In continuing on with our series on water myths today I’d like to discuss so-called “structured water”. This specific pseudoscience can be found under many different names such as clustered water, penta water and many other names. The common theme is that the companies that sell these types of machines (and in some cases solutions to add to the water!) proclaim their water to be organized on a molecular level similar to the state water was in thousands if not millions of years ago before it become polluted by human activities. Many of them have pictures of water molecules that appear to be in a snowflake or perfectly symmetrical alignment which they say eliminates the presence of “free radicals” in the water that are the cause of most major diseases. Many of the selling points that these companies use assert that you will feel younger and more vibrant. Some even go as far as saying that they can slow the aging process and in some cases reverse it!
First of all we must look at this from a scientific standpoint. Water molecules are formed when two hydrogen atoms bond with an oxygen atom. Many of these structured waters claim that the angle of the bond between the atoms is altered by their equipment to give the water a certain type of energy that it cannot have naturally as it has been degraded over time by pollution. This is an absolutely false claim and the only way to hold the bond at a specific angle would be to freeze the water. All the pretty pictures that these companies show simply can’t be water in a liquid state because the bond angles are not rigid and vary from molecule to molecule in liquid water.
So we can see that the science is suspect at best but what about the results. Do people really feel younger? The short answer is yes they probably do. Studies have shown that about 40% of people with chronic ailments respond positively to a placebo. Is there any physiological reason that this water should be doing anything for them? The answer to this is no. I have not seen any of these systems that claim or prove removal of any actual contaminants in the water.
What we can learn from these types of systems and the claims they make is that there are many people trying to turn water treatment into a complicated science in order to create the delusion that they are providing a breakthrough or previously undiscovered energy that you can derive from your water. Unfortunately in order to take advantage of their “breakthrough” you’ll probably have to spend a few thousand dollars.
So how does this compare to our distillers? It simply doesn’t. Our distillers remove 99.9% of contaminants from most feed water sources. So as these companies are claiming to return water to a natural state, we actually are! If you were to collect rain water that was not contaminated by any air pollution you would have distilled water. While they are claiming to change the physical properties of the water (which laws of nature would dictate can’t be done) our distillers simply remove contaminants to provide you with 99.9% H20. No bond angles, no pretty pictures, just water – plain and simple.
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