Every single water-based solution has a certain level of either acidity or basicity to it, and everything we drink and eat can affect our body in one way or another as a result.

Water ionisers can help to change how acidic or alkaline the water we drink is, as well as remove impurities and sterilise it as needed, which can be measured on the pH scale.

It does this by passing an electrical current through tap water, dividing it into oxygen and hydrogen particles, dividing them to keep them separate.

The pH scale, short for “power/potential of Hydrogen”, is a scale that goes from zero to 14 and measures the nature of a water-based solution. Lower numbers are more acidic and higher numbers are more alkaline.

At the extreme ends are battery acid, which can vary but has a pH level of less than one, and Lye (sodium hydroxide), which is used in particularly caustic oven cleaners and drain openers.

The centre of the range, seven, is pure water with no impurities.

For the most part, the food and drink we consume are varying degrees of acidic on the pH scale, from slightly acidic milk (6.5-6.8) to the far more acidic citrus juices we drink (3.3 – 4.2 for orange juice).

The human bloodstream is around 7.4 and needs to operate in a fairly tight range to keep ourselves alive.

Our bodies have systems in place to help compensate for extra acid, for example by holding onto bicarbonates to offset acid in the body, and ionised water may help to reduce the strain on our organs.