Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, May 2016

The biological effect of alkaline water consumption is object of controversy. The present paper presents a 3-year survival study on a population of 150 mice, and the data were analyzed with accelerated failure time (AFT) model. Starting from the second year of life, nonparametric survival plots suggest that mice watered with alkaline water showed a better survival than control mice. Interestingly, statistical analysis revealed that alkaline water provides higher longevity in terms of “deceleration aging factor” as it increases the survival functions when compared with control group; namely, animals belonging to the population treated with alkaline water resulted in a longer lifespan. Histological examination of mice kidneys, intestine, heart, liver, and brain revealed that no significant differences emerged among the three groups indicating that no specific pathology resulted correlated with the consumption of alkaline water. These results provide an informative and quantitative summary of survival data as a function of watering with alkaline water of long-lived mouse models.

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Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study

Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study Massimiliano Magro,1 Livio Corain,2 Silvia Ferro,1 Davide Baratella,1 Emanuela Bonaiuto,1 Milo Terzo,1 Vittorino Corraducci,1 Luigi Salmaso,2 and Fabio Vianello1 1Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, Italy 2Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padua, 36100 Vicenza, Italy Received 7 March 2016; Revised 26 April 2016; Accepted 11 May 2016 Academic Editor: Hajime Nakae Copyright © 2016 Massimiliano Magro et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The biological effect of alkaline water consumption is object of controversy. The present paper presents a 3-year survival study on a population of 150 mice, and the data were analyzed with accelerated failure time (AFT) model. Starting from the second year of life, nonparametric survival plots suggest that mice watered with alkaline water showed a better survival than control mice. Interestingly, statistical analysis revealed that alkaline water provides higher longevity in terms of “deceleration aging factor” as it increases the survival functions when compared with control group; namely, animals belonging to the population treated with alkaline water resulted in a longer lifespan. Histological examination of mice kidneys, intestine, heart, liver, and brain revealed that no significant differences emerged among the three groups indicating that no specific pathology resulted correlated with the consumption of alkaline water. These results provide an informative and quantitative summary of survival data as a function of watering with alkaline water of long-lived mouse models. 1. Introduction Alkaline water, often referred to as alkaline ionized water (AKW), is commercially available and is mainly proposed for electrolyte supplementation during intensive perspiration. Early studies on animal models reported that alkaline water supplementation may exert positive effects on body weight improvement and development in offspring [1, 2]. Even biochemical markers were analyzed, suggesting that alkaline ionized water intake can cause elevation of metabolic activity. In particular, hyperkaliemia was observed in 15-week-old rats and pathological changes of necrosis in myocardial muscle were found [3]. More recently, studies were carried out on alkaline reduced water (ARW), referring to electrolyzed water produced from minerals, such as magnesium and calcium, which is characterized by supersaturated hydrogen, high pH, and a negative redox potential. This hydrogen-rich functional water has been introduced as a therapeutic strategy for health promotion and disease prevention [4]. Alkaline and electrolyzed water have been shown to exert a suppressive effect on free radical levels in living organisms, thereby resulting in disease prevention [5]. Various biological effects, such as antidiabetic and antioxidant actions [4], DNA protecting effects [6], and growth-stimulation activities [2], were documented. Although a variety of bioactive functions have been reported, the effect of alkaline water on lifespan and longevity in vivo is still unknown. Animal alkalization has been shown to be well tolerated and to increase tumor response to metronomic chemotherapy as well the quality of life in pets with advanced cancer [7]. Therefore, we performed a study based on survival rate experiments, which play central role in aging research and are generally performed to evaluate whether specific interventions may alter the aging process and lifespan in animal models. 2. Materials and Methods Biological effects of alkaline water were evaluated on a selected population of 150 mice (CD1, by Charles River, Oxford, UK). Pathogen-free mice were purchased and placed in a specific breeding facility. No other animal was present in the room. Contact with animal caretakers was minimized to feeding and watering. The population was divided into 3 groups, each consisting of 50 individuals, as follows:(i)Group A: 50 mice conventionally fed and watered with alkaline water produced by the Water Ionizer (mod. NT010) by Asiagem (Italy). The Water Ionizer is a home treatment device for producing alkaline drinking water.(ii)Group B: 50 mice conventionally fed and watered with alkalized water obtained by dilution of a concentrated alkaline solution (AlkaWater by Asiagem, Italy). AlkaWater is a concentrated alkaline solution for preparing alkaline drinking water.(iii)Group C: 50 mice conventionally fed and watered as conventional (control group) with tap water. The local water supply was evaluated weekly for assuring the absence of toxins and pathogens. The pH values were in the 6.0–6.5 range. All procedures involving animals were conducted in accordance with the Italian law on experimental animals and wer (...truncated)


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Massimiliano Magro, Livio Corain, Silvia Ferro, Davide Baratella, Emanuela Bonaiuto, Milo Terzo, Vittorino Corraducci, Luigi Salmaso, Fabio Vianello. Alkaline Water and Longevity: A Murine Study, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2016, 2016, DOI: 10.1155/2016/3084126