electrolysis (sending an electric current through water) which splits the water molecule into positively charged hydrogen (H⁺) ions and negatively charged hydroxyl (OH^–) ions. The more hydroxyl ions in your water, the higher the its pH (alkalinity.)

Simply put, the electrical current separates the water molecules into acidic ions and alkaline ions so that the acidic ions can be removed, leaving behind alkaline water with a higher pH. To further increase the pH, alkaline compounds, including alkaline minerals, can then be added to the water.

Why is Alkaline Water Important?

Proponents of alkaline water believe that, due to its higher pH level, it can balance the body’s pH levels if they become too low or tend toward acidic.

What we do know definitively is that different parts of our bodies require different pH levels to function efficiently. For instance healthy blood has its own unique pH level which is slightly alkaline, with an ideal pH between 7.35 and 7.45.^[1] Acidosis is a condition that occurs if your blood becomes too acidic and its pH level drops below 7.35.^[2] Without treatment, acidosis can lead to health issues like kidney stones, kidney failure and bone disease.

The acid-ash hypothesis, which was developed over 100 years ago by researchers H.C. Sherman and A.O. Gettler, suggests that a diet high in acidic foods and beverages can contribute to a lower blood pH balance.^[3]They theorized that when the body accumulates acid, it compensates for the loss of alkaline by taking alkaline minerals from the body and excreting them in the urine. This is because it was found that high-acidity diets resulted in increased levels of calcium in the urine and decreased levels of urine pH.

The acid-ash hypothesis states that this excess calcium is extracted from the bones to add alkaline to the blood, which, over time, may increase bone loss and the risk of conditions such as osteoporosis.^[4] Although there’s currently no evidence to suggest that urinary losses of calcium directly correlate with osteoporosis, a 2012 study conducted by Gerry Schwalfenberg did find that high acidity diets may decrease bone density over time due to their excess levels of sodium.^[5]

Highly acidic foods and beverages can include:

• Meat
• Dairy
• Grains
• Refined table salt
• Carbonated drinks
• Alcohol
• Coffee

Surprisingly, although most fresh fruits and vegetables are initially acidic, they actually promote alkalinity once they’re metabolized, keeping them out of this highly acidic food group.

To neutralize excess acid in the bloodstream, proponents of the acid-ash hypothesis suggest drinking alkaline water. In fact, some research has shown that alkaline water can help reduce markers of bone breakdown.^[6]Another study found that drinking alkaline water helped deactivate pepsin, a digestive enzyme responsible for causing acid reflux.^[7]

Alkaline water has also been shown to affect blood viscosity—the measure of the resistance of blood to flow. In a 2016 study of 100 healthy adults, it was discovered that drinking alkaline water after strenuous exercise reduced blood viscosity by 6.3% (more than the 3.36% reduction found after drinking standard purified water).^[8] This means that alkaline water helped blood flow more efficiently after exercise than regular water, leading to more effective hydration and increased oxygen delivery throughout the body.

Distilled Water 101

While alkaline water refers to a water’s pH, distilled water refers to a water’s purity.

Distilled water is water that’s undergone a specific purification process, resulting in the removal of contaminants, mineral content, and toxic metals.

Water can be distilled through a specialized heating process called simple distillation. During simple distillation, water is brought to a boiling point and turned to vapor. Because water has a lower boiling point than many of the contaminants within it, when the water vapor rises, these contaminants which are either not yet boiled to vapor, or are physically heavier than vapor, are left behind. The water vapor is then collected into a condenser and cooled until it returns to its liquid state, now free of most impurities.

However, simple distillation does not remove all impurities and contaminants. For water in its purest, cleanest form, free of anything aside from H₂O, the process of vapor distillation must be used.

In Vapor Distillation, heated water-turned-vapor is collected and then compressed to increase the pressure of the vapor, which heats it further, leaving behind any possible remaining compounds.    

Due to its purity, vapor distilled water is often used in:

• Scientific research labs – In scientific experiments, using vapor distilled water ensures there are no contaminants or particulates in the water that may interfere with results.
• Medical labs – Doctors often used vapor distilled water to sterilize surgical instruments to better ensure that a patient isn’t exposed to waterborne viruses or bacteria.

This gold standard for purity—Vapor-Distilled water—is also used to create ZenWTR.

Why is Distilled Water Important?

Distilled water guarantees clean, safe drinking water. Although the tap water available to us in our homes is tested to meet state-level health and safety requirements, it can nevertheless be contaminated with trace amounts of inorganic compounds, chemicals, and metals that, over time, can negatively impact our health.

