Is Fluoride Really That Bad?

Is Fluoride Really That Bad?

First, let's start off with clearing up what fluoride really is. There is actually a vast number of fluorides. Fluorides are made by bonding the element fluorine with some other substance. Now the fluoride in our tap water has a big fancy name: Fluorosilicic acid (or hydrofluorosilicic acid once the fluorosilicic acid has been diluted).

Fluorosilicic acid is a toxic byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry. While manufacturing the commercial fertilizer there are toxic gases emitted. Currently this gas is, for the most part, kept from getting into the atmosphere and is collected in special apparatuses. And these collected emissions are bottled up and sent all over the country to be added to the different municipalities' tap water. Keep in mind that fluorosilicic acid is considered a hazardous waste and is handled accordingly. Before being added to our drinking water, it undergoes NO refinement or purification and has elevated levels of arsenic in it. It is, in fact, so toxic that in the 1950s and '60s livestock and crops were disastrously damaged by the toxic emissions of these phosphate fertilizer plants. The livestock's bones were destroyed to the point where the cattle couldn't stand to graze. They were made infertile and couldn't produce offspring, and if they did miraculously become impregnated the calf was either born with horrendous deformities or was stillborn. Orchards were destroyed as well as crops. Here's what the CBC reported from a town in Ontario:

“Farmers noticed it first… Something mysterious burned the peppers, burned the fruit, dwarfed and shriveled the grains, damaged everything that grew. Something in the air destroyed the crops. Anyone could see it… They noticed it first in 1961. Again in ’62. Worse each year. Plants that didn’t burn, were dwarfed. Grain yields cut in half…Finally, a greater disaster revealed the source of the trouble. A plume from a silver stack, once the symbol of Dunville’s progress, spreading for miles around poison – fluorine. It was identified by veterinarians. There was no doubt. What happened to the cattle was unmistakable, and it broke the farmer’s hearts. Fluorosis – swollen joints, falling teeth, pain until cattle lie down and die. Hundreds of them. The cause – fluorine poisoning from the air.”

Fast Forward to Our Present Day

Fluoride is added to 70% of this country's tap water. It is promoted as helping prevent tooth decay in the population. However, world-wide studies have shown that the rate of tooth decay is no worse in countries that do not fluoridate their drinking water. And dentists have concluded that ingesting fluoride does very little in the way of preventing caries (cavities) and that it needs to be applied topically to the surface of the teeth to be even remotely effective.

Fluoride is a toxic substance and prolonged exposure to high levels of this substance can cause a very painful bone disease called skeletal fluorosis, dental fluorosis (discoloration of the teeth) and has been linked to arthritis, bone fragility, glucose intolerance, learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease and thyroid disease.

Studies have shown that fluoridation has been linked to an increase in hypothyroidism, or an under-active thyroid. This in turn causes fatigue, depression and obesity. All of which are pretty common ailments among us Americans.

Even the CDC admits that 41% of teenagers have some degree of dental fluorosis, meaning they are over fluoridated. Yet they are continuing their promotion of fluoride and are wanting to increase the intake of fluoride.

What Can You Do About All of This?

Here is more data on fluoride and why it is so hard to filter from our drinking water. 

https://www.alkalinewaterplus.com/water-ionizers-remove-fluoride/
https://www.alkalinewaterplus.com/water-ionizer-handle-fluoride-whats-wrong-fluoride/
https://www.alkalinewaterplus.com/fluoride-chloramine-whyhow-get-water/

In order to truly eliminate the fluoride from your water I highly recommend getting a fluoride filter and a water ionizer. Both of these will help to remove fluoride from your drinking water. See more articles and filters related to fluoride.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I am more than happy to help you and your family achieve an even more healthy and happy lifestyle! 

What is ORP?

What is ORP?

Last week we went over what free radicals are. This week we are going to talk about ORP, which you hear about quite often when talking about alkaline ionized water.

All around us in the air, in all of the material objects, our bodies, water and the earth there is a constant exchange of electrons. This is called ion exchange. (Remember here where we went over what an ion is?)

Everything wants to reach an equilibrium, everything wants that balance. So molecules that are lacking electrons seek out and “steal” electrons from other molecules. These substances on the hunt for electrons are called “oxidizing agents”. Oxidize means: “to remove electrons from an atom or molecule.” So these substances (free radicals) are removing electrons from nearby molecules or atoms.

Substances which have an excess of electrons that they can share without being damaged are called “anti-oxidizing agents”, or “antioxidants”. Aaaahh, I bet you have heard that word touted all over new health foods and supplements.

What Does ORP Stand for?

ORP stands for “oxidation-reduction potential”. It is a measurement of how much a substance can oxidize another substance. The arbitrary scale goes from -400 to +400, with +400 being a highly oxidizing substance and -400 being the highest anti-oxidant level. What you want to look for in your drinking water is a negative ORP in the 300-400 range.

Most tap water and bottled water have positive ORP levels and therefore are oxidizing to the body, meaning they will leach electrons from healthy tissues. Bad, bad news!

Alkaline ionized water on the other hand has an anti-oxidant quality to it, meaning it has an excess of electrons it can share with the free radicals in search of electrons. This then keeps them from taking electrons from your body. Very good news, indeed!

Visit our water ionizer website where you can find a huge resource of information regarding alkaline water, water ionizers, non-electric water ionizers, accessories, etc.  

What Exactly Are Free Radicals And What Does Ionized Water Have To Do With Them?

Free Radicals

Free radicals are everywhere. They are in the air, our bodies, water and all the material around us. They are what cause rust to eat away at your car, your apples or bananas to brown, paint to fade, etc. And even more importantly, they are what cause age-related illnesses, cancer, strokes, heart attacks and numerous other diseases.

