Trying to look after your health is an admirable thing. It takes effort, dedication, and a willingness to evaluate all possible ways that you can use to improve things. This can lead to taking in a lot of white noise from the many people cluttering the health industry rather than trying to actually support it. Some of these are as obvious as miracle pills where the question isn’t “What do they do?”, but instead “What don’t they do?” Other instances of this are less obvious though. These tend to be the claims of some supplements that might have the barest evidence for them, but are largely discredited once you start looking. Those living a healthy lifestyle have likely heard of a health trend encouraging people to drink volcanic or otherwise alkaline water. It supposedly promotes health on several fronts, but what’s the truth to this? We went looking to find out.

The Claim
Volcanic and alkaline water are, in essence, the same. Alkaline simply refers to water that has an acid neutralizing pH. This can be achieved a number of ways, but a current trend involves exposing the water to the minerals in volcanic rock as a means of adding minerals to it. Proponents claim that this gives the water a distinctive taste as well as imparting health benefits into the water through its mineral content. Depending on the brand, these claims vary from reasonable to quite extreme. A common claim is that alkaline water helps the body to handle toxins and illness. Some go that extra mile and claim that it can help treat cancer as well. In general, most of the claims are simply that the water will help improve your health in many subtle ways. There isn’t much to back these claims up though.

What We Know
Mineral water can actually help your health, but volcanic and alkaline water hasn’t had any results even clearly hinting at it potentially being useful for half the things people claim. There is frequently a subtle difference in taste, yes, but that’s true of most mineral waters. The generic claim of it being able to neutralize or purge toxins from the body is something we’ve highlighted before. It is an easy claim to make that is hard for anyone to disprove because it is nebulous. Your body has a means for handling poisons and toxic substances already that genuinely isn’t going to be helped by your choice of bottled water. The cancer claims are truly shameless as far as health claims go and are not to be trusted. The only evidence there is for any potential medical benefit is that alkaline water may be useful in the treatment of acid reflux when combined with standard remedies. This doesn’t really support the various miracle claims that proponents like.

Will It Hurt To Try?
This is one of the instances where the trend won’t necessarily directly hurt you if you indulge. Mineral water is still good for your body to an extent. Be sure to check the nutritional label to see what the water has concentrations of to be mindful though. Too much of anything can hurt your body. This is particularly true of the vitamins and minerals we all try to take in for the sake of our health. Volcanic and alkaline water can certainly make a novelty drink that is potentially enjoyable if the subtle flavor is to your taste, but there is nothing to actually recommend them as a means for actually improving your health. The taste and novelty of the drink can make an excellent conversation starter in some circles though.

Volcanic water is another health trend with nothing to reliably support its health claims. The one legitimate medical use it may have is best served by using it in combination with standard medications. It won’t hurt you and can provide an excellent source of hydration just like normal water. You are encouraged to ignore the miraculous claims for the water though. Just enjoy the taste and let it be something you enjoy rather than believe will help your overall health.