Some of the most common water contaminants are:^[9]

• Arsenic – Although arsenic occurs naturally, it can also enter our groundwater from burning coal and mining. The EPA has set a limit of 0.01 parts per million (ppm) for arsenic in public drinking water.^[10]Long-term arsenic exposure has been linked to certain cancers and cardiovascular conditions.
• Copper – Copper can enter your tap water if you have a plumbing system made of copper pipes. While short-term exposure to copper can cause gastrointestinal issues, long-term exposure can cause more serious health conditions, such as liver and kidney problems. The EPA allows drinking water to contain 1.3 ppm of copper.^[11]
• Lead – Similar to copper, lead can enter your water supply through pipe corrosion and cause serious neurological damage. For lead, the EPA has set a limit of 0.15 ppm.^[12]
• Mercury – Although mercury can contaminate drinking water through natural ground erosion, it can also be caused by factory or landfill runoff, leading the EPA to set a limit of .002 ppm for mercury in drinking water.^[13] Over time, mercury exposure has been shown to cause kidney damage.
• Nitrate – Nitrates can infiltrate your drinking water supply from agricultural runoff of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. The EPA allows for drinking water to contain 10 ppm of nitrate.^[14]
• Calcium and magnesium – These naturally occurring minerals enter your water as it passes through the ground. Because they don’t pose a danger to your health, their levels in drinking water aren’t regulated. However, they can cause hard water in your home, leading to soap and limescale buildup on your faucets and in your sinks.

While removing these dangerous contaminants creates pure drinking water, some researchers argue that removing natural minerals from our water, such as calcium and magnesium, through the process of distillation can have a negative impact on our health. In fact, studies have found that drinking water low in calcium and magnesium may cause fatigue and muscle cramps and be less effective when it comes to hydrating.^[15]

Minerals like calcium and magnesium also contribute to your water’s familiar flavor, leading many to feel that distilled water lacks taste.

Fortunately, when you reach for a refreshing ZenWTR, you’re drinking ultra-pure water that, after vapor distillation, has had calcium, magnesium and potassium added back in, to achieve our crisp, clean taste.

Alkaline Water & Distilled Water: How to Choose?

Fortunately, Alkaline Water and Distilled Water are not mutually exclusive and with ZenWTR, you can have both! That’s because ZenWTR is both alkaline and vapor-distilled, combining the attributes of both types of water.

ZenWTR undergoes an 8-step purification process including multistep filtration and reverse osmosis resulting in ultra-pure, vapor distilled water with an alkaline pH of 9.5.

Water this special deserves a special bottle as well. ZenWTR is the first and only beverage in the world, in a bottle made from 100% recycled, certified ocean-bound plastic. Each ZenWTR bottle is made from up to 5 plastic bottles rescued from coastal environments, preventing them from reaching and polluting our oceans and endangering our marine wildlife.

For yourself and for our planet, choose ZenWTR.  

Sources:  

NCBI. Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study. ​​

Medical News Today. Good and bad acidic foods. 

Healthline. Acidosis.

The Washington Post. Is alkaline water really better for you?

Healthline. Alkaline Water: Benefits and Risks.

NCBI. Daily ingestion of alkaline electrolyzed water containing hydrogen influences human health, including gastrointestinal symptoms.

Life Hack. Best Water to Drink (The Ultimate Guide to Drink for Better Health).

Water Right Group. 23 Common Water Contaminants and Their Potential Risks.

Medical News Today. What effects does water pollution have on human health?

Nourish by WebMD. Distilled Water.

Science Direct. Journal of Biological Chemistry.

NCBI. Meta-analysis of the quantity of calcium excretion associated with the net acid excretion of the modern diet under the acid-ash diet hypothesis. ​​

NCBI. The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/

Journal of the international Society of Sports Nutrition. Effect of electrolyzed high-pH alkaline water on blood viscosity in healthy adults. https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-016-0153-8

https://sciencing.com/about-5128247-definition-vapor-distilled-water.html

EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[1] Medical News Today. Good and bad acidic foods. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322557#background

^[2] Healthline. Acidosis. https://www.healthline.com/health/acidosis#symptoms

^[3] Science Direct. Journal of Biological Chemistry. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021925818887385#!

^[4] NCBI. Meta-analysis of the quantity of calcium excretion associated with the net acid excretion of the modern diet under the acid-ash diet hypothesis. ​​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18842807/

^[5] NCBI. The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/ 

^[6] The Washington Post. Is alkaline water really better for you? https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/is-alkaline-water-really-better-for-you/2019/08/27/8c646d26-c462-11e9-b72f-b31dfaa77212_story.html

^[7] Healthline. Alkaline Water: Benefits and Risks. https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/alkaline-water-benefits-risks#takeaway

^[8] Journal of the international Society of Sports Nutrition. Effect of electrolyzed high-pH alkaline water on blood viscosity in healthy adults. https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-016-0153-8

^[9] Water Right Group. 23 Common Water Contaminants and Their Potential Risks. https://www.water-rightgroup.com/resources/common-water-contaminants-and-risks/

^[10] EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[11] EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[12] EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[13] EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[14] EPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. ​​https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#one

^[15] Nourish by WebMD. Distilled Water. https://www.webmd.com/diet/distilled-water-overview#1