From electrolyte-infused water and smoothies to soft drinks—electrolytes, just like alkaline water, seem to be the rage nowadays. They’re thought to balance your body’s pH level, help nutrients move into cells, regulate your nerves, muscles, heart, and repair damaged tissue.
Surprisingly, alkaline water does all those things and more. So, does it contain electrolytes? Or does it? Let’s find out.
What Is Alkaline Water?
Alkaline water refers to water with a pH above 7, usually a result of ionization, i.e., when minerals are added to water to increase its pH levels. It is thought to reduce blood viscosity, regulate blood pressure, promote hydration, and starve cancer cells.
Usually, alkaline water has a slightly bitter taste.
What Are Electrolytes?
Electrolytes are minerals that produce a positive or negative electrical charge when present in water. They are distributed throughout your body and use their electrical charge to facilitate and perform bodily processes.
They usually:
- Regulate your body’s fluid balance and blood pressure
- Balance your body’s pH
- Help nutrients move into and out of your cells
- Repair damaged tissue
- Replenish lost water and energy, thereby preventing dehydration
- Support and boost your nervous system function and muscle contractions
- Enhance exercise performance.
The three primary electrolytes are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These electrolytes help you remain hydrated, retain fluids, and perform daily activities. However, they’re lost when you perform exercise or begin sweating.
Does Alkaline Water Have Electrolytes?
The simple answer is yes. You can’t create alkaline water without putting some type of mineral in it to increase its alkaline level. For instance, naturally alkaline water (found in springs) contains minerals—that’s why it’s alkaline. It mostly contains electrolytes like magnesium and sodium.
Commercially produced alkaline water may not have these electrolytes. It may instead be infused with other minerals like potassium, calcium, phosphorous, etc. So, does that mean alkaline water is essentially electrolyte water?
Yes! Alkaline water is essentially electrolyte-infused water. It can contain any mineral.
7 Benefits of Electrolytes in Alkaline Water
Here are some benefits of the electrolytes present in alkaline water:
1. They Control Your Fluid Balance
Minerals like sodium attract water, which allows your body to retain water when you’re exercising or sweating in a hot climate. That reduces your chances of dehydration and dizziness.1
2. They Improve Blood Viscosity
When your blood is thicker, it moves more slowly, which prompts your heart to beat harder to push it along. That can raise your blood pressure. This is where alkaline water can help.
The electrolytes in alkaline water can “thin” your blood by attracting more water, causing your blood pressure to get lower and reducing your chances of diseases like high blood pressure.
3. They Improve Absorption and Waste Disposal
Electrolytes like sodium attract water. This allows them to bring water saturated with glucose and amino acids from the intestinal tract along with them to your blood and then distribute them to organs like the kidneys.
The water can also contain waste the kidney can then dispose of.
4. They Support and Boost the Nervous System
Electrolytes like magnesium regulate pressure in cells and conduct nerve signals, allowing your organs to function without fail. When the electrolyte count in your organs falls, you start to feel lethargic and fatigued.2
5. They Prevent Dehydration
Electrolytes like sodium are attracted to water. When you drink sodium-infused alkaline water, the sodium goes into your body, attracts water molecules, and clumps up with them. So, when you exercise or sweat, the water molecules find it much harder to evaporate.
6. They Produce Energy
Magnesium is an electrolyte that’s responsible for muscle and nerve function, numerous biochemical reactions in the body, blood glucose control, blood pressure regulation, bone strength, immune system function, and energy production.3
If you don’t have enough of this electrolyte, you feel more lethargic and have headaches. That’s why drinking magnesium-enriched alkaline water can help.
7. They Repair Damaged Tissue
Electrolytes like silicon, lithium, zinc, and magnesium are responsible for tissue repair, growth, and healing. They can also help in creating bones.4
The Takeaway
Alkaline water does contain electrolytes — it wouldn’t be “alkaline” otherwise. And these minerals can help your body with hundreds of functions. Magnesium alone can regulate and control over 300 bodily functions!
So, if you’re a sweat hazard or just like exercising, instead of getting electrolyte water, grab a bottle of alkaline water and go to town. But don’t just get any alkaline water. Try aDivineh20’s natural alkaline water. They offer the best alkaline water delivery service in Los Angeles, which is great if you want your water today instead of two weeks from now.
References
1. Gonçalves, C., Abreu, S., Padrão, P. et al. (2015). Association between sodium excretion and hydration status by Free Water Reserve: a cross-sectional analysis in adolescents. BMC Nutrition, 1(17). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-015-0013-y
2. Volpe S. L. (2013). Magnesium in disease prevention and overall health. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 4(3), 378S–83S. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.112.003483
3. Kass, L., Weekes, J., & Carpenter, L. (2012). Effect of magnesium supplementation on blood pressure: a meta-analysis. European journal of clinical nutrition, 66(4), 411–418. https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.4
4. Brokesh, A. M., Cross, L. M., Kersey, A. L., Murali, A., Richter, C., Gregory, C. A., Singh, I., & Gaharwar, A. K. (2022). Dissociation of nanosilicates induces downstream endochondral differentiation gene expression program. Science advances, 8(17), eabl9404. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abl9404
