What is Reverse Osmosis and How Does it Compare To The zazen Alkaline Water System?

We are often asked what are the differences between the zazen Alkaline Water System and Reverse Osmosis water systems, so, we thought we would give you a quick overview and key points of difference.

What is a Water Filter and How Do They Work?

A water filter is a device that helps get rid of organic and inorganic impurities from your drinking water. A filter can be made out of a variety of materials, but most are composed of carbon, silica, or metal alloys.

Water filters can reduce fluoride, chlorine and other by-products like sodium silicofluoride, fluorosilicic acid found in tap water through chemical reactions with the filter's media to prevent toxins being ingested.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Water Filters

Water filters are a great addition to any home  improving tap water. Many people do not realise  their tap water might be contaminated with chemicals or other substances that can bring significant health issues. Water filters provide protection from such dangers as well as include several other benefits. This naturally comes at additional investment to the traditional cost of water, with components and cartridges needing regular replacement to ensure systems remain operating effectively.

What is Reverse Osmosis and How Does it Work?

Reverse osmosis is a process that purifies water by filtering it using high pressure. Reverse Osmosis Water Filters are used in many populous regions to meet their huge demand for clean, fresh drinking water.

The term reverse osmosis comes from the idea of “osmosis,” which is defined as the net movement of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane from a region of low solute concentration to a region of high solute concentration. However, while regular osmosis has equal concentrations on both sides of the semipermeable membrane, reverse osmosis uses high pressures on one side to force water molecules through the membrane in order to dilute solute concentrations. This allows people to create very clean water with fewer contaminants.

Reverse osmosis is often used in conjunction with other processes like distillation and deionization to purify drinking water.

zazen Alkaline Water Filter vs Reverse Osmosis

Fundamentally there is a philosophical (and therefore complete product design) difference. The result is a completely different quality of Water.

We relate the difference to a comparison between Eastern and Western approaches to medicine – Eastern medicine is about preventative medicine and the Western approach tends to  “treat” the symptom of illness once it manifests.

How have Eastern and Western philosophies on water evolved to bring us different quality of water and therefore different water filtration products and different benefits?

In the East the question is asked – what is the purpose of water in the body – and therefore what are the properties of water to support health and wellbeing?

In the West the question was asked – how do we clean polluted water that may carry waterborne diseases and how can we create drinkable water from salt water?

Everything starts with the quality of the question and/or problem you are trying to solve. Since mankind first walked the planet, finding a clean water source has been a priority for all civilisations. Most civilisations were settled next to major rivers and waterways.

75% of the earth is covered in water but only 2% of that water is fresh water and is drinkable.

What were the water problems created by civilised man?

In the Western world the key factors driving the “chemistry and filtration of water” have been driven by the following 2 situations:

1. Scarcity (desert dwellers – salt water or undrinkable water) and not enough natural water sources to meet public demand
2. Pollution of Water supplies (civilised man polluting the rivers and main water sources with human faeces etc.)

Contamination of Water due to Civilisation 

So “contaminated” water became a major source of illness and a big problem that needed to be solved in the West.

Salt Water – not drinkable

As man populated desert regions there was a need to be able to convert salt water into drinkable water to meet the demand of the populations given there were no or limited natural clean drinking water sources. Discover more about the process of desalination and water treatment here.

West (versus East) 

The Western world needed to solve the issue of polluted water sources (fouled generally by human excrement) and also find a way to convert salt water into drinkable water.

What developed were 2 technologies that we use today…

1. Chemical / disinfectant and filtering (using carbon filters and other chemicals to clean water sources) - designed to ensure water was drinkable and did not make you immediately sick. Resulting in our modern-day town supply water or tap water – heavily treated with disinfectants such as Chlorine can over time contribute to potential illness and disease; it is documented by our water treatment authorities that some of the chemical by-products produced by the disinfectant process are carcinogens!
2. Reverse Osmosis – designed to take salt out of the water (desalination) and also create H2O only for use in medical devices such as dialysis machines (where minerals and chemicals would damage the machine) and some industrial manufacturing machines that require only H2O). These RO industrial systems have MUCH finer filtration capabilities than residential RO machines and are tens of thousands of dollars. RO residential systems – DO NOT remove 100% of fluoride – many do not make any claim formally nor show any test results. The best we have seen is a 95% claim but the maintenance on these systems is onerous, changing filters monthly. (The reverse osmosis process does not remove disinfectants such as chlorine and requires additional filtration methods to do this!)

So reverse osmosis systems were designed to solve an issue of scarcity and purity. They were NOT initially designed to meet the human body's water / hydration needs.

WHO 2004 Water Report – Systemic Health Issues for Communities drinking RO Water!

Drinking a water not designed to hydrate you can cause systemic health issues over years of use. The World Health Organisation in 2004 published a report on communities who drank RO water and found that there were systemic health issues due to the water and that ALL water plants using RO must add at least Magnesium and Calcium to the water to help create a healthier water. 

• Some of the leading RO manufacturers have added an “alkalinity filter” to the end of the RO filtration process as an option
• Unfortunately, we have not seen to date any RO water report to show what balance of minerals are available in RO water to help with hydration.
• Remember you can simply add calcium to get alkaline water, that does not mean the water will hydrate you at a cellular level!
• Some RO systems also add “carbon filters” to help filter out disinfectants and by-products.

A standard RO System will produce acidic mineral deficient water. Essentially it is dead water.

Distilled water works on the same principle – it does not have the essential properties to support cellular hydration.

East (versus West) 

The Eastern perspective on drinking water is different from the Western… a different purpose, different questions and a different solution – the foundation of the zazen Alkaline Water System.

The question:

“What are the properties of water that support optimal health and wellbeing – what is the function and purpose of water in the body and therefore what are the properties of this water – where can we find examples of it in nature naturally?”

They looked to Mother Nature to find the answers and inspiration to support natural wellbeing.

Pristine Water Sources… our ancestors – water created naturally by Mother Nature

Some of our ancestors had access to pristine clean river water fed by melting snows or a deep natural spring. These water sources had energy from the sun, the earth and naturally mineralised from the process of water flowing over natural rocks. This water was ideal for human consumption to support life and was highly bioavailable. 

zazen Alkaline Mineral Water emulates Mother Natures water cycle and properties, it is a living, energised water with a balanced range of alkaline minerals and electrolytes which are all essential in assisting cellular hydration,  releasing toxins and improving general energy flow and wellbeing in the body.  It has been designed to emulate water our ancestors would have drunk from pristine mountain streams and springs. It is a living, structured and highly bioavailable water.

Photo of Unstructured Tap Water from Japan vs Zazen Structured Water

Fluoride Reduction

Yes, the zazen Alkaline Water System reduces up to 90% of fluoride from the water.

Most importantly is that the body must be hydrated to help remove fluoride from the body but also other toxins and chemicals!
Fluoride is not just in the water, it is also in the air we breath and food we eat every day. 

In Summary

Hydration is fundamental.  That is the key purpose and intention of the zazen Alkaline Water System.

The body can heal itself, it is 75% water. If we are dehydrated the body struggles to get rid of metabolic waste, acidity builds up and toxins will be stored. Over time this can lead to illness, imbalance in the cells and disease. 

Cellular hydration with the right quality  and quantity of water is foundational to maintain a healthy well-functioning body and mind. It is critical in the prevention of and recovery from illness and disease – again that is the purpose of zazen Alkaline Water.