Revitalized water

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Revitalized water from Austria, which u. a. is exported to Taiwan: A liter bottled under a full moon costs around three times as much as revitalized water without a full moon bottling.
Shop for levitated water in Kassel

Revitalized water , also known as levitated , vitalized , informed , structured or Grander water , is water that, according to the claims of its manufacturers and marketers, has been treated in various ways and has thus been "improved" for a number of purposes. There are no indications of actual changes in the water.

In Switzerland it has been forbidden since 1999 to advertise the therapeutic effects of water. In Austria, Grander water (named after Johann Grander ) can, according to a court ruling from 2006, be described as “ parascientific nonsense coming from the esoteric milieu ”.

"Revitalization"

Many measures for the alleged revitalization of water are linked to the Austrian para-scientist Johann Grander, who claims to have developed his own methods and devices. In the following, “Grander water” is discussed as an example, but the scientific refutations can also be applied to similar concepts.

Historical precursors (development)

The following developments are seen in context by representatives of the theory:

  • In the five-element teaching of Daoism , which is important in traditional Chinese medicine , among other things , each element is assigned a property and the interaction with another element is described. A cycle of interaction is derived from this: "Wood feeds fire, fire feeds earth, earth feeds metal, metal feeds water, and water in turn feeds wood."
  • Hildegard von Bingens Edelsteinwasser: In the fourth book of her Physica she describes the effect of 24 stones on the human body, but also the harmfulness of other stones. This definitely does not mean revitalization of the water, but she ascribes an effect to the stones that is introduced into the body via water.
  • In the 20th century, the Austrian forester and para-scientist Viktor Schauberger researched the “special energy of water”. His successful work in the construction of wood washing systems is undisputed . Schauberger mainly referred to the positive effect of high density inherent in water when it is used at low temperatures. He also referred to the principle of the high developing energy content of water in connection with cycloid ("lawful") movement. “In his opinion, low temperature and regular movement were also the conditions for the water to retain its carrying and suction power.” There is no scientific confirmation of his hypotheses.

So-called water revitalization according to Grander

A bottle of Grander water

A company founded by the North Tyrolean entrepreneur Johann Grander , who died in 2012, offers water that flows past a metal cylinder (mostly made of copper) filled with so-called "information water". This is intended to change its "structure" and give it special properties that are not described in detail. Allegedly, a glass of Grander water is supposed to be able to change the water in a glass standing next to it in such a way that it has the properties of Grander water.

Grander claims to have received the instructions for the development of Grander water from God: ... who traces the creation of Grander water back to his good connections to God, gets answers to his questions “from above” and claims to be a different person since Jesus Christ appeared to him 30 years ago .

Grander and the commercial representatives of its products also promise a number of pseudoscientific physical and biological effects that water treated in this way allegedly has. For example, positive effects on nutrition , grain cultivation and health are promised. However, to date there are no scientific studies and no empirical evidence that provide evidence or suggest that water treated in this way has the claimed effect.

The Grander company's communication policy is characterized by the fact that the advertised effects are never mentioned directly, but only indirectly through selected customer feedback, so-called testimonials . Examples of these customer references can be seen across multiple industries.

In 2010, the Grander company made an annual turnover of around 16 million Swiss francs, around 12.7 million euros, with the sale of water revitalization devices and utensils in connection with Grander water.

Alleged effects and their evaluation

None of the effects claimed by Grander or by Grander customers could be proven reproducibly . Individual pre-scientific and scientific papers are presented on the Grander website: a diploma thesis, a dissertation and a study.

