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Q: Health Effects of Different Types of Water ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Health Effects of Different Types of Water
Category: Health > Fitness and Nutrition
Asked by: junglejane-ga
List Price: $8.00
Posted: 10 Apr 2002 11:31 PDT
Expires: 17 Apr 2002 11:31 PDT
Question ID: 37
Which kind of water is more beneficial to health,

(1) Pure water having bigger water clusters(e.g., distilled water),
(2) Electrolyzed water having smaller water clusters(e.g., with calcium and 
magnesium ions in the water)?

I would also like to know if it is true that electrolyzed water could eliminate 
metabolic waste of human body more effectively because of its smaller water 
clusters?

Thank you.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Health Effects of Different Types of Water
Answered By: dscotton-ga on 10 Apr 2002 16:15 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
There are multiple studies that show electrolyzed water to be beneficial for 
your health.

In Japan, reduced (electrolyzed) water therapy seems to be particularly 
widespread.

In his article "CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF ELECTROLYZED-REDUCED WATER"
(://www.google.com/search?q=cache:Xi4DN2frdMsC:www.hydrogen-richwater-
jp.com/a)%2520HPMS%2520-%2520Clinical%2520applications%2520of%2520electrolyzed-
reduced%2520water.htm+electrolyzed+water+metabolism&hl=en),
Hidemitsu HAYASHI, M.D., Water Institute, Kyowa Medical Clinic, states:

"Active hydrogen, or atomic hydrogen, can be produced in reduced water near the 
cathode during electrolysis of water. Namely, the oldest life forms should have 
developed hydrogenase in order to obtain active hydrogen, with which they could 
have succeeded in the fight against active oxygen; which, otherwise, should 
have had exterminated them. Now we can say that quite a new concept (active 
hydrogen) as a scavenger, hardly known in the past, is presented."... "Since 
May of 1985 we have confirmed thousands of clinical improvements, obtained 
solely by exchanging drinking (as well as cooking water) from tap water to 
reduced water." He goes on to review the history of use of electrolyzed water 
and to list its benefits.

Another Japanese paper on this subject is entitled "REDUCED WATER FOR 
PREVENTION OF DISEASES"; it was presented at the 2000 Symposium on Water for 
Prevention of Disease by Sanetaka Shirahata, Graduate school of 
Genetic Resources Technology, Kyushu University.

The paper begins thus:
 
"It has long been established that reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause many 
types of damage to biomolecules and cellular structures, that, in turn result 
in the development of a variety of pathologic states such as diabetes, cancer 
and aging. Reduced water is defined as anti-oxidative water produced by 
reduction of water. Electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) has been demonstrated to 
be hydrogen-rich water and can scavenge ROS in vitro (Shirahata et al., 1997). 
The reduction of proton in water to active hydrogen (atomic hydrogen, hydrogen 
radical) that can scavenge ROS is very easily caused by a weak current, 
compared to oxidation of hydroxyl ion to oxygen molecule. Activation of water 
by magnetic field, collision, minerals etc. will also produce reduced water 
containing active hydrogen and/or hydrogen molecule. Several natural waters 
such as Hita Tenryosui water drawn from deep underground in Hita city in Japan, 
Nordenau water in Germany and Tlacote water in Mexico are known to alleviate 
various diseases. We have developed a sensitive method by which we can detect 
active hydrogen existing in reduced water, and have demonstrated that not only 
ERW but also natural reduced waters described above contain active hydrogen and 
scavenge ROS in cultured cells." It goes on to describe the hydrogen detection 
method.

There's also a number of Japanese studies on electrolyzed water in Medline (the 
most extensive online medical research database), such as this one:

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1997 May 8;234(1):269-74
Electrolyzed-reduced water scavenges active oxygen species and protects DNA 
from oxidative damage.

Shirahata S, Kabayama S, Nakano M, Miura T, Kusumoto K, Gotoh M, Hayashi H, 
Otsubo K, Morisawa S, Katakura Y.

Institute of Cellular Regulation Technology, Graduate School of Genetic 
Resources Technology, 
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. sirahata@grt.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Abstract:
"Active oxygen species or free radicals are considered to cause extensive 
oxidative damage to biological macromolecules, which brings about a variety of 
diseases as well as aging. The ideal scavenger for active oxygen should 
be 'active hydrogen'. 'Active hydrogen' can be produced in reduced water near 
the cathode during electrolysis of water. Reduced water exhibits high pH, low 
dissolved oxygen (DO), extremely high dissolved molecular hydrogen (DH), and 
extremely negative redox potential (RP) values. Strongly electrolyzed-reduced 
water, as well as ascorbic acid, (+)-catechin and tannic acid, completely 
scavenged O.-2 produced by the hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase (HX-XOD) system in 
sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). The superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity 
of reduced water is stable at 4 degrees C for over a month and was not lost 
even after neutralization, repeated freezing and melting, deflation with 
sonication, vigorous mixing, boiling, repeated filtration, or closed 
autoclaving, but was lost by opened autoclaving or by closed autoclaving in the 
presence of tungsten trioxide which efficiently adsorbs active atomic hydrogen. 
Water bubbled with hydrogen gas exhibited low DO, extremely high DH and 
extremely low RP values, as does reduced water, but it has no SOD-like 
activity. These results suggest that the SOD-like activity of reduced water 
is not due to the dissolved molecular hydrogen but due to the dissolved atomic 
hydrogen (active hydrogen). Although SOD accumulated H2O2 when added to the HX-
XOD system, reduced water decreased the amount of H2O2 produced by XOD. Reduced 
water, as well as catalase and ascorbic acid, could directly scavenge H2O2. 
Reduce water suppresses single-strand breakage of DNA b active oxygen species 
produced by the Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of ascorbic acid in a dose-dependent 
manner, suggesting that reduced water can scavenge not only O2.- and H2O2, but 
also 1O2 and .OH."

You can find more studies by searching Medline through PubMed 
(http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) for "electrolyzed water".

In the US, Patrick Flannagan found that microclustered silicate minerals 
naturally set up electron reducing potentials and came up with a compound he 
named Microhydrin that has been shown to decrease lactic acid buildup during 
exercise, and to produce significant antioxidant effects (see 
http://www.flantech.com/research/PDF/Bioelectro.PDF and other articles at 
http://www.flantech.com/research/research.htm).

There are also interesting popular discussions of microcluster water at 
http://www.aquatechnology.net/Microcluster_water.html and 
http://www.herballadies.com/p168.htm.

Google searches for ,e.g., "electrolyzed water", "structured water", and "water 
microclusters OR micro-clusters" will produce more interesting results.
junglejane-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars

Comments  
Subject: Re: Health Effects of Different Types of Water
From: webhosting-ga on 17 Jun 2002 18:23 PDT
 
I was just researching this myself, and one of the more interesting
sites I came across concerning ionization was

The Negative Hydrogen Ion
http://www.h-minus-ion.org/

The site is full of interesting information, including a seciton
entitled "A Look at the Claims About, and an Explanation of the
Effects of Alkaline Ionized Water and Acid Ionized Water"

I hope this helps even more!
Subject: Re: Health Effects of Different Types of Water
From: pfperry-ga on 30 Jun 2002 07:55 PDT
 
It has been known for many years that heart attack rates are
significantly lower in areas with 'harder' water (water with dissolved
minerals). It is now accepted that magnesium levels are significant.
Modern diets (particularly ones low in green leafy vegetables) can be
marginal for magnesium.
As for dissolved hydrogen! I wouldn't take that seriously until a real
double blind study was done.

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