SCAM? pH Balance Bottled Water Marketing Put To Scientific Test

You’ve seen all the ads. You’ve seen the labeling. But do bottled water products claiming various pH balances really deliver? The FDA has no hand in monitoring pH balance claims. The EPA regulates pH balance, but only for tap water. And I’m sure, if you are like me, you’ve wondered, are these companies just making up these claims as a way to push more product?

Fair question and we aren’t the only ones to have mulled over such inquisition. Arizona’s ABC15 took several of the companies to task and had them tested for pH balance to determine if this was all a big fraud, or authentic and legit.

Since pH is not regulated we wondered if you get what you pay for when you buy PH balanced bottled water. We bought 13 bottles from various grocery stores then we took those bottles to Murray-Brown labs for some high-tech PH testing.

After several hours the results were in. Did these waters live up to the claims on the side of their bottles?

Here are the results, among the bottles of water that claimed to have high or balanced pH levels, well the tests showed they really did. They had levels of 7, 8, 9 and 10. Compare that to the brands that make no pH claims and those tested in the 5 -7.

We also tested to see how bottled water pH compares to tap water. We took samples from 12 E.W. Scripps Company stations across the country.

The average for the 12 tap water samples we tested was 8.12. That’s less than a point below the average for the pH water we tested.

University of Florida Professor David Mazyck says pH balance in water is mostly hype, however.

“We’re not necessarily getting any health benefits or any other benefits from a higher or you know a lower pH. And so it’s more driven based on the marketing aspects versus you know true benefits.” He claims there is no justification in spending so much more money on bottled water for pH balance.

You can cheaply purchase a pH balance testing kit on Amazon if you want to learn more about your own tap water.