Penta Water

Key takeaways

Penta Water belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Penta Water to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Penta Water from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Penta Water is a brand of bottled water produced by United Beverage, based in Southern California. 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, California. Holloway says that he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 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, arthritis, cirrhosis, 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, Holloway states "our water protects DNA. 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 radiation than skin cells cultured in plain water". The press releases claim that this suggests Penta Water may have anti-aging and antioxidant effects. Penta Water also claims to have commissioned UC Davis to continue this study into the hydration abilities and antioxidant effects of Penta Water.

Legal challenge A 2003 US class action lawsuit, led by San Diego lawyer Stephen Morris, against Penta Water on the grounds of false advertising and unfair business practice, 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 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 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 UC San Diego, Moscow University, 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,

The advertisers asserted that Penta was a new form of water that was restructured. They submitted research papers that they believed showed scientific evidence of restructuring