It'll quench your thirst, of course

I've heard that ionized water can cure whatever ails you. Sounds like snake oil to me.

MIKE

Los Angeles

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The product: Ionized water isn't exactly snake oil. (These days, very few beverages are snake-based.) But because water ionizers can cost several thousand dollars, consumers are right to wonder what they're getting.

Water ionizers attach directly to your kitchen faucet. The devices will filter water, infuse it with minerals and zap it with an electric current. The result: an alkaline (high pH) brew that, according to manufacturers, is buzzing with free electrons and electrically charged ions. Ionizers, popular in Korea and Japan, are widely available on the Internet.

The claims: Websites selling ionizers often use head-spinning scientific terms such as "negative oxidation reduction potential" and complex diagrams seemingly ripped from college chemistry textbooks. But the basic claims are straightforward. Marketers promote ionized water as a powerful antioxidant that can slow aging and prevent disease. (The "scientific" explanation is that electrons in the water mop up dangerous free radicals produced by oxidation.)

Marketers also claim that ionization helps hydrate the body by breaking large water "clusters" into smaller, more readily absorbed clumps -- thus, we are told, actually making "wetter water."

Many health claims focus on the benefits of alkaline water and the corresponding evils of acid. Marketers warn that modern diets cause a toxic buildup of acid -- enough to corrode cells, age the body and cause cancer, arthritis and practically any other disease imaginable. As one site puts it, "Almost all of us are slowly dying of excess acid."

The proposed antidote, of course, is alkaline water. If you believe that "keeping yourself alkaline is your first line of defense in fighting any disease," a $4,000 ionizer may seem like a good investment.

Bottom line: Ionized water might cure thirst, but any other benefits seem extremely far-fetched, says Thomas Wheeler, a retired professor of biochemistry at the University of Louisville. The water has never been tested in well-controlled clinical trials. But the claims, Wheeler says, don't even make scientific sense.

For starters, Wheeler says, any negative ions you drink would immediately bind with positive ions. And even if the negative ions stuck around, they could never act as antioxidants or attack free radicals. "The body relies on molecules like vitamin E and beta carotene for antioxidants. The idea that you could just drink extra electrons is ridiculous."