| Type | Bottled water |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Penta Water Company, Inc. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1999 |
| Color | Clear |
| Flavor | None |
| Website | www.pentawater.com |
Penta Water (sometimes called AquaRx Water) is a brand of bottled water that claims to be structurally different from 'normal' water, and advertised as "ultra-purified" water. The company was founded in 1999 in San Diego, California. [1] Penta's name derives from its association with supposed five-molecule clusters of water.
Bio Hydration Research Labs claims that their 'Penta process' of subjecting water to high energy sound waves, creating sonoluminescence, reduces the average size of the water clusters present in liquid water.[2][3] This supposedly makes it easier for water molecules to pass through cell membranes. It is further claimed that water so treated improves the 'survivability' of cells. In 2003, Penta became the best selling bottled water in American health food stores.[4]
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Advertising in the UK: The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints from the 2nd of March 2005 against claims made by Penta Water in a leaflet that:
1. the leaflet misleadingly implied the product had health benefits over and above those of ordinary water and
2. the claims "restructured" and "it might be just H2O, but it's no ordinary water" were misleading, because they believed that water could not be restructured.
Quoting from the ASA website:
"The advertisers asserted that Penta was a new form of water that was restructured. They submitted research papers that they believed showed scientific evidence of restructuring and several works in preparation, including studies from UK universities, that they believed showed increased performance and recovery levels after exercise with Penta when compared with ordinary water. The advertisers argued that, because Penta could hydrate more efficiently than tap water, it was better for health; they said they had not, however, made any medicinal claims for the product. They said their local Trading Standards department had checked all their literature; they also sent a revised copy of their advertisement that they believed complied with the CAP Code.
The Authority considered that readers would be likely to interpret the claims made in the original leaflet and the revised leaflet to mean the molecular structure of water had been altered in the advertised product for improved hydration and physical performance. The Authority took expert advice and understood that the scientific evidence submitted did not prove that Penta had health benefits over and above those of ordinary water or had been restructured to form stable smaller clusters. It also understood that hydrogen-bonds in ordinary water were a weak type of chemical bonding that allowed the formation and reformation of temporary clusters of water molecules in liquid phase water many times per second. The Authority concluded that the information submitted was not sufficient to prove Penta water had health benefits over and above those of ordinary water or was structured differently from ordinary water. The Authority told the advertisers not to repeat claims that implied the product was chemically unique, had been restructured or molecularly redesigned, or hydrated cells and improved physical performance better than tap water. "[5]
In the past, the official Penta website made specific claims on its What makes Penta unique? page, section heading Proven More Effective Hydration, that the altered structure speeded cell hydration via aquaporin transport. For instance, the page for Jun 04, 2003 [1] features a diagram showing stylised pentamers entering a cell and states
Penta Water has received testimonials from the public and endorsements from celebrities such as Sting, Olympic contestants, Olympic medalists and Farrah Fawcett on Pentawater's website. ([4], [5]) There are no independent verifications of these endorsements.
Donald MacLaren, in the physiology department of Liverpool John Moores University in Britain is doing research for Penta and was quoted on their now defunct website as stating
These studies have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.
Jorge Cruise, author of The 3-Hour Diet has recommended Penta water as "one of the keys to weight loss" [6], even though there have been no peer-reviewed studies in any academic journal that show this.