The Consumers’ Foundation has urged people not to be fooled by bottles which allegedly produce alkaline water when shaken, as its latest tests of four types of bottles showed that they are not as effective as their manufacturers claimed.
Many companies have observed that people are putting more emphasis on their health, and spotted opportunities to introduce products that claim to be beneficial, the foundation said.
Alkaline water bottle sellers claim that drinking alkaline water is healthy, saying it can delay aging, improve the condition of skin, enhance the immune system and even improve emotional well-being, and that by pouring boiled, purified or mineral water into bottles and shaking them for a few seconds, the water becomes alkaline.
Four types of alkaline water bottles were purchased by the foundation through online shopping Web sites in late September, and the claims made in their advertising and on their packaging were compared with their actual capabilities.
The results showed that advertising for the bottles — on sale for between NT$588 and NT$2,250 — exaggerated the health effects and might have misled consumers, the foundation said.
One advertisement claimed that drinking water from the company’s product can help “delay aging” and “shed extra fat from the body,” foundation chairman Alan Lu (陸雲) said.
“A pH level of 7 is neutral, so the pH levels they achieve of 7.8 to 8.3 are alkaline, but the pH level of gastric acid in the human stomach is 1.5 to 3.5,” he said. “Drinking the so-called alkaline water does not change the body’s pH level to alkaline.”
The material that was used in two of the products did not correspond with the description on the packaging, one product did not have an instruction manual in Chinese, and the change in pH levels of water produced from three products was subtle and not as much as was claimed, the foundation said.
Consumers should not believe all the health claims that sellers of such products make, and they should ask healthcare practitioners for advice before purchasing products that claim to have therapeutic effects, the foundation said.
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