Alkaline Water Extends Lifespan in 3-Year Mouse Study
- Authors
- Massimiliano Magro, Livio Corain, Silvia Ferro, Davide Baratella, Emanuela Bonaiuto, Milo Terzo, Vittorino Corraducci, Luigi Salmaso, Fabio Vianello
- Journal
- Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Year
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1155/2016/3084126
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Italy
- Health Condition
- Aging
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Drinking alkaline water appeared to increase the lifespan of mice without causing any noticeable health issues.
Key Finding
Mice that consumed alkaline water lived significantly longer than control mice, with survival benefits becoming apparent starting in the second year of life, and no organ damage was detected in any group.
Summary
Researchers gave 150 mice either alkaline water or regular water for 3 years to see if it affected how long they lived. Starting in the second year, mice drinking alkaline water lived longer than the control group. When researchers examined the organs of all the mice, they found no signs of damage or disease in the kidneys, intestines, heart, liver, or brain from any group.
Practical Takeaway
This early animal evidence suggests alkaline water may support longevity, but this is a mouse study only and cannot be directly applied to humans. Much more research—including human trials—would be needed before drawing any conclusions about whether alkaline water affects human lifespan or aging.
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.