What is a water ionizer and what does it do?

As I've become more and more familiar with water purifiers over the past few years, I've seen a lot of information pop up about water ionizers as well. What struck me most was their price, as they tend to be extremely expensive for what is ultimately a household countertop item.

It begs the question:

What is a water ionizer?

And more importantly, what does it do?

A Simple Definition

Basically, a water ionizer is a home appliance that is meant to turn tap water into alkaline water by raising its pH levels. As for a basic definition, that's all it does. Through a process called electrolysis, this occurs inside the machine which then provides the now "alkaline water" for consumption, usually through some small tap or faucet on the machine itself.

What's the point?

If you start to look at the culture around this product, you'll essentially find a lot of verbiage and ideas common in alternative medicine. In summary, people believe that drinking alkaline water has similar benefits to that of an alkaline diet. While there are benefits to the diet side of the debate, it's not ​really ​because of the change in pH.

In fact, a healthy body's pH levels ​cannot ​be changed. On its own, your body aggressively regulates its own pH levels.​​​​

As a result, the consequence of drinking alkaline water has literally ​zero ​impact on those numbers, which have set ranges depending on what part of the body you're talking about (stomach, blood, etc.). 

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would argue that you don't need to spend a ton of money for a water ionizer. Yes, it's effective at changing the pH levels of your water, but why would we do that if it's completely unproven to have any kind of health benefit?

Instead, we would recommend picking up one of the best water purifiers, since those will deal with things that are proven to have an impact on your health.

They keep your water clean and free from contaminants that we know can make you sick or have a negative impact on your health.