Penta Water is a brand of

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...

produced by United Beverage, based in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. Penta Water undergoes a patented process which the company claims to result in specific health benefits. These claims have been heavily contested by scientists and regulators and do not have any genuine scientific basis.

History

Penta Water was created by Bill Holloway in

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: Geographical locations * Carlsbad, California, San Diego County, United States ** Carlsbad Santa Fe Depot, NRHP ID No. 93001016 * Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States ** Carlsbad Caverns National Park ** Carlsbad Irriga ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Holloway says that he was diagnosed with

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

which he contracted due to working with mercury at a previous job. His son, Mike Holloway, then came up with the formula for the highly purified water by accident, and the resulting water "caused him to feel better and to lead a relatively normal life." At this point he realized that he should manufacture and sell this water. Southern California-based United Beverage acquired the patent for Penta Water in 2009, and is still manufacturing and distributing the water as of 2019.

Claims

Founder Bill Holloway claimed that "the water formula actually saved his life." He also claimed to have thousands of written testimonials from people with such conditions as

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

, heart disease, and teenage acne who claim to receive relief from his purified water as it allegedly reduces swelling. In a 2004 interview with Tom Morrow of ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', Holloway states "our water protects

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

. It acts as a sort of anti-aging process. Heck, it may even be the fountain of youth.” Press releases from March 2008 announced that Penta Water would be releasing a new study run by dermatologist Jean Krutmann and the Environmental Health Research Institute. This study allegedly demonstrated "that human skin cells cultured in Penta water had significantly less damage from

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

radiation than skin cells cultured in plain water." The press releases claim that this suggests Penta Water may have anti-aging and

antioxidant Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. Autoxidation leads to degradation of organic compounds, including living matter. Antioxidants ...

effects. Penta Water also claims to have commissioned

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

to continue this study into the hydration abilities and antioxidant effects of Penta Water.

Criticism and challenge

A 2003 US class action lawsuit, led by San Diego lawyer Stephen Morris, against Penta Water on the grounds of

false advertising False advertising is the act of publishing, transmitting, distributing or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally, or recklessly, to promote the sale of property, goods or servi ...

and

unfair business practice Unfair business practices (also unfair commercial practices) describes a set of practices by businesses which are considered unfair, and which may be unlawful. It includes practices which are covered by other areas of law, such as fraud, misrepresen ...

, resulted in the company no longer being allowed to claim the water has health benefits. In response to the lawsuit, the makers of Penta said that scientists from

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Sc ...

as well as the Scripps Research Institute "had confirmed the health benefits of their water". Morris said that he contacted one scientist who was listed as a collaborator on the study and "she told him she disagreed with the study’s conclusions and wanted her name removed from it." In 2016, San Diego news radio station KPBS contacted UC San Diego chemistry professor Andy Kummel, who coauthored the report on Penta Water's claims. They concluded that Penta Water's claims were "not only wrong, but absurd". In March 2005 a public complaint was filed with the Advertising Standards Authority in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

regarding a promotional leaflet on the qualities of Penta Water. The leaflet claimed that "it's no ordinary water" and that the water is "ultra-purified", "restructured", and can provide the consumer with something called "bio-hydration". The leaflet claimed this process, which was granted a patent for a 13 step water purification process by The US Patent Office, was proven at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, and again proven by the General Physic Institute. The complaint alleged that the leaflet implied the product contained health benefits beyond those of plain water, and that it claimed water was "restructured", which the complainant did not believe was possible. According to the Advertising Standards Authority, Based on the scientific evidence presented to the Advertising Standards Authority they "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". Thus, the ASA "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. In 2005

Ben Goldacre Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...

, investigating for his "Bad Science" column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', examined Penta's website and found that Penta Water had many health claims and testimonials on their website. When he reached out to Penta for scientific evidence, he was told that there exists an

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

study on liposomes with aquaporins in artificial membranes that demonstrates this water is absorbed faster, although this study was never produced. Ben Goldacre received threatening messages from Penta Water in the form of a message to his Bad Science column that read "Sleep well tonight and think about how and why you tried to fuck us over and practice keeping one eye open", but they also apologized for this remark. Penta Water claimed that seeds could

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

in half the time in Penta Water, compared to normal water. Because of this testable claim they were encouraged to attempt

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.#Rodrigues, Rodrig ...

