Urine luck…or are you?
Tired of having to use the bathroom every five seconds while on an airplane? Flight experts say people can curb nature’s call by — wait for it — drinking alkaline water, per a TikTok video with over 6.7 million views.
“A flight attendant told me to always buy Fiji or some sort of alkaline water at the airport for your flight,” beauty influencer Lauren Erro captioned a clip of her purchasing the aforementioned brand.
“It prevents you from having to pee as much during flights because gal your body absorbs it better.”
For the uninitiated, alkaline water is a version of H2O with a pH level higher than 7 — unlike acidic, where the PH is lower than 7.
Since many experts believe that keeping one’s pH above 7 is the key to optimal health, alkaline water has been touted as a fountain of youth by water companies and celebrities alike. Many claim that this low-acid lelixir can keep one uber-hydrated, disease-free and, now, less likely to need to take a leak.
Apparently, this anti-diuretic method did the trick.
In a followup video, the TikTokker claimed that after drinking a large bottle of Fiji, she “didn’t have to pee once” on her four-hour flight.
One self-proclaimed flight attendant in the comment section even suggested that the content creator cut their water with an “electrolyte tablet” or “Celtic salt “to “help absorption.”
But does this paradoxical pee prevention technique hold water? Experts don’t think so.
“There’s absolutely no scientific evidence to support the claim that drinking alkaline water prevents you from urinating as much during plane flights,” Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, a palliative care physician in Ottowa, Canada, told Newsweek. “The body has a complex system for regulating pH, and the impacts of alkaline water on this process would likely be insignificant.”
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, hydration expert and professor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, seconded that sentiment.
“If you drink a lot of alkaline water, all you’re going to do is pee out a huge amount of alkaline material,” he told Yahoo News. “There really is no rationale for this.”
In fact, alkaline water only has the pee-regulation effect on people with preexisting conditions related to urination.
Urogynecologist Dr. Betsy Greenleaf said these benefits are restricted to “people who already have leaky gut, overactive bladder, interstitial cystitis and other diagnosed and undiagnosed bladder symptoms.”
“In the general population, it doesn’t really matter if you drink regular or alkaline water for bladder health,” she said.
As for the other alleged health perks, there is little evidence to support alkaline water’s status as a panacea.