Planning Series The Paradox of Pure Water···Senior Care, Now Focus on 'Water That Helps the Body' (#4)

- Limits of mineral reduction caused by excessive purification, elderly bodies lose buffering capacity

- Activation of aquaporin, the cell membrane water channel, and the power of minerals to prevent osteoporosis and muscle loss

- ‘Natural preventive medicine’ consumed daily instead of strong drugs···Paradigm shift in senior healthcare

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Jin-ho] "The clean water we commonly think of refers to water with harmful substances completely filtered out. However, paradoxically, excessive purification processes reduce the essential minerals beneficial to our bodies, causing water to lose its vitality."

Dr. Lee Gyu-jae, Professor of Medicine at Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, emphasized that the concept of ‘functional water’ that actively supports cells should become the top priority for introducing senior care, transcending the mere level of drinking uncontaminated water.

Young and healthy bodies can self-buffer some adverse effects even when drinking water without minerals, but in elderly people with significantly reduced bodily functions, this can lead to fatal consequences.

We investigated the clear medical reasons why ‘water that helps the body’ is essential in senior care.

■ Three Medical Reasons to Choose ‘Functional Water’ in Senior Care

The reporter asked Prof. Lee about the specific epidemiological relationship between simply clean water and functional water in the bodies of seniors. The professor stated definitively that seniors whose physical defense has weakened should pay particular attention to three functions inherent in water.

⊙ Activation of Aquaporin to Support Diminished ‘Bioavailability’

As people age, the activity of ‘aquaporin,’ the water channel that exists in cell membranes, drops sharply. Because of this, even when people drink plenty of water, it often fails to be absorbed deeply into cells and instead circulates superficially before being excreted as urine.

In contrast, functional water with essential minerals completely ionized has overwhelmingly faster absorption rates in the body. Only when consumed water reaches deep into cells and organs in a timely manner can chronic dehydration in old age and the resulting decline in whole-body vitality be fundamentally resolved.

⊙ Blocking the Vicious Cycle That Strips Minerals from Bones and Muscles, Preventing ‘Osteoporosis and Muscle Loss’

In senior populations, gastric acid secretion decreases and digestive function deteriorates, resulting in significantly low mineral absorption from food. When continuously drinking purified water with minimal minerals, the body incurs the worst countereffect: it extracts calcium and magnesium from bones and muscles to maintain the mineral concentration of blood.

Minerals dissolved in water are already ionized, so absorption in the body is far better than from food. Therefore, in old age, water itself must serve as an excellent mineral source to protect bone and muscle health.

⊙ Suppressing ‘Chronic Inflammation’ and ‘Oxidative Stress,’ the Main Culprits of Aging

Aging is ultimately a process where cells oxidize and chronic inflammation accumulates in the body. Functional water with alkaline properties and antioxidant capacity helps control excess active oxygen in the body and maintain physical balance. This builds immunity from the ground up for seniors and serves as a solid defensive barrier preventing complications from chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

■ ‘Natural Preventive Medicine’ in Daily Life Comes Before Strong Drugs Taken After Illness

Prof. Lee Gyu-jae repeatedly and firmly stated that the ultimate direction of senior healthcare should shift from ‘treatment’ to ‘prevention.’

"In conclusion, water in senior care should be treated not as a simple beverage for quenching thirst, but as ‘the safest natural preventive medicine consumed daily.’ It is a far wiser direction for senior healthcare to drink water that awakens cells in daily life than to take strong drugs after becoming ill."

Based on Prof. Lee's research and clinical experience, functional water solutions that easily supply alkaline water rich in essential minerals such as magnesium and calcium in daily life represent the easiest and most powerful beginning of care to enhance seniors' quality of life. Changing the essence of water—that is the key that determines success or failure in elderly health in the age of 100-year lifespans.

So how directly will such insufficient water intake and cellular dehydration impact seniors' brain and hormone systems?

In next week's fifth installment, we will conduct an in-depth investigation into ‘whether insufficient water intake can directly affect seniors' cognitive function and metabolic diseases,’ a field that modern medicine is studying with utmost concern.