Kangen Water - A Personal View

When my wife told me about this ‘Kangen Water’ thing my first reaction was scepticism.

“It’s water!” I said.

Now I should mention that for thousands of years I have been keeping fish. In tanks.

For this reason I am familiar with the idea that water varies in three important ways:

1.                              pH. The acidity/alkalinity of water varies. Some fish like acid water—the Amazonian tetras, for example.

2.                              dH. The hardness of water. Water from deep wells is usually hardened with the addition of magnesium and calcium salts whereas water from peat run-off is soft. The Lake Malawi cichlids favour hard water.

3.                              Contaminants. This can be the fluoride or chlorine added by the water companies or it can be pollutants added by man or mismanagement of the tank leading to increased nitrates and nitrites in the water from fish waste.

“What is it that is so different with this ‘Kangen Water?” was my question.

“You can select the pH you want,” was her response.

I shrugged.

“Try it,” she said, “Don’t just cast an idea out without first examining it. After all, the bulk of our body mass is water so I suppose the quality of the water you drink must count for something.”

My scepticism increased. The body must have, I reasoned, a mechanism for sorting out the different types of water it requires.

I read the brochures. They were typical glossy advertising blurbs that tell you everything that they want you to know about the product. Same as a car leaflet; a beautifully produced document that doesn’t tell you that the exhaust will fall off in the first year and that the gearbox breaks up after a few hundred miles!

Do not take alkaline water with medication; do not drink highly alkaline water before or after eating; start with a low pH and work up slowly… yes, yes… OK! I hear what you say, Oh, Glossy Brochure!

My wife sprays her face with water at pH5.5. That’s slightly acid! She prepares pH7.0 clean water (neutral) for the small person. She and I drink pH9.5 water now—that’s fairly alkaline. This is Malawi Cichlid level!

My wife's skin has improved--no more 'Estee Lauder'. No more 'Dettol', either, since she uses pH2.5 for cleaning.

She tells me, my wife does, about ‘free radicals’ and ‘micro clusters’ and ‘oxidants’ and I dutifully pretend to understand.

Then I heard from a friend of ours who lives up in Penang.

This is a young lady—well, young to me, who has cancer. She was being heavily treated with this chemotherapy thing. This is something else that I do not understand; but it is something that the medical community understand and so I am at peace with it. Her friends were supporting her with financial aid for this therapy and then a couple of them pitched in and bought her a ‘Kangen Water’ machine.

Those friends said that a man back in 1931 had discovered that cancer only thrives in an acid environment. This fellow received a Nobel Prize for that. The friends also said that Japanese hospitals were issuing ‘Kangen Water’ to their patients but now a small machine suitable for home use has been developed.

Two weeks ago, that cancer patient, who could barely walk upstairs and certainly could lift nothing heavier than a cup of tea, drove to Kuala Lumpur from Penang and delivered a one and a half hour presentation on the effect that this ‘Kangen Water’ had on her life. She looked fit and well. The cancer has not gone away but it is being beaten.

I am diabetic. Not heavily so. It is a mild form of diabetes for which I take a medication called ‘Galvusmet 50/500’. It is quite expensive as medications go.

My blood sugar levels were starting to read fairly low so I worried about becoming hypo-glycaemic. Wife told me to stop taking the pills.

After a week of not taking medication my blood sugar levels have stabilised around 5 to 7 (readings taken twice a day). I am told that the alkaline water has allowed the sugar receptors to recover.

I am eating everything and anything—life is better.

I feel better. My feet are not so discoloured (dark) as they were.

There are copies of ‘Kangen’ machines out there but I am told that they are less effective or less reliable.

My cynicism is decaying rapidly. Perhaps it is the water.