Introduction
One of the popular false health claims circulating on the Internet is that consuming large amounts of alkaline water can prevent or cure cancer. The reasoning behind this claim is based on the premise that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment, and thus, drinking alkaline water can help to increase the pH level of the body, making it inhospitable for cancer cells (Giap & Muthuraman, 2020).
Challenging a False Health Claim
However, rigorous scientific studies have not presented considerable evidence to support the claim that drinking alkaline water can prevent or cure cancer (Dow et al., 2023). The body maintains its pH level, which is naturally slightly alkaline, within a narrow range. Drinking alkaline water can temporarily influence the pH level of the urine, but it does not influence the body’s overall pH level.
The body’s pH is not significantly affected by diets, and there is no supported relationship between the pH level of the body and cancer development. Thus, cancer cells grow in normal body tissue, and their pH of 7.4 is slightly alkaline. Many experiments have shown that cancer cells can grow in an acidic environment. In fact, cancer often creates an acidic environment due to altered metabolism.
Furthermore, the idea that a person can adjust their body’s pH through a diet is a gross oversimplification of the complex systems that regulate pH in the human body (Chan et al., 2022). To maintain the necessary pH balance, the body has several effective methods, such as breathing and kidney function, which are not significantly influenced by what people consume.
Conclusion
Therefore, being aware of such misinformation and verifying health-related information from reliable sources is essential. While alkaline water is generally considered safe, it is not a proven method to prevent or cure cancer. All health decisions should be based on evidence-based medicine, and any potential cancer treatment should be discussed with a healthcare professional.
References
Chan, Y. M., Shariff, Z. M., Chin, Y. S., Ghazali, S. S., Lee, P. Y., & Chan, K. S. (2022). Associations of alkaline water with metabolic risks, sleep quality, muscle strength: A cross-sectional study among postmenopausal women. Plos One, 17(10), e0275640.
Dow, J., Rocha, I., Monchamp, K., Jones, M., Shetty, A., & Aaron, C. (2023). Debunking medical myths: The truth about alkaline water. Patient Education Projects, 595. Web.
Giap, L. K., & Muthuraman, A. (2020). Health benefits of alkaline ionized water. Rapports De Pharmacie, 6, 616-621.