Healing Waters

Manufacturers of structured water, also called “living water,” promise their product will recharge and detoxify your body.

- Jennifer Connor-Smith

Your life depends on water. Without it, you’ll die within a week. But what if water could do more than just keep you alive? What if drinking the right water could make you stronger, faster, and healthier?

It’s . . . Aliiiiive

Their equipment swirls water through a vortex and blasts it with light to mimic the flow of sunlit streams. The goal is to energize water by adding oxygen and organizing molecules into hexagonal patterns.

The equipment to make structured water at home can cost hundreds, but you can buy oxygenated water for a few dollars a bottle. Makers of oxygenated water claim it will boost energy, improve endurance, and strengthen immunity. Sounds great!

Unfortunately, spinning water around doesn’t form beautiful hexagon arrangements. A glass of water may look still, but inside, water molecules rocket along at over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) an hour. If a hexagonal cluster of water molecules does happen to form, it would last only a trillionth of a second.

You can add oxygen to water. Just shake a half-full bottle. But drinking it won’t supercharge your body. Every breath you take delivers more oxygen more effectively than drinking an entire bottle of oxygenated water.

Back to Basic

Another watery remedy attempts to rid the body of harmful acid. Proponents of this type of water warn that acidic foods (everything from meat to dairy to coffee) causes bone loss, cancer, fatigue, obesity, and diabetes. A remedy? Cancel the acid by drinking alkaline (basic) water.

Some companies market alkaline-water makers to cancer patients, suggesting the water destroys cancer cells. Other promised benefits include rapid hydration, enhanced energy and speed, weight loss, stronger bones, clearer skin, and fewer allergies. Cramming all those benefits into a glass of water sounds amazing. Too amazing.