Chemical water ionizers
Hans Christian L.: Why don't you recommend mineral water ionizers that work without electricity? These are much cheaper and, according to Dietmar Ferger's book "Fountain of Youth Water" (p.66), achieve values of up to pH 10 and a redox potential of -400 mV, i.e. even more than you recommend with pH 9,5 and a maximum of -350 mV. In addition, the water from a mineral water ionizer should taste round, full and warm for gourmets, while that from the electric water ionizer is described as “cool, clear and technical” (p. 77).
- Not only do I not recommend mineral water ionizers, I advise against them. They do not produce alkaline active water, which is recommended for drinking, but rather chemical alkalis.
- In the book you mentioned (Jungbrunnenwasser, Weil am Rhein, 2011, p.65), Ferger reports completely correctly about the difference between chemical alkalis and activated water: “Electrolytically produced bases and acids have a significantly higher or lower redox potential”.
But this is the crucial point: Without electrical activation, the redox potential in relation to the pH value corresponds to the Nernst equation. You can calculate it using a formula and don't even have to measure it. Only the electrolysis process leads to the abnormal redox potentials, which Vitold Bakhir was the first to discover. (Prilutzky, V. / Bakhir, V., Electochemically activated water: Anomalous properties, mechanism of biological action, Moscow 1997).
The abnormal redox potentials are metastable, that is, they disappear during a certain —> Relaxation time. Only during this relaxation time do the extraordinary abilities of the active water exist, which makes it useful —> Functional water allow.
- Ferger's statement is all the more incomprehensible because he explains clearly on page 72: “It is important for the biological effect that alkaline active water and acidic oxide water are physically produced solutions. This means that the pH value is determined physically and not chemically, i.e. by adding chemicals or minerals. The OH- or H+ ions are therefore >>free<>corresponding<< chemicals in the water." He also illustrates this using the example of caustic soda (NaOH), which neutralizes the stomach acid HCl on contact by releasing sodium chloride NaCl and Water forms Na+ + Cl- + H2O according to the formula NaOH + HCl. On the other hand, “with a free OH ion, the stomach acid remains untouched because the chlorine cannot form a salt with an OH ion. OH- + HCl OH- + H+ + Cl- Cl- + H2O.” (ibid. p.72). Therefore, no biological effect can be achieved chemically using minerals. The mineral water ionizers are biologically pointless.
- Unfortunately, the term water ionizer cannot be protected and is not yet clearly scientifically defined. Originally people in Germany spoke of electrolysis devices. From 1979 onwards, the term “Alkaline Ionized Water Apparatus” became common in Japan, which was then shortened through the marketing of various manufacturers to the current commercial term “Waterionizer”, in German “water ionizer”. The term is fundamentally not wrong, since during electrolysis the water molecule H2O is actually broken down into the water ions OH- and H+.
- In fact, this breakdown of water molecules into ions can also be caused by minerals added to the water. But only by providing a corresponding chemical in the form of an ion. Depending on the type of mineral and its location on the chemical redox scale, the chemical also changes the redox value corresponding to the pH value and the redox value according to the Nernst equation.
- If you look at it naively, the same thing happens as a result of both processes, for example in “base water”: the pH value increases, the redox potential decreases. The only question is how much.
- Nevertheless, both can be called “water ionizers” with impunity. An incredible abundance of such mineral mixtures in the form of cheap powders, jugs, “filters”, “alka streamers”, pots, sticks and rods fill the market with the promise of “alkaline balancing”, “antioxidant” etc., without mentioning that Only during electrolytic water ionization does the redox potential change so exceptionally in relation to the pH value that a special period of use is created. This impurity of the term water ionizer has caused me to forgo the term “ionized water” and to systematically use the term “active water” or “activated water,” because the chemical variant of water ionization is not activated.
- Above all, these mineral water ionizers cannot be regulated. You have to measure again every time because the minerals are released into the water in uncontrollable quantities. I was only able to measure the peak values specified by Ferger in the area of the redox potential with one of these mineral water ionizers, and only in the first week of operation. After that, the “performance” dropped rapidly. I have tested most of these products. After a week, almost all of them caused only minimal, barely measurable changes in pH value and redox potential using Munich tap water (dH 15,5). Be sure to use measuring devices if you actually purchased something like this. At least the pH value must be constantly monitored to be protected from strong alkalis.
- The taste judgments of the gourmets led by Dietmar Ferger are not sufficiently documented. Was water with the same pH and redox value compared? Hardly, because purely physically this is not possible with these different ionization methods.
- Mineral mixtures are floating around the market in a wide variety of offerings, giving consumers the illusion that they are drinking alkaline active water. Sometimes as a tea infuser, sometimes as a flow filter, as a shaking cup or magic wand.
- The composition of the admixtures and filter materials used for mineral water ionizers does not appear to be subject to any control or regulation. Exact quantities cannot be found on any of the “devices” on the market. Besides also in —> Bioceramic filters Using the material with tourmaline and acid-absorbing zeolite powder, aluminum silicates are used to burn the beads, to which potassium, calcium, magnesium, silver, iron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, manganese, lithium and other substances are added, often even the toxic ones that are banned as dietary supplements in Germany Semiconductor substance germanium (Ge).
- Metallic magnesium (Mg) is also added, a material that is also used in fireworks. When dissolved in water, it lowers its redox potential and raises the pH value. This is an apparent effect that is solely due to the position of the element magnesium in the electrochemical series (—> Redox potential) and has nothing to do with water activation. Hydrogen is released according to the formula Mg + 2H2O -> Mg (OH)2 + H2. The hydrogen saturation of the water is the reason for the decrease in the redox potential. But since, unlike electrolytic production, the hydrogen (H2) outgasses during the long soaking time of the mineral cartridges and the metallic magnesium does not work evenly, this is not of much use. The redox potential achieved is more than twice lower than with electrolysis.
- The most famous product of this type is Hidemitsu Hayashi's Hydrogen Rich Water Stick. Read Consumer Reports on Amazon. (Please refer: http://www.amazon.com/Original- Hydrogen-Rich-Water-Stick/product-reviews/B002PIJ63C/ ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1)
- If you open one of these mineral cartridges, the scary mixture looks something like the one shown next. How germ-proof it is after repeated use remains to be seen.
- I hope I have now clearly explained why I advise against mineral water ionizers. Their performance (in the example with – 80 mV (CSE) at pH 8,07) is not only low, but biologically uninteresting. So what can you do if you want to drink alkaline activated water while traveling? Personally, I always find space in my suitcase for a small one –>Pot ionizer. I then buy still mineral water on site and ionize it with it.
- There are also mini electric electrolyzers on the market that can even fit in a handbag. What you need to remember: There is no alkaline activated water without the use of electricity and without removing the acidic water. Just by throwing in beads you won't get activated water with abnormal redox potential and —> Relaxation time, but just a normal chemical lye as shown below.
- In the small IonyTM next door, the acidic water is sucked into the cavity inside the rod and the alkaline active water is created on the outside of the glass. You can see hydrogen bubbles on the silver wire used as a cathode.
Even if this handbag ionizer takes 3 hours for normal values (-222 mV (CSE)) in a glass of water and is perhaps not exactly hygienic to use in the long term, the comparison values with the same starting water still show the clear difference in the redox potential: There was no chemical ionization here and we see an abnormal redox potential in relation to the pH value achieved.
Excerpt from the book by Karl Heinz Asenbaum: “Electro-activated water – An invention with extraordinary potential. Water ionizers from A – Z”
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