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.”