An old related post:

I am sure we have all heard that cancer cannot survive in a high oxygen atmosphere.  The claim goes on to say that this was what Otto Warburg, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, stated.  The problem with the claim though is that Warburg NEVER made that claim!  What Warburg stated was that cancer cells were anaerobic and would ferment to generate their energy REGARDLESS of whether or not oxygen was present. It is the same principle of yeast, which is also anaerobic.  When you make yeast bread the yeast is activated and these cells ferment even though they are exposed to oxygen.  Still I constantly hear herbalists and even naturopathic doctors constantly repeat the myth that cancer cells cannot live in an oxygen rich environment.  I even heard one naturopathic doctor go further to claim that Warburg had said that no disease can form in an oxygen rich environment.  This really reminds me of the game where you start with a statement and you whisper the statement in to the ear of the person next to you.  They then whisper it in to the ear of the next person.  This goes on through a number of people.  When the final person is asked what the statement is what they say is totally different than the original statement. The whole alkalinity myth is like the ever changing statement as it keeps getting passed on from person to person.  The problem is that few people will take the time to check the facts before perpetuating the myth.

Part of the confusion of people believing that cancer cells and microbes cannot survive in a high oxygen atmosphere stems from the confusion between plain oxygen and ozone.  Ozone (O₃) is a more radical form of oxygen that has a lot of properties that oxygen (O₂) does not have.  Ozone will kill cancer cells and microbes through a variety of mechanisms, including oxidation from singlet oxygen (O).  O₂ oxygen does is more stable than either O or O₃ and therefore does not have these properties.  Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) can destroy cancer cells and microbes, but again it does this due to instability.  As the peroxide breaks down it releases highly reactive singlet oxygen.  So even though oxygen, ozone and hydrogen peroxide are oxidizers, only ozone and peroxide have strong enough oxidizing capacity to effectively kill cancer cells and microbes.

Alkaline waters are produced from metal hydroxides (OH) that make them alkaline.  Personally I would not get anywhere near these waters.  The OH molecule is a very powerful free radical, and hydroxides are very caustic.  Examples are sodium and potassium hydroxides that are used as drain cleaners (lye and Drano for examples).  Magnesium hydroxide is used as a laxative because it chemically burns the intestinal wall causing a release of water in to the intestines and peristalsis. Calcium hydroxide is lime, which can burn the skin due to its caustic nature.

In addition these hydroxides neutralize stomach acid.  This can cause nutritional deficiencies as minerals and many vitamins are acid dependent for absorption.  The protein digestive enzyme pepsin also cannot work without sufficient stomach acid.  This can lead to further nutrient deficiencies as well as increases the risk of allergies and other problems as undigested proteins enter the bloodstream.  Stomach acid also protects us from pathogens that enter the body through the digestive system.  Most pathogens are killed by acid and thrive in an alkaline environment.  Take for example E. coli, which has been in the news a lot lately from contamination of meats and fruits. This bacteria cannot survive in an acidic environment, and actually normally lives and thrives in the alkaline environment of the intestines.  Candida is another great example.  Candida thrives in an alkaline environment, and is controlled or killed in an acidic environment.  This is why when people take antibiotics they tend to get yeast infections.  The beneficial Lactobacillus bacteria that inhabit our bodies produce lactic and acetic acids in order to control microbial growth, such as Candida and pathogenic bacteria.  The antibiotics kill of the beneficial Lactobacillus bacteria shifting the terrain in to a problematic alkaline environment.  This allows the Candida and pathogenic bacteria to thrive!