Data map of China Economic Net/Photo by Li Fan
“For health, drink alkaline water”, “Drinking alkaline water can cure diseases”… Recently, a water company in Kunming, Yunnan claimed that alkaline water has therapeutic effects, which aroused attention. At present, the local market supervision department has been involved in the investigation and removed the products involved. If there are illegal facts, they will be resolutely investigated and dealt with according to law.
Alkaline water can “cure”, but it’s just a marketing gimmick by businesses. As early as 2010, CCTV’s 3.15 party revealed the alkaline water scam. In 2018, Robert O. Yang, the founder of the “Acid-Base Physique Theory”, was sentenced to a fine of $105 million and admitted to the scam in court. There are many lessons from the past. Unexpectedly, today there are still businesses making huge profits under the guise that alkaline water can cure diseases and strengthen the body. This is worthy of our vigilance, and the road to popular science still has a long way to go.
Pseudo-concepts often do not stand up to the truth. Under normal circumstances, the human body’s regulating mechanism is very sensitive. No matter what water you drink or what food you eat, it is difficult to change the body’s acid-base balance, let alone cure and prevent diseases. On the contrary, if you drink alkaline water for a long time, it will also increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, leading to gastrointestinal disorders and even indigestion.
But at present, many Chinese consumers are still in the stage of having health needs but lacking health knowledge. This gives some merchants the opportunity to opportunistically and hype the concept. Their general routine is to first spread “scientific rumors” to create momentum for the product, and then accurately sell the product in response to the “health anxiety” of modern people, and finally stimulate potential consumers to buy. Such scams are often half-truths and highly confusing, making it difficult for consumers to guard against them.
For example, gout is caused by high uric acid, and after suffering from stomach problems, he likes to “spit acid water”. On the surface, these diseases have the word “acid” in them. So, can drinking more alkaline water help neutralize it? In fact, the content of sodium bicarbonate in weakly alkaline water is very small. For patients with gout or hyperacidity, compared with clinical medication, take weakly alkaline water containing 200 mg of sodium bicarbonate per liter as an example , drink 7.5-15 liters to reach the prescribed dose of oral sodium bicarbonate tablets for one day.
Lack of scientific basis, but not lack of market acceptance, such phenomena are very common under “health anxiety”. Not only “alkaline water”, but also “small molecular mass water”, “walking chicken”, “enzyme weight loss”, etc. Once linked to the concepts of high nutrition and rich in ×× elements, the value of these products will be very different. . For consumers, paying high prices to only buy common goods will hurt money at light, and health in severe cases; if the market is filled with these concept-playing merchants, it may cause bad money to drive out good money and damage social integrity. .
In modern society, it is understandable for merchants to pursue commercial interests, but they must not damage the rights and interests of consumers, otherwise it will only seriously damage the brand reputation, and ultimately cannot escape legal sanctions. In fact, in response to the chaos of drinking water packaging propaganda, as early as 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued the “Management Specifications for the Labeling and Instructions of Products Involving Drinking Water Hygiene and Safety”, which clearly stated that “acid water” should not be marked on the labels and instructions of water-related products. “, “Alkaline Water”, “Activated Water”, “Small Molecular Water”, “Functional Water”, “Energy Water”, “Oxygen-enriched Water” and so on.
Punishing evil can better promote goodness, and to control “pseudoscience” requires “strong supervision”. It should be said that the relevant departments have done a lot of work in this field, but in the face of pseudoscience emerging from time to time, it is necessary to continuously innovate supervision methods, strengthen law enforcement, and improve accuracy, so as to effectively maintain market order and consumers. rights and interests.
In addition, we should also strengthen the publicity of popular science in the society, especially to enhance the fun and attractiveness, so that the public can easily obtain correct scientific knowledge. Cold reception. Of course, for consumers, it is still necessary to remain sensible at all times, and do not be blinded by some marketing gimmicks, and unknowingly pay the “IQ tax”. (China Economic Net commentator Liang Yu)
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