Caveat Emptor – buyer beware, that’s the label that they should require be placed on brands of bottled
alkaline water like Trader Joe’s Alkaline Water + Electrolytes. What should buyers beware of?
- The pH of the water may be much lower than the pH printed on the bottle.
- Trader Joe’s alkaline water has no antioxidant benefit – the most important benefit of alkaline water
Consumer reviews for Trader Joe’s alkaline water show that people who tested the water found it to have a pH as low as 5 in some instances. On the bottle, Trader Joe’s alkaline water claims to have a pH of 9.5. Is Trader Joe’s lying? Or is there something wrong with their brand of bottled alkaline water. A little investigating, along with a working knowledge of electrochemistry reveals that there is something wrong with Trader Joe’s bottled alkaline water.
Customer Reviews find Trader Joe’s Alkaline water misses the mark
The reviews weren’t all bad, some reviewers liked the taste of it. But others that took the time to test the pH of Trader Joe’s alkaline water found that it always tested below a pH of 9:
One reviewer, Mark said:
“Two different bottles from two different stores. The label on the bottles implies that the water inside is pH 9, alkaline. The water in both bottles measures pH 6.2, which is a slightly acid. Either the bottles are not labeled correctly or the wrong water was bottled. Caveat emptor.”
But another reviewer, John, found his to be just slightly below 9.5:
“If you’re gonna buy bottled water, and you have acid reflux, this is the way to go. Mine ‘TESTED’ at 9.”
Most reviewers that tested Trader Joe’s alkaline water found it to be around a pH of 6, which is acidic. Kiki Beckler tested “several batches” and found them all to be around a pH of 6.5:
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Trader Joe’s and most of their products but I agree with Mark and Bill on the “alkaline water” ph. I tested several batches with two different brands of ph test strips and ALL BOTTLES tested at around 6.5. That wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that Trader Joe’s clearly has it labeled ph 9.5 plus”
So what’s wrong with Trader Joe’s bottled alkaline water? At a pH of 6.5, their alkaline water is actually 10,000% less alkaline than it says on the label. It’s slightly acidic!
Ionized alkaline water doesn’t keep in bottles
Trader Joe’s claims that their bottled alkaline water has a shelf life of two years. That’s news to me, I’ve been working with electrically activated ionized alkaline water for over 6 years now, and can report that it doesn’t have a shelf life of two years. It will keep for 30 days if you bottle it in glass and keep it in the refrigerator. To make an electrically activated ionized alkaline water keep longer, you’d have to add a chemical pH stabilizer to it. This begs the question: “Are they adding something to their bottled alkaline water that they’re not telling us about?
It is plainly obvious that Trader Joe’s alkaline water doesn’t keep for two years. It may be at a pH of 9.5 when it leaves the bottling plant, but it doesn’t stay there. The drop in pH is related directly to the amount of time the water has been in the bottle. The longer it sits, the more the pH will decline, until it reaches the original pH of the water, before it was ionized.
Antimony: Another problem with bottled alkaline water
There’s another problem with bottled alkaline water. Even if you buy it in BPA free bottles, you are still exposed to another, even more dangerous chemical: Antimony. Alkaline water draws antimony, a harmful heavy metal linked to cancer, out of the plastic resin that the bottles are made of. Testing that compared bottled alkaline water with regular bottled water revealed that the bottled alkaline water had significant, detectable levels of antimony in it. Antimony, like many heavy metals, builds up in your tissues over time. This can lead to health problems later in life.
Why take chances with bottled alkaline water? Make it yourself
When you buy bottled alkaline water, you take the chance that it is stale, as the people in this article that reviewed Trader Joe’s alkaline water found out. The reason Trader Joe’s alkaline water goes stale is that it is made with a water ionizer. The healthy properties of ionized alkaline water just don’t keep in a bottle. That’s why you don’t get any antioxidant benefit from bottled alkaline water.
Make it yourself, with your own Life Ionizer. Ionized alkaline water is best consumed fresh from the water ionizer, while it still has it’s full antioxidant potential. A water ionizer puts the healthy benefits of alkaline water as close and convenient as your kitchen sink. No more running out and having to rush to the store. Best of all, when you own an ionizer, you get fresh healthy alkaline water for just pennies per day!
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