's million dollar challenge. Penta Water announced that they would accept the challenge. As they further discussed the terms for verification of the experiment, Penta Water declined to continue with the challenge, stating they did not have the appropriate resources at the time to provide someone to oversee the experiment.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , last1=Morrow , first1=Tom , title=Patented water? What's next, a patent on air? , url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-patented-water-whats-next-a-patent-on-air-2004nov14-story.html# , website=

, accessdate=23 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523065258/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-patented-water-whats-next-a-patent-on-air-2004nov14-story.html , archivedate=23 May 2019 , date=14 November 2004 {{cite web , title=ASA Non-broadcast Adjudication: Penta UK , url=http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2005/3/Penta-UK/CS_39409.aspx , website=ASA.org , publisher= Advertising Standards Authority , accessdate=23 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524124439/http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2005/3/Penta-UK/CS_39409.aspx , archivedate=24 May 2011 , date=2 March 2005 {{cite web , last1=Goldacre , first1=Ben , title=Testing the water , url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jan/27/badscience.science , website=

, accessdate=24 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524203815/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jan/27/badscience.science , archivedate=24 May 2019 , date=26 January 2005, author1-link=Ben Goldacre {{cite web , last1=Goldacre , first1=Ben , title=Penta tonics , url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/mar/10/badscience , website=

, accessdate=24 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524204548/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/mar/10/badscience , archivedate=24 May 2019 , date=9 March 2005, author1-link=Ben Goldacre {{cite web , last1=Goldacre , first1=Ben , title=Troubled water , url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/feb/10/research.badscience , website=

, accessdate=24 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524205117/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/feb/10/research.badscience , archivedate=24 May 2019 , date=9 February 2005, author1-link=Ben Goldacre {{cite web , title=About , url=https://pentawater.com/pages/about , website=pentawater.com , publisher=Penta Water , accessdate=24 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524210130/https://pentawater.com/pages/about , archivedate=24 May 2019 {{cite web , title=Penta(R) Water Company Re-enters Market with New Look, New Feel and New Findings , url=https://www.bevnet.com/news/2008/03-10-2008-Penta.asp , website=bevnet.com , publisher=BEVNET , accessdate=25 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525063524/https://www.bevnet.com/news/2008/03-10-2008-Penta.asp , archivedate=25 May 2019 , date=10 March 2008 {{cite web , last1=Barrington , first1=Elaine , title=Penta Water study shows skin benefits , url=http://www.waterwebster.com/PentaWaterMarch232008.htm , website=waterwebster.com , publisher=Water Webster , accessdate=25 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525064503/http://www.waterwebster.com/PentaWaterMarch232008.htm , archivedate=25 May 2019 , date=23 March 2008 {{cite web , last1=Gorski , first1=David , title=Stemedica Cell Technologies: More stem cell hard sell, courtesy of the people who brought you Penta Water woo , url=https://respectfulinsolence.com/2016/10/03/stemedica-cell-technologies-run-by-the-same-people-who-brought-you-penta-water-woo/ , website=respectfulinsolence.com , publisher=Respectful Insolence , accessdate=25 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525065239/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2016/10/03/stemedica-cell-technologies-run-by-the-same-people-who-brought-you-penta-water-woo/ , archivedate=25 May 2019 , date=3 October 2016, author1-link=David Gorski {{cite web , last1=Wagner , first1=David , title=A Closer Look At A San Diego Stem Cell Company's Leadership , url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/sep/21/closer-look-san-diego-stem-cell-companys-leadershi/ , website=kpbs.org , publisher=KPBS , accessdate=25 May 2019 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525065740/https://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/sep/21/closer-look-san-diego-stem-cell-companys-leadershi/ , archivedate=25 May 2019 , date=21 September 2016 Bottled water brands Pseudoscience

History

Claims

Criticism and challenge

See also

References