Redox Value – What Is It?
For many aquarium enthusiasts and swimming pool owners, the redox value is a valued tool for determining water quality. Increasingly, people also consult the redox value when it comes to clean and healthy drinking water. However, the redox value as a means of determining drinking water quality is not a new science. The French hydrologist Professor Louis-Claude Vincent made the measurement popular in the 1940s through his research and long-term studies, from which the "Bioelectronic Terrain Analysis" (BE-T-A) emerged, using several parameters to determine good drinking water quality. He also researched the connections between the water quality of a location and the life expectancy of the people who consumed this water. Over years, he collected data, and his very comprehensive statistical analyses led to the conclusion that this connection plays a significant role. Prof. Vincent and his student Dr Franz Morell studied more than 400,000 people over a period of 25 years.
The BE-T-A records three measurements. The pH value, the rH2 value or eH value (redox potential), and the R value. The pH value, which informs us about the proton concentration, should be below seven, ideally between 6.4 and 6.8. The rH2 value or eH value should be between 24 and 28 (slightly reduced/antioxidative). The R value indicates the electrical resistance, measured in ohms. This value provides information about the total amount of all substances dissolved in the water and thus defines the purity of the water. The fewer substances contained, the higher the electrical resistance. This value should be above 6,000 ohms. Today, instead of electrical resistance, electrical conductivity is usually measured with a TDS tester in microsiemens per centimetre (µS/cm) or parts per million (ppm). Naturally, the lower the conductivity, the purer and better the water. The redox value alone, calculated from the redox potential and the pH value, gives an even better understanding of the quality of drinking water.
The Importance of the Redox Value for the Body's Biochemistry
Every liquid has a measurable redox potential. Even blood, blood plasma, tissue, and cell fluids have a specific redox value. According to the Nernst equation, arterial blood has about minus 57 mV and venous blood around minus 7 mV. Prof. Vincent examined the body fluids of his patients such as blood, saliva, or urine using the BE-T-A. The measured values obtained provided information about the current state of the body's milieu, the acid-base balance, immune system stress, deficiencies, performance potential, and other biochemical conditions of the body. Blood provides insights into immunological processes, saliva into digestive processes, and urine into excretion. Besides body fluids, the terrain of other liquids such as water can also be determined with the BE-T-A. The measurement results indicate whether the water's milieu is a suitable "habitat" for pathogens.
If a liquid like drinking water has a higher redox potential than the fluids in the human body, it withdraws electrons from the tissues and cells, which mainly consist of water. At the same time, cell membranes, organelles, nucleic acids, among others, oxidise in the body, damaging them. Foods such as fruits and vegetables also largely consist of water and therefore have a measurable redox value.
Free radicals are the cause of many diseases and complaints. Free radicals lack one or more electrons, which is why they take these from other molecules in the body. This disrupts important functions and processes in the body as they destroy cell membranes and DNA. To prevent oxidative degradation, the body uses so-called antioxidants to combat free radicals. Antioxidants destroy free radicals by donating one of their own electrons or other reducing agents. The reduction activity (antioxidant activity) can be measured by the redox potential. Antioxidants are divided into two groups: enzymatic, i.e. endogenous antioxidants, and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Enzymatic antioxidants include catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase. The best-known representative of non-enzymatic antioxidants is probably vitamin C. Depending on the manufacturer, vitamin C supplements have a redox potential ranging from plus 30 mV to minus 30 mV.
What Does Redox Mean?
The word Redox is a combination of "reduction" and "oxidation". These are two chemical processes that occur simultaneously, each caused by the other. Everything in our universe consists of atoms. Depending on the element or compound, a different number of electrons orbit the atomic nucleus. The outer electrons are particularly reactive with other nearby elements. A good example of a redox process is iron when it comes into contact with air. Two electrons transfer from the iron to the oxygen. The uptake of electrons by oxygen is the reduction, and the donation by iron is the oxidation. The result of this chemical process is rust.
What Does the Redox Value Determine?
The redox potential shows a substance's willingness to donate electrons. The higher the rH2 value, for example, of drinking water, the lower the number of electrons and consequently the higher the degree of oxidation. Due to the lack of electrons, the drinking water can eliminate fewer free radicals in the body. "The reducing properties of foods determine how well they can donate electrons and thus neutralise free radicals. The lower the millivolt value of the foods, the greater their ability to donate electrons to other compounds and therefore to capture more free radicals," explains the German Society for Environmental and Human Toxicology.
As mentioned before, the redox value provides an even better indication of the quality of drinking water than the redox potential alone, as the redox value additionally takes into account the pH value of the drinking water.
The redox value is calculated as follows:
rH = 2*pH + (2*eH)/59.1
Where:
rH = redox value
eH = redox potential in mV (millivolts)
pH = pH value
If drinking water has a pH value of 6.8 and a redox potential of 28 mV, the formula results in a redox value of 14.55 rH. This is a very good value and was determined directly at BestWater in Beelitz after filtration with a Jungbrunnen 66-11.
Redox-Water H+ Post-filter large ø 62 mm – Free radicals are neutralised in the body
The post-filter Redox-Water H+ regenerates the natural redox balance of the water.
The redox balance is an important property of water.
Biochemistry describes life as an electron flow that jumps from one molecule to the next. Humans are part of this flow and our life largely depends on the balance of oxidation and reduction, i.e. the redox balance, in the organism.
Oxidation and reduction processes occur continuously in nature and in every molecule of our organism. They consist of the exchange of electrons between molecules. Substances that have many electrons can donate them to molecules of other substances that have too few electrons. These processes balance out in nature, but an improper diet or illness can disturb this sensitive balance.
Through water treatment in the Redox-Water H+ module, free radicals in the body are neutralised and the water is excellently absorbed by the body.
Free radicals are generally oxidised molecules that have active electrons on their outer shell and cause destruction all around.
Healthy cells eliminate this "energetic waste" themselves, whereas a disease process can disrupt the redox balance.
However, the drinking water treated with Redox-Water H+ should only be consumed for a certain period, e.g. as a cure.
Please refer to the performance table for the capabilities of the
Redox-Water H+ module.