The following statements have been scientifically refuted:

  • Water revitalization has a detoxifying effect . The Austrian Federal Institute for Water Quality in its 1993 report literally said: “Grander water has no detoxifying effect. Any other assertions, such as the statement previously made by Grander representatives (quote from the report: 'The device »water revitalization 380«, according to the representatives of the environmental sales organization, detoxifies contaminated water') are false. "
  • Water revitalization or water energization has a bactericidal effect . In the abstract of Rudolf Hammers thesis it says literally: “The results show that a general effectiveness of the water energizing devices from the manufacturers UVO KG and Naturkraft Biotechnologie GmbH in the microbiological area of ​​drinking water hygiene, especially with regard to a microbicidal or disinfecting effect, is not given is."
  • Any existing contamination will be reduced so that the "revitalized water" can be used in pipes that have not had a flow for a long time. The addition of chlorine can be reduced in swimming pools . Ponds located at rubbish dumps have also allegedly been treated in this way. A microbicidal or disinfecting effect has been proven not to exist.
  • The surface tension of the water is reduced. This can be used in laundries, for example the use of detergents being significantly reduced. Car washes are also an area of ​​application. This claim is based on a diploma thesis by Klaus Faißner, in which the "revitalized water" flowed through a rubber garden hose containing a plasticizer, but not the comparison samples, which is a methodological error. The measurement data could not be reproduced. Modern detergents can also be used in very small amounts and, in conjunction with modern systems, still have acceptable washing results. Neither the pH value nor the conductivity or the oxygen content are changed by the "activation", nor is the water hardness.
  • Revitalized water is "more energetic " and should therefore absorb less UV radiation . This connection was refuted at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in 2005.
  • As an additive in heating or cooling systems, deposits in pipes and cooling towers should be prevented . This would require the previous reduction in water hardness, which, however, has been proven not to take place.
  • Revitalized water has a positive effect on the growth of plants . Hintermann and Basler 1998: "Grander water has no influence on plant growth, just as little as other 'esoteric' processes." "Neither the experimental device 'flexible water revitalizer' from Innutec (Grander) nor the physical water purifier Aquavital achieved the promised results."

No direct studies are known for the following statements:

  • The water is "placed in a higher order state" . Alleged functionality: A small amount of Grander water is welded into these devices. The “revitalized” water never comes into contact with the tap water to be refined, nothing is added to the water and nothing is taken away . Nevertheless, it is claimed that the tap water flowing through the device is brought into a higher order state by the Grander technology . This contradicts the Second Law of Thermodynamics , according to which the entropy does not decrease in a closed adiabatic system and the system can therefore only pass into a state of lower order without energy supply.
  • Bakeries need less water for the same dough and the same amount of bread, and the bread made this way stays fresh longer. This effect is also very unlikely, as the pH value, conductivity and oxygen content are not changed by the "activation", and the water hardness is not changed either.
  • The shelf life of the water is extended by a few years without any loss of quality, which is why it is said that even large mineral water bottlers treat their water with it.

On October 31, 2019, the Grander company spread the message via its own website and a PR page in the Kitzbüheler Anzeiger that the effectiveness of the Grander water had now been scientifically proven, and corresponding tests could be reproduced. The Wetsus research group “applied water physics” verified the basic mechanisms of magnetic water treatment using an IPF / Grander water core magnetic cylinder and was able to publish them in a peer-reviewed journal . A serious evaluation of this study from a third, academic side is still pending. A first technical analysis by the physicist Florian Aigner turned out negative: The published article has no relation to the claims made by the company about "water revitalization". In December 2019, the company was awarded the negative Golden Board in front of the head for its "life's work" .

Scientific assessment

Water revitalization module for main water pipes

Water molecules are dipole molecules and are not free and independent of each other in liquid water, but are networked via hydrogen bonds . This also creates larger short-lived units, so-called " water clusters ".

From the bustling water manufacturers say that the information , be changed by the cluster "restructured" for example, water vortex would. What exactly this change should consist of and which structures would trigger what are not defined by the manufacturers or declared as "not known".

However, hydrogen bonds only exist for a very short time and break up again within picoseconds , while new bridges and thus new clusters form just as quickly at other binding sites. Experimentally, the extreme transience of the microstructures is also at the water rotational diffusion of the water to recognize (the random by random movements generated change the direction of the axes of symmetry of the water molecules in the liquid whose characteristic times also lying in the picosecond range). These special properties of water are the reason for its numerous anomalies.

A permanent restructuring of the clusters is impossible because of the short life of each individual hydrogen bond.

