What is alkaline water?
Alkaline water is popularly known as ionised water, i.e. water that has a pH level of more than seven. Alkaline water is generally produced with the help of a water ionizer. It balances the pH of an acidic person.
Water’s pH level signifies how acidic it is and ranges from 0 to 14. A value of 7 is considered to be neutral pH. If the pH of water is below 7, it is termed as "acidic." More than 7, is called “alkaline."Bottled alkaline water has pH of more than 7 . These days manufacturers are using a special device to alter the chemical composition of water or they simply add nutrients to it to change its pH.
Benefits of alkaline water
- It strengthens our immune system & increases the body’s ability to fight against diseases. It also delays the ageing process and prevents several degenerative diseases with its antioxidant properties.
- It is also effectively protects against osteoporosis, arthritis, various kidney and colon disorders.
- It hydrates the body to maintain an optimum health. In comparison to normal drinking water, alkaline water enables the diffusion of more minerals and vitamins throughout our body and at much faster speed. This is because alkaline water has 4-6 water molecules, resulting in ionized water which is much more effective in terms of providing hydration and detoxification to the body.
- Alkaline water works as an antioxidant because of its ability to give up electrons and neutralize or block free-radical damage to the body.
- Ionized alkaline water seeks free radicals and converts them into oxygen which our body can utilise for energy production and tissue oxygenation.
- Alkaline water helps in balancing the body’s pH, which is naturally acidic due to the intake of high acid foods, stress and environmental exposure to toxins. It detoxifies the body by removing the accumulated acidic waste products.
What is hydrogen water?
Hydrogen water is simply the regular plain water with extra hydrogen molecules added to it. Hydrogen does not have any colour or odour, it is a non-toxic gas that binds to other elements like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon to form different compounds.
Water molecules have two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, however, infusing water with extra hydrogen molecules deliver much more benefits than the regular plain water can.
Our body can’t effectively absorb the hydrogen in plain water, as It is bound to oxygen , therefore, many companies have started adding extra hydrogen as these hydrogen molecules are “free” and widely accessible to our bodies.
Hydrogen water is made by infusing hydrogen gas into pure water before its packaging into cans or pouches.
Benefits of Hydrogen water
- Anti-oxidant properties - Free radicals are unstable molecules that cause oxidative stress, a major cause of disease and inflammation in humans. Molecular hydrogen prevents this from happening and protects the cells from the ill effects of oxidative stress.
- Metabolic syndrome is often characterized by high blood sugar, elevated triglyceride levels, high cholesterol, and extra belly fat. Hydrogen water may be an effective way out to reduce the risk factors related to metabolic syndrome.
- Several companies promote hydrogen water as a natural way to improve athletic performance.
- It has been shown to benefit athletes by lowering down the inflammation and delaying the accumulation of lactate in the blood, which signifies muscle fatigue.
What is RO water
Reverse osmosis or RO is a technique that removes contaminants from water by allowing the water to be pushed under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. Osmosis occurs naturally without any energy being required, in order to reverse this process of osmosis, energy is applied to a more saline solution. A reverse osmosis membrane is generally a semi-permeable membrane which allows the passing of water molecules, but, not the majority of dissolved salts, organics, bacteria and pyrogens. However, you need to ‘push’ the water through reverse osmosis membrane by applying pressure onto it which is more than the naturally occurring osmotic pressure, so as to desalinate (demineralize or deionize) the water. This allows pure water to run through while holding back most of the contaminants present.
Benefits of RO water:
- Better taste: Devoid of all of the chemicals and debris in the water, its taste gets better.
- No contaminants: The reverse osmosis process is mainly used to remove particles and other impurities in the water, which means that all bad chemicals like lead and arsenic are removed from the water.
- Low energy consumption: the energy used by reverse osmosis systems is comparatively lower in amount, as compared to the other similar systems. This makes RO ideal for those who need to use as little energy as possible.
- Space Saving and Expandable: RO systems can effectively save space depending on where one would like to put it.
- Maintenance is easy: it usually requires maintenance after every six months or so, reverse osmosis systems are very simple to take care of. Filter replacement is one of the few things that have to be taken care of.
- Several stages of purification: mainly seven stages are involved in reverse osmosis, with each stage getting more complex. One can choose how many stages he/she wants and get them customized as per the needs.
ALKALINE vs HYDROGEN WATER
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Conclusion :
Hybrid alkaline - hydrogen water - ‘The winning combination'
Combining the duo , alkaline and hydrogen waters into one not only means you can attain benefit from the nutritional qualities of each water, but at the same time, it also adds value in other sense as well, like - it is much less of the hassle to grab just one drink, rather than going for two different ones. Combining two products is also economical as buying one product rather than two separate types of water is much more feasible.
Finally, it’s also environment friendly, as only one treatment process is needed to produce a health water which consists all the nutrients that we need for an instant and long-term maintenance of our wellbeing. The concept of alkaline-hydrogen water is still in the incipient stage in India, however, you can easily find these at the leading superstores.
Alkaline water and hydrogen water have been found potential in preventing the symptoms of type 2 Diabetes. They also help in fighting ageing process and inflammation. Additionally, it has been clinically proven that specialist waters like these aid in neutralizing the body and protects it against various diseases. Lately, even NASA has been conducting researches on hydrogen water to protect astronauts from radiation during their space travel.
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