Many studies have claimed beneficial health effects of alkaline water consumption. For instance, it has been observed that oral administration of alkaline ionized water causes a reduction in blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride and improves metabolic functioning by suppressing free radical production in mice that are induced with metabolic disorder. It also protects pancreatic beta cells from oxidative damages. Moreover, alkaline water helps in reducing the rate of weight gain in obese mice by regulating cholesterol homeostasis.
In patients with end-stage renal disease, alkaline water has been shown to reduce adverse side-effects of hemodialysis, such as excessive free radical generation. In case of urinary bladder stone, alkaline water accelerates the excretion of melamine and prevents its accumulation in the bladder, which in turn improves the pathological conditions associated with bladder stone.
Since alkaline water has higher pH, its natural capacity of neutralizing acids in the stomach makes it a good choice for treating gastrointestinal tract disorders, such as gastric hyperacidity, diarrhea, etc. In cases of laryngopharyngeal and gastroesophageal reflux diseases, alkaline water has shown to irreversibly inactivate pepsin, an endopeptidase responsible for reflux disease, by neutralizing acid in the stomach.
In case of exercise-induced dehydration in healthy adults, electrolyzed alkaline water has shown to reduce the high-shear blood viscosity, a coefficient to define viscous properties of blood.
Interestingly, consumption of alkaline water has also shown beneficial effects in promoting longevity. Mice administered with alkaline water have shown better survival rate as compared to their counterparts that are administered with regular water.
Besides potential health benefits of drinking alkaline water, bathing with it also improves skin-related problems. For example, bathing mice with alkaline water has shown to reduce skin damage associated with UV radiation by maintaining the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.