Further water revitalization hypotheses

  • The alleged discovery of the French virologist Luc Montagnier that solutions with DNA from a virus or a bacterium "emit radio waves in the low frequency range" and that these radio waves retain the water even after numerous dilutions is highly controversial.
  • Jacques Benveniste , a French physician, published results in the journal Nature in 1988 , according to which highly diluted antigens influence leukocytes via a “memory effect ” of water . However, these effects could not be reproduced and even Benveniste, under the supervision of Nature editor-in-chief John Maddox and the American pseudoscience opponent James Randi, was unable to prove these effects.
  • Masaru Emoto assumed that water absorbs verbal messages and claimed to be able to prove this through photographs of frozen water droplets. Emoto's assumptions are in considerable contradiction to existing knowledge of water chemistry and physics. In particular, its methodology cannot meet the quality requirements applicable to science. Since his supposed findings cannot be understood logically or empirically, his ideas are not taken seriously by the professional world. In 2003, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered Emoto $ 1 million if he could reproduce the results of his studies in a double-blind experiment.

Legal disputes

  • The company Rayonex Biomedical sold high-priced devices for alternative practitioners to stimulate the human regulatory mechanisms with programs for water energization , ozone protection , tinnitus , learning and concentration disorders and many other areas of application. Advertising with Masaru Emoto blank theory of information storage of water, visible through the crystal structure of ice, and even such effects of distributed equipment was among many other statements under penalty of 250,000 euro administrative fine or the directors to complete withdrawing administrative detention of up to six months by the District Court of Dortmund prohibited.
  • In New Zealand , the distributor of Grander water was sentenced to a fine and compensation of around 77,000 euros for misleading consumers . The judging judge called the products quackery and pseudoscience.
  • According to the Vienna Higher Regional Court, the designation “paroscientific nonsense coming from the esoteric milieu” for Grander water is factually justified, as is the charge that “people who suffer from dangerous diseases such as Lyme disease or cancer may be gullible for urgently needed medical treatment renounce and trust in the effect of the miracle water ” . The accusation of fraud was not tenable because the buyers of Grander utensils had a three-month right to withdraw from the contract because they did not intend to enrich themselves, which is a constituent element of fraud.
  • The manufacturer Biopol was forbidden by the Ansbach district court in 2009 under threat of a fine of 250,000 euros to advertise the revitalization of water using the Travel and Magnum devices . This concerned in particular the drying of the wall, but also the alleged supply of original, natural "information" to drinking water and thus medical, gustatory , radiological effects, calcium deactivation and the alleged improvement in the performance of fuel.
  • In 2010, the Bielefeld Regional Court forbade the DWDL company to advertise changes in water using magnetic fields.
  • In 2013, the manufacturer Tennant sold scrubbing machines with alleged water activation and the advertising claim that the activated water did not require any additional cleaning agent. This was forbidden in 2013 by the Stuttgart Regional Court under threat of a fine of 250,000 euros, and 41,209.67 euros plus interest had to be paid to Kärcher .
  • In Austria there have been violent disputes since March 2018 about the use of pseudoscientific and esoteric products and methods in hospitals such as Grander water, "energetic cleaning" or so-called "Geo Waves". Those responsible for such an order for the North Hospital in Vienna are subject to severe criticism, and the President of the Supreme Sanitary Council has resigned. In a report by the daily newspaper Der Standard about it, it says: “Other state clinics proudly rely on Grander water. In 2006, for example, the Baden State Clinic even made a broadcast on the 'energized' groundwater in its facility. Grander water also flows through the pipes in the Landesklinikum Deutschlandsberg . In the Spital in Steyr , until recently, it was explicitly stated on the website that Grander water was offered, but this sentence has now disappeared from the website. "

Revitalized snow

Some companies also offer "energization" or "revitalization" of the snow with specially treated water for snow cannons . The German company Aqua Blue is promoting "Snow tuning for snow cannons and pumping stations". The company Energy Receive Solutions (ERSO) offers a process that is supposed to adjust the structure of artificial snow to that of natural snow by means of "electrosmog suppression and water activation". From a scientific point of view, these claims are unsubstantiated; they are contradicted with the same arguments as for "water revitalization".

