Stephen Lower is a text book retired chemistry teacher that just needs updated information. There are 100's of published scientific articles that validate the efficacy of drinking alkaline water and eating alkaline food. May I suggest the following articles after a few brief comments.Distilled water is electrically neutral and provides no benefit to the body unless infused with electrons. Water is a catalyst for delivering electrical energy to all the anatomical elements of the body that make up all cells. You deliver electrical energy to the body by increasing the electron concentration of that water. The body runs on electricity NOT food or calories. Food is just one source for electrical energy. Another great source for electrical energy to run the body is the sun. The point here is water is a catalyst for delivering electrical energy in the form of electrons or alkaline water that is transported to every cell via a matrix of sodium.
According to Stephen Lower at the Simon Fraser University drinking alkaline water is of no value because it will be minimized by the hydrochloric acids of the stomach. That's exactly the point Stephen! You want to minimize the hydrochloric acid residues in the stomach!!!! Of course what Stephen does not explain is the biochemistry that every molecule of hydrochloric acid produced in the stomach an equal amound of sodium bicarbonate is produced by the cover cells. The equation is as follows: NaCl + H20 + Cl = NaHCO3 + HCL. The stomach pulls sodium, chloride, water and carbon dioxide to make sodium bicarbonate, an alkalizing compound with a waste product of hydrochloric acid. The stomach will always produce sodium bicarbonate to alkalize the food we eat or the liquids we drink to prepare the food and drink for biological transformation into stem cells in the crypts of the small intestine. The more acidic the food or drink the more sodium bicarbonate will be produced to buffer the acids of the food or drink. This of course leaves you with a belly full of acid which leads to all sorts of stomach disorders including the acidifying of the blood and then tissues. The stomach does not need to produce any sodium bicarbonate when we are eating or drinking alkalizing foods or drinks. The key here to remember is the stomach is NOT an organ of digestion but an organ of contribution and its main contribution is to alkalize the food and drink we ingest. You want to drink alkaline water to neutralize or buffer the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The stomach is NOT an organ of digestion but an organ designed to alkalize the acids from food and metabolism. Bottom-line the best thing you can do to support the stomach is to drink alkaline water with a pH of at least 9.5 or better. You will be preventing serious stomach disorders and preparing the food and drink for its ideal pH in the small intestine at 8.4.
Stephen is also confused about the biochemistry of the blood which has a very narrow range of 7.365 to 7.4. Any acid introduced into the bloodstream via diet or metabolism must be eliminated through the four channels of elimination, i.e. urination, perspiration, defecation, and respiration. If one or more of these four channels of elimination are congested or damaged then the blood goes into compensated acidosis and will eliminate any acid into the connective tissue, Pishinger spaces and the fatty tissues to maintain the delicate pH of the blood at 7.365. If this process continues acids wiill build up in the tissues leading to latent tissue acidosis and eventually an inflammatory or degenerative condition. If the symptoms of tissue acidosis or latent tissue acidosis is not corrected this will then lead to decompensated acidosis in the blood and then eventual death.
I would suggest those who are interested in why it is important to drink alkaline water and eat alkaline food read The pH Miracle Revised and Updated and the following articles at http://www.articlesofhealth.blogspot.com/: