I was very interested to read of your experience with ionized water. As a researcher and retailer of water ionizers this is the first time I've ever heard anyone be negative about results. May I suggest that it's possible that the decline in your health may be unrelated to your consumption of alkaline water? Here's why: there is an absolutely vast body of research about the importance of correcting acid imbalance in the body by both eating alkaline forming foods and drinking alkaline water. So first of all, may I refer you to the scientific research, here: http://www.waterionizer.org/site/898596/page/443004 As far as the reports that it is not used in Japan any longer, i wonder where you found those reports, since our current research shows that between 1in5 and 1in 8 Japanese households use water ionizers. Last month alone, 40,000 Jupiter water ionizers were sold in Korea alone.

Our own experience with our customers could be roughly broken into two categories; the appreciative and the extremely enthusiastic. The really enthusiastic ones tend generally to be people with chronic diseases or conditions who found dramatic improvements from drinking ionized water. The reports from the "healthy" are not as dramatic.

One last thing, are you sure that you're drinking the alkaline water and not the acid water from your ionizer? I don't know what kind of ionizer you have, but hopefully it came with a ph test kit. Test the water you're drinking to make sure it's alkaline.

Lastly, perhaps you've read a report criticizing alkaline water based on what I would call "partial" science. If that's the case, you might be interested in looking at this article, "Alkaline Ionized Water and the Skeptics" here: http://www.waterionizer.org/site/898596/page/452400

Stan Howard