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helge Bergmann: Water, the miracle element? Truth or hocus-pocus . John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN 978-3-527-32959-5 , pp. 234 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Erich Eder: Accused - Grander versus Eder . In: Skeptics . No. January 21 , 2008, p. 15-17 ( digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhomepage.univie.ac.at%2Ferich.eder%2Fwasser%2Fskeptiker012008.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D [accessed June 28, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Christian Kreil: The nonsense Granderwasser: Inspired by Jesus, cashed in by esotericists. In: derstandard.at . March 12, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018 .
  4. ↑ William Mertens, Helmut Oberlack: Qigong . Gräfe und Unzer, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8338-4697-7 , p. 9 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ Hildegard von Bingen: Physica (Liber simplicis medicinae) . Book 4: "De Lapidibus".
  6. ↑ Olof Alexandersson: Living water . Ennsthaler Gesellschaft mbH & Co KG, Steyr 2003, ISBN 978-3-85068-377-7 , p. 20 .
  7. ↑ Quotation of Grander's statement on May 13, 2005 before the Kitzbühel District Court; similar in the interview of the ORF program "Report" on July 1, 2008
  8. ↑ Grander reviews. Profile of the manufacturer with experience reports and user statements about the use of Grander technology in the hotel, catering and commercial sectors. In: vimeo.com . Grander, 2016, accessed November 3, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Peter Basler: Grander water: tax money for "wonder drug". Broadcast Kassensturz des Schweizer TV , May 25, 2010, accessed on May 18, 2011 .
  10. ↑ cf. Krista Federspiel, Christian Laimer: The hocus-pocus on Vienna's Boku . In: the moth . No. 10 , 2014 (full text on skeptiker.at : Hocus-pocus at the Vienna Boku [accessed on April 14, 2019]).
  11. ↑ External research projects. Investigations and studies. In: grander.com. Accessed January 30, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Report on the effect of the "Wasserbelebung 380" device from the environmental sales organization on test water. Federal Institute for Water Quality, Austria, June 25, 1993, accessed on March 13, 2011 (PDF file on the website What is it about the Grander water? ).
  13. ↑ a b Rudolf Hammer: Investigation of effects in energized water taking into account selected microbiological, physical and plant physiological aspects. In: Diploma thesis at the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Department for Water Hygiene, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. January 2004, accessed October 26, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Study on water revitalization . In: Consumer . No.  6/2004 , May 2004 ( konsument.at [accessed December 16, 2019]).
  15. ↑ Grander Swimming Pool Journal, p. 4. (PDF file; 1.9 MB) Grander, archived from the original on January 24, 2011 ; Retrieved October 26, 2014 (accessed online August 13, 2012).
  16. ↑ a b c d D. Kitzmüller: Myths of Water - Scientific investigations of "revitalized" water using the Grander technology and Aquavital (PDF file; 1.82 MB), accessed on March 13, 2011. Thesis on chemistry, 2005/06
  17. ↑ Klaus Faißner: Diploma thesis on Grander water revitalization . Frohnleiten 2000
  18. ^ A b c d Philippe Boss, Daniel Christen: Test report Grander water: UV absorption / water hardness. Comparison of the UV absorption and the total water hardness of Grander and normal water. (PDF file; 705 kB) Bern University of Applied Sciences, Technology and Computer Science , Chemistry Department, Burgdorf, 2005, accessed on March 13, 2011 .
  19. ↑ K. Hintermann and P. Basler: Improvement of the vine growth with alternative methods . Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Obst- und Weinbau 13/1998, pp. 326–329, accessed on March 13, 2011. Available online here .
  20. ↑ Theoretical principles of GRANDER® water revitalization scientifically proven. In: grander.com . November 2, 2019, accessed May 4, 2020.
