evidence: First, here’s what you should know about alkaline water. You’ve probably seen this word "alkaline" while walking through the grocery aisles and wondered — how is this different from just plain ol’ bottled water? [...] Marketers claim this "less acidic" water offers numerous health benefits, including improving digestion, slowing down the aging process, boosting your body’s mineral content and preventing bone loss. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the use of any claims of health benefits relating to alkaline water and bone health due to insufficient evidence. [...] In fact, alkaline water may be doing more to upset your body’s system than help it. According to Czerwony, your body in general prefers a pH that’s closer to neutral (not more alkaline) — and it has its own ways of achieving it. Creating pH extremes in either direction in your system — whether too acidic or too alkaline — can cause health problems. Unless you have certain conditions such as kidney or respiratory disease, your body maintains a healthy pH balance on its own. Alkaline water won’t do you any harm, but it also isn’t a miracle in a bottle, either.