Water-related pseudoscience, scams and quackery

pH balance pseudoscience, "pH-balanced" water

Junk Science in the Marketplace

There are hundreds of Web sites that try to convince science-naïve consumers that they are in serious danger if they don't keep careful track of their "body pH balance". Anyone who has studied chemistry, physiology, or nutritional biochemistry would laugh at this junk science, but to those who lack this kind of background, it can easily seem convincing.

Most of these outfits hawk dubious "nutritional supplements", "pH-balanced waters", useless pH test kits, "water ionizers" and the like. (I last tested my salivary and urinary pH as part of the Physiology 100 course I took about 50 years ago and have seen no reason to do it since then!)

Some typical sites are pHBodyBalance.com, Pasco Canada, Kangan Water. Some (like this one, a virtual supermarket of quackery) [falsely] claim that simple pH tests can "measure your susceptibility to cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis", etc. etc. Since U.S. FTC consumer fraud regulations prohibit claims that these and other diseases can be prevented or cured by dietary supplements, it is common practice to simply make some references to what some so-called "doctors" have written in quackery-filled books such as The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclai Your Health, while stating (in small print) that they are not offering medical advice. Especially egregious are deceptive claims hinting that that these nostrums can prevent or cure life-threatening diseases.

For example, the following typical (and scientifically absurd) falsehood can be found at this Kangan Water site:

"It is well known in the medical community that an overly acidic body is the root of many common diseases, such as obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood-pressure and more..."

Here, in a nutshell, are a few basic facts that I believe anyone with a solid background in nutritional biochemistry or physiology would concur with:

For much more detailed information on these topics, please see my page on "ionized" and alkaline water.

 

 

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