  21. ↑ Bernd Harder: “Grander water” now proven - or maybe not? In: GWUP . December 14, 2019, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Homeopathy company receives the golden board in front of the head. Der Standard , December 13, 2019, accessed on the same day.
  23. ↑ Frank N. Keutsch and Richard Saykally : Water clusters: Untangling the mysteries of the liquid, one molecule at a time In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA . 2001: 98: 10533-10540. doi: 10.1073 / pnas.191266498 (English)
  24. ^ Felix Franks: Water a matrix of life. 2nd edition, RSC Paperbacks, Cambridge 2000, p. 28. ISBN 0-85404-583-X . (English)
  25. ↑ Nobel laureate gives homeopathy a boost. The Australian , July 5, 2010, accessed July 9, 2014 .
  26. ↑ S. J. Hirst, N. A. Hayes, J. Burridge, F. L. Pearce, J. C. Foreman: Human basophil degranulation is not triggered by very dilute antiserum against human IgE . In: Nature . Vol. 366, pp. 525-527, PMID 8255290 (English)
  27. ↑ J. H. Ovelgonne, A. W. Bol, W. C. Hop, R. van Wijk: Mechanical agitation of very dilute antiserum against IgE has no effect on basophil staining properties . In: Experientia . Vol. 48 (5), pp. 504–508, PMID 1376282 (English)
  28. ↑ J. Maddox, J. Randi, W. W. Stewart: "High-dilution" experiments a delusion (for example: "High-dilution" experiments (are) a delusion). In: Nature . Vol. 334, pp. 287-291, PMID 2455869 (English)
  29. ^ Klaus Bachmann: Water. H2O is incomprehensible: How researchers are trying to unravel the mystery of the eccentric element. In: Geo . Volume 31, issue 7/2006, ISSN  0342-8311 .
  30. ↑ Xiao Feng Pang: Water - Molecular Structure and Properties. World Scientific, New Jersey et al. a. 2014, ISBN 978-981-4440-42-4 . (English)
  31. ↑ Chiropractic Crackup, Talking to Water, Sylvia Emerges !, Bidlack's Lumps, An MS Miracle, and a Korean Magic Stone… In: archive.randi.org. May 23, 2003, accessed December 3, 2019 (online newsletter of the James Randi Educational Foundation).
  32. ↑ Regional Court Dortmund: Judgment of June 24, 2004 - Az. 8 O 212/04. Openjur, December 22, 2009, accessed October 26, 2014 .
  33. ↑ Living Water quackery results payout in $ 136,000. New Zealand Commerce Commission, July 26, 2005, accessed September 17, 2018 .
  34. ↑ a b Judgment of the Vienna Higher Regional Court Az. 4 R 1 / 06f of August 17, 2006 (PDF file; 583 kB)
  35. ↑ District Court Ansbach: Judgment of January 23, 2014 - Az. 5 HK O 1/09. Openjur, January 23, 2014, accessed October 26, 2014 .
  36. ^ Bielefeld Regional Court: Judgment of April 6, 2010 - Az. 15 O 221/08. Openjur, April 6, 2010, accessed October 26, 2014 .
  37. ↑ Regional Court Stuttgart: Judgment of June 14, 2013 - Az. 5 31 O 52/11 KfH. Openjur, June 14, 2013, accessed October 26, 2014 .
  38. ↑ Energy specialist affair at KH Nord: President of the Sanitary Council resigns. In: derstandard.at. March 20, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018 .
  39. ↑ David Krutzler: KAV commissioned “energetic services” years ago. In: derstandard.at. March 20, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018 .
  40. ↑ Florian Freistetter: Energized and revitalized snow saves winter tourism! In: derstandard.at. January 19, 2016, accessed May 25, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Anton Rainer: squandered. In: tageszeitung.it . November 30, 2015, accessed January 27, 2020.
  42. ↑ Titus Arnu: Magic Snow. In: sueddeutsche.de . January 27, 2016, accessed on March 23, 2020 (registration required).
  43. ↑ Water treatment for snow cannons. In: aqua-blue-de. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Florian Freistetter: Artificial snow with revitalized water lasts longer? How a science experiment should NOT be done. In: scienceblogs.de. January 3, 2013, accessed November 13, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Ulrich Berger: Revitalized snow with ESO-… sorry… ERSO-Austria. In: scienceblogs.de . January 3, 2013, accessed April 19, 2018 .