The Elemental Guide to Water

The Plain Truth About Fancy Water

Is there any benefit to drinking alkaline water, electrolyte-infused water, or ionized water?

This story is part of The Elemental Guide to Water, a five-part special report on the health benefits of water, the science behind seltzer, the truth about fancy H2O, the safety of tap water, and how much water you really need to drink.

Everyone has a favorite water these days.

There’s alkaline water like Bai Antioxidant Water, which claims to have a pH balance of 7.5 to help neutralize the acid in your body and ensure you don’t “throw your body out of its delicate balance.”

Hydrogen water like HFactor infuses hydrogen molecules into plain drinking water, with the promise of “easing muscle soreness and reducing lactic acid buildup.”

Coca-Cola’s Smartwater purports that its brewing process first removes all impurities from the water, then “re-mineralizes” it with electrolytes like potassium and magnesium.

Flow and Blk market their water products as non-GMO, implying that all the other water you’ve been drinking throughout your life has been riddled with genetically modified agents.

Wellness trends are typically built around the idea that the way you’re living is wrong and inefficient and that there’s a better, healthier, smarter way — if only you pick the right product. But water is such a straightforward, good-for-you “product” already. Is it really possible to build a better one? According to many experts, the short answer is no.

“Let’s use the alkaline water trend as an example,” says Tim Caulfield, author of Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? and an expert in health science. “Our bodies carefully regulate the pH of our blood. We can’t change our pH level through the food that we eat. Our bodies have evolved to handle this. There is no evidence that alkaline food and beverages have any health benefits. It is all just wellness woo noise.”

When held up to scrutiny, most other options in the enhanced water revolution fall flat as well.