KALAK WATER
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The following report, submitted by a member of the Council’s committee on chemistry, was endorsed by the committee and adopted by the Council:
Kalak Water, sold by the Kalak Water Company, Inc., New York, is an artificial mineral water said to be made by adding certain salts to carbonated, distilled water and supersaturating with the gas under pressure. Such merit as it may possess by virtue of sodium bicarbonate and sodium phosphate is quite insufficient to warrant the extravagant claims made in the advertising pamphlets.
According to the analysis furnished, the water contains, in 1,000,000 parts (milligrams per liter) the following:
| Sodium carbonate | 4049.0 |
| Sodium phosphate | 238.5 |
| Sodium chloride | 806.3 |
| Calcium carbonate | 578.2 |
| Magnesium carbonate | 48.9 |
| Potassium chloride | 47.9 |
Among the many misleading statements found in the advertising pamphlet bearing the title “A Brief for Physiological Alkalescence” these may be quoted:
“The calcium content of Kalak is over 100% greater than ever before placed in solution in any vehicle, a fact of supreme importance when the unique alkalinizing power of the alkaline salts of this metal is considered; the ratio of calcium metabolism to its enormous waste in pregnancy, the diseases of infancy and childhood and the rapidly growing group of ‘acidoses’ make its availability in Kalak of double value.”
The first part of this statement is untrue; the last part is muddled and without much meaning. Evidently the “acidosis” fad is to be overworked as was the old “uric acid diathesis,” of unsavory memory. Again this:
“One of the most important characteristics of Kalak is the close approximation of its formula to the correlation of the contained salts as they occur in the human body, together with its freedom from salts foreign to the human economy. Another is its almost unbelievable palatability, considering its high degree of alkalinity, it being eleven times greater than any other known mineral water, artificial or natural.”
These statements are false. The salts dissolved here bear no discernible relation to the needs of the body, as disclosed by the composition of the blood or solid tissues or as shown by the character of the urinary excretion. The last statement concerning the high alkalinity is neither clear nor accurate. Then, this warning and remedy:
“It seems to be an unappreciated fact that the degree of urinary acidity, checked with the acidity of the saliva, is in direct ratio to the existing acid toxemia, and a urine acid to methyl red should be the signal for immediate and adequate alkalinizing treatment....
“Startling clinical results have been observed by physicians who have used Kalak thoughtfully and sufficiently in the more serious types of acidosis associated with diabetes, nephritis, rheumatism, gout and the acute infections. There is also evidence of its good effect in acute alcoholism and the respiratory edemas; in fact a certain few have hailed Kalak as a possible solution of the annual hay fever problem. Of perhaps supreme importance, however, is the use of Kalak throughout pregnancy as preventive medicine against the inevitable ‘toxemia of pregnancy.’ ”
Also this:
“Kalak has accomplished certain unexplainable things for the diabetic and nephritic, and if, in future years, diabetes and nephritis should prove to be constitutional diseases, based upon functionation or its lack, Kalak therapy, the embodiment of physiological alkalescence may come into its own, for if acidity retards, alkalinity must normalize functionation.”
It is not necessary to quote further. In order to insure that everyone will recognize the great need of Kalak it is advised to test the urine for acidity by means of a group of indicator solutions sent out to the physicians. Methyl red is one of these and any urine showing an acid reaction with this is said to be open to suspicion. Paranitrophenol is another of the indicators and the explanations given of the behavior of the two and the conclusions to be drawn are questionable. The methyl red solution furnished is too concentrated for proper use and perfectly normal urines from normal individuals have given a rather marked color with it. This indicator gives some color at [H+] = 1.2 × 10-6 and a strong reaction at 3 × 10-3. To condemn a urine on such a finding is entirely unwarranted.
Sodium bicarbonate is the main constituent of the water. The value of the phosphate in such a combination, with so much calcium, is problematical. In case an alkaline reaction in the intestine is reached some of it would be left as insoluble phosphate. A few grams of bicarbonate daily would have equal therapeutic value with this water. The advice based on the indications of methyl red and the urine is bad.
The committee’s report was sent to the Kalak Water Company for comment. The company promised to withdraw the advertising circular referred to in the report and disclaimed responsibility for the accuracy and value of the set of indicators which it sent out, but, on the whole, the previous advertising claims were insisted on.
In view of the absurd and false claims made for the product the Council declared Kalak Water inadmissible to N. N. R.—(From Reports of Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, 1917, p. 148.)