Want to get rid of GERD and heartburn? If you’re looking for ways to stop acid from climbing up your throat and making your mouth fizzle and have tried everything from antacids to lemon water, why not give alkaline water a try?
By deactivating and flushing out pepsin, the enzyme that causes GERD or acid reflux, alkaline water helps you reduce your stomach problems. And that’s not all. It also reduces oxidative stress, allowing your liver to remove harmful pollutants causing reflux.
But how does that work? Let’s explore the effects of alkaline water on your gut health in greater detail.
What Is Alkaline Water?
Alkaline water has a pH above 8 and a high negative oxidation-reduction potential that enables it to act as an antioxidant, helping your body protect itself from free radicals and metabolize nutrients.
It’s made through a process known as electrolysis, where electricity is used to separate water molecules that are more acidic or alkaline. Once that’s done, the alkaline molecules are taken away and bottled.
However, natural springs also produce alkaline water.
How Does Alkaline Water Affect Digestion and Gut Health?
Here are some ways alkaline water can affect improve digestion and gut health:
1. It Denatures Pepsin
At the pathophysiological level, pepsin is responsible for acid flux, and it requires acid for its activation. You can’t eliminate this cellular component by drinking normal water because pepsin remains stable at 7.4 pH.
However, alkaline water at pH 8.8 can denature — destroy the structure of pepsin — turning it permanently inactive, which effectively stops GERD.
2. It Reduces Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress takes place when reactive oxidative species (ROS) break down cellular structures like lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, leading to chronic inflammation in the GI tract and cell death.
Inflammation can cause you to develop inflammatory gut diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, GERD, etc. However, alkaline water can help with that.
This type of water shows antioxidative properties upon consumption because of the presence of negative ORP values and the presence of H2, which protects the body from oxidative stress caused by free radicals like superoxide (O2–) and H2O2.
Moreover, alkaline water shows a protective effect against inflammation markers like C-reactive protein and interleukin, reduces ROS, and increases antioxidant activities.
3. It Positively Affects the Acid-base Balance
The acid-base balance is the level of acidic and alkaline compounds in your body. It influences oxygen delivery to tissues, protein structure, and biochemical processes in the renal, circulatory, digestive, and other organ systems.
Alkaline water can positively affect the acid-base balance, which can reduce acid reflux, regulate gastrointestinal motility diseases by stimulating bile flow and pancreatic secretion, and improve the symptoms of indigestion.
4. It Can Reduce the Effects of IBS
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an intestinal disorder that causes bowel habit changes and abdominal pain. It affects around 11% of the world’s population. However, the cause and mechanisms underlying the disease aren’t entirely understood.
But several causes have been hypothesized, such as gut-brain axis alterations, gastrointestinal motility disorders, food hypersensitivities, genetic factors, intestine hypersensitivity, and bacterial overgrowth.
While alkaline water can’t do anything against most of these causes, it can stimulate the smooth muscle involved in gastrointestinal motility, improving intestinal transit time and excretory capacity.
It also promotes gastrointestinal hormone secretion, reducing abdominal bloating and promoting well-being.
The Takeaway
If you’re struggling with your gut health, alkaline water is the solution you’re looking for. It can stop GERD or acid reflux by denaturing pepsin, reduce inflammation by binding with free radicals, and positively influence gastrointestinal motility.
In other words, the benefits of alkaline water on your gut health and digestive process are numerous. So, if you want to improve your gut health, try alkaline water for a month. But where can you get it?
You can get alkaline water from any large-chain store like Target, Walmart, or Costco. However, if you want online options, you can’t do better than getting alkaline water by adivineh2o.com. Why? Because they’ll deliver it right to your doorstep.
