Too Much Alkaline In Water – In 2020, alkaline water is estimated to have generated $46 million in revenue, up 20% from 2019! (1) This is not surprising since alkaline water has many (mostly false) health claims ranging from improved digestion, reduced cancer risk, anti-aging properties, boosted immunity, colon cleansing and, yes, prevention of kidney stones.
While alkalinity does play a role in kidney stone formation, alkaline water probably doesn’t change your body’s pH in the way that it does to reduce kidney stone formation. Read on to learn more about alkalinity, alkaline water, and kidney stones!
Too Much Alkaline In Water
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Safe Ph Level For Drinking Water
To fully understand the relationship between alkaline water and kidney stones, we need to go back to high school chemistry class. I promise to make it as painless as possible!
Think of alkalinity and acidity as a spectrum measured on a pH scale of 0 to 14. The more acidic a substance, the lower the pH value. The more alkaline it is, the higher the pH.
Alkaline water is exactly what it sounds like: water is more alkaline than “regular” drinking water. Most water has a pH around 7 and is neutral in terms of acidity and alkalinity. Electrolytes are added to alkaline water to make it alkaline and its pH is above 7.
The exact pH of alkaline water varies greatly by brand. Typically, the pH of alkaline water ranges from 8 to 10.
Best Alkaline Water
Although alkaline water itself has a high pH level, this does NOT necessarily mean that this alkalinity enters our body after digestion. Or this alkaline water makes our urine more alkaline, which is most important for preventing kidney stones!
The contents of the stomach have a pH of 1.5-3.5. Stomach acid neutralizes the alkalinity of alkaline water once it enters the stomach. Therefore, alkaline water will most likely not lower the levels of acid in your blood, cells, or organs.
Drinking a TON of alkaline water can raise your stomach pH, which can be dangerous. Stomach acid plays an important role in the digestion and absorption of food and certain nutrients, especially vitamin B12 and protein.
Stomach acid also helps kill bad bacteria that may be on your food. This helps protect us from foodborne illness.
What Is Alkaline Water?
The alkaline water industry consistently spreads the word that our bodies function better with less acid (or more alkali), so acid is something to be wary of. They use this message to sell alkaline water. It’s just not true.
Acidity and alkalinity play an important role in health. Your body tightly regulates the pH of your blood. If your blood pH gets too high or too low, your body won’t be able to function properly. In fact, if your body becomes too alkaline, it can lead to death.
First, as long as your kidneys and lungs are working, your body is really good at keeping the pH in the right range.
The most important way your body maintains its pH in the right range is through urine. One of the main functions of the kidneys is to maintain acid and alkaline levels at the right level. The kidneys do this by carefully getting rid of just the right amount of acid in the urine to keep your body’s pH at the right level.
Understanding Alkaline Water & (vapor) Distilled Water
This is where kidney stones come in. If you eat a diet that produces a lot of acid, that acid ends up in your urine. High levels of acid in the urine increase the likelihood of kidney stones from uric acid, cystine, and calcium oxalate. However, read on to learn more about how alkaline water probably won’t lower acid levels in your urine.
Too much acid in the urine (or low urine pH) can increase the chance of uric acid, calcium oxalate, and cystine kidney stones. (2) By far, calcium oxalate kidney stones are the most common type of kidney stones. (3) Urinary kidney stones are also common. If you have a history of these types of kidney stones, or if you have low urine pH on a 24-hour urine test, there are things you can do to make your urine more alkaline.
However, too low acidity (or high urine pH) increases the likelihood of calcium phosphate stones. (2)
Food does, not what the pH of the food itself. Your stomach acid neutralizes the pH of everything you eat or drink. This is the crux of why alkaline water probably doesn’t actually alkalize your urine.
What To Know About The Ph Of Drinking Water
Unlike alkaline water, fruits and vegetables do affect the body’s pH and health. In fact, all fruits and vegetables in the process of metabolism become alkaline. The alkali created during this process can help neutralize the acid in your body and reduce the amount of acid your kidneys have to get rid of in your urine. (4)
The difference between the pH of a food and the metabolism of that food is an important distinction. For example, tomatoes themselves are sour. However, the metabolism of tomatoes makes it alkaline. So tomatoes actually have an alkaline effect on your body, even though they are acidic.
In fact, the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the more alkaline your urine will be! In many cases, especially with uric acid kidney stones, more alkaline urine is good!
On the other hand, protein foods, especially animal meats such as meat, poultry, fish, and seafood, produce acid. Diets high in protein tend to increase acid levels in the urine. (4)
How To Make Alkaline Water With Baking Soda At Home
This concept is being played out in research. We know that people who eat more fruits and vegetables tend to have a much lower risk of kidney stones. (5) (6) (7) This is probably due in part to the beneficial effects of fruits and vegetables on urine acidity.
How does alkaline water fit into this? Most likely, although alkaline water itself is alkaline, its metabolism does not result in the formation of alkali. Therefore, there will be no benefit from it for kidney stones, except for the benefit of drinking ordinary water.
For all the brands of alkaline water that I could find, there was not enough information about the amount and type of electrolytes in them to determine whether they would form alkali during metabolism. As we know, the pH of a real liquid (or food!) by itself says nothing about its ability to produce alkali in the process of metabolism.
If you need to alkalize your urine for kidney stones, you might be better off focusing on eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and adequate protein, rather than drinking alkaline water.
This Is The Safest Bottled Water You Can Buy
Medicine is another way to alkalize urine. Potassium citrate and sodium bicarbonate are two common medications prescribed to reduce acid levels in the urine and help prevent the most common types of kidney stones.
Potassium citrate may also be prescribed to increase urinary citrate levels. Citrate prevents the formation of calcium kidney stones.
There are several drinks specifically designed to produce lye. Unlike most alkaline waters on the market, we know exactly what’s in these drinks and that they have the right combination of nutrients to make them alkaline after you drink them.
These drinks are not for everyone. In some cases, these drinks can be harmful. So be sure to ask your doctor or registered dietitian if these drinks are right for you!
Is Acidic Water Bad For You?
No matter what kind of kidney stones you have, drinking enough water is one of the most important things you can do to prevent them.
The American Urological Association recommends drinking enough fluids to produce 2 1/2 liters of urine each day. For most people, this means drinking about 3 liters of fluid. (9)
Indeed, for most people, old plain tap water is the best water for kidney stones. It’s cheap and affordable, making it more likely that you’ll be able to drink enough!
Bottled water is definitely not needed for people with kidney stones. But, if you prefer the taste of bottled water and it will help you drink more, then bottled water is a good choice for you!
What Is Alkaline Water? Should I Drink It?
Mineral water can contain large amounts of calcium. While getting enough calcium is important to prevent calcium oxalate kidney stones, it’s ideal to get calcium from food.
One or two mineral waters a day will most likely not cause problems. However, because people with kidney stones need to drink so much water, extra calcium can lead to harmful amounts.
Because we don’t know if alkaline water will actually lower urine acid levels, I can’t recommend alkaline water over plain tap water.
Also, alkaline water can be very expensive. I would save your money and use it to buy fresh fruits and vegetables!
Alkaline Water: Health Drink Or All Hype?
Be careful to limit drinks with a lot of sugar, such as juice, punch, regular soda, energy drinks, or sweet tea. Sugary drinks may increase the risk of kidney stones.
There is NO single diet for kidney stones. Kidney stone nutrition should be personalized based on the type of kidney stones and your 24-hour urine risk factors. (9)
If you’re curious about what you can do to prevent kidney stones, check out
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