So, simply speaking, what exactly is a “free radical”? Let's start with an atom.

At the center of an atom you have the nucleus, which is composed of protons and neutrons (except for hydrogen – hydrogen is the only element that doesn't have neutrons). Circling the nucleus you have layers, or shells, of electrons. The first layer has 2 electrons when full, the second shell, if it's complete will have 8, the third shell will have 18, and so on. Let's take the simplest of atoms, the hydrogen atom. It has in its nucleus 1 proton and circling it, it has 1 electron. Since there is one of each proton and electron, there is no electric charge in this atom.

Every element on the periodic table is neutral, meaning it has the same amount of electrons going around the same number of protons in the nucleus. Tracking so far?

Now let's say we take a sodium atom (abbreviated Na). It has in its first shell two electrons. In its second shell it has 8 electrons, which makes that shell complete. Now in its outermost shell it only has 1 electron. These atoms want to have paired up electrons and the sodium atom has an unpaired electron. What does that mean? Well, let's say we take a chlorine (Cl) atom. In chlorine's outermost shell it only has 7 electrons. It needs 8 in order to be complete and have all electrons paired. Ok, so let's say we put these two atoms in proximity, what will happen? The unpaired electron that the sodium atom has will give that extra electron away to the chlorine atom so that they are both even. Ta-Da!

But, wait. That means that now the sodium atom has one less electron than it does protons. That makes it positively charged. More protons = positively charged. More electrons = negatively charged. So the sodium atom is now a positive ion and the chlorine atom is a negative ion.

Hold on, What is an Ion?

An ion is an atom that has either gained or lost electrons, therefore becoming either positively or negatively charged. Simple.

Now what does this have to do with free radicals, you ask. Let us take a molecule, which is made up of multiple atoms. If there are unpaired electrons, it will actively search out electrons it can “steal” from other molecules. So, let's say there are free radicals in your body, which there always is, but let's say there is an excess of them. They will attack healthy tissue by “stealing” electrons from them in order to complete their outer shells. This then causes the molecules it “stole” from to become free radicals, too, which causes them to seek out electrons and thus turning other molecules into free radicals. This then can cause a chain reaction that can lead to the destruction of that healthy tissue. Bad news.

What is Ionized Water?

Ok, so the water molecules that have been processed through the electronic water ionizer have been split. Water, chemically speaking, is called H2O, right? So that means it has 2 hydrogen atoms bonded, or stuck to, 1 oxygen atom. Now, when the water is put through your water ionizer, the H2O molecule is split to leave the oxygen atom, which normally has 8 electrons and 8 protons, attached to one of the hydrogen atoms, which has 1 electron and 1 proton. But, it was split in such a way that the hydrogen atom it was split from didn't take it's electron with it. Therefore the lone hydrogen atom has just one proton, making it positively charged (remember more protons than electrons = positively charged). And the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that are stuck together have 10 electrons but only 9 protons, which means they are negatively charged (more electrons than protons = negatively charged).

Ionized Water and Free Radicals

Ok, so now we have these negatively ionized water molecules with an excess of electrons, right? And remember those pesky free radicals in search of an electron to “steal”? Welllll...... the ionized water can supply these free radicals with their needed electron so they don't leach it from your body! Pretty awesome, right? I think so, too!

This is why ionized water is so extremely important to your health and why I work tirelessly to educate everyone regarding it. Since I have started drinking ionized water over 20 years ago, the successes I have seen with it have been nothing short of miraculous! Really! Check out my successes here that customers over the years have sent me. And read my own personal testimonial here.

 Please feel free to browse my website, learn what you can about ionized water, watch my videos, and of course feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need help.  

Boycott the Bottle -- The Water Bottle, That Is

Plastic Water Bottles

We here at Alkaline Water Plus are not only passionate about alkaline ionized water, but we are very interested in the environment and your health. This is why we strongly encourage you to boycott the plastic water bottle. Not only do they contribute to large amounts of waste planet wide, but they also pose risks to your health, along with the health of your family, friends and pets.

How Do Water Bottles Affect Your Health?

Studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates, which are known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, can leach into bottled water over time. One study found that water that had been stored for 10 weeks in plastic contained phthalates. Although there are regulatory standards limiting phthalates in tap water, there are no legal limits for phthalates in bottled water. This is largely because the bottled water industry waged a successful campaign that opposed the FDA proposal to set a legal limit for these chemicals.

You have probably also heard that leaving your plastic water bottles in a hot car isn't good for you, either. Well, that is certainly true! Plastic water bottles, when heated up, have been shown to release BPA into the bottled water. And BPA has been shown to affect hormone levels by mimicking estrogen in the body. This can lead to infertility, weight gain, diabetes and heart disease, to name a few.

How Do Water Bottles Affect the Environment?

1500 water bottles are consumed EVERY SECOND in the US alone!

40,000,000,000 (yes, 40 BILLION) plastic water bottles end up in landfills each and every year! Yes, you read that right!

17,000,000 barrels of oil are used each year to produce the bottles for the bottled water!

These staggering statistics have a huge and irreversible impact on our planet. These plastic bottles will never biodegrade and will be here for millions of years to come.

What is the Solution?

I highly recommend storing your water in these stainless steel bottles. Glass jars work well, too.

I also strongly urge you to look into purchasing a water ionizer for your household. Not only does it filter out the contaminants in your tap water, which is why you were probably drinking bottled water in the first place, but the multitude of health benefits from drinking alkaline ionized water are imperative to your and your family's immediate and long-term health.

I hope this blog gave you a little more insight into what motivates us to do what we do here at Alkaline Water Plus! Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions or to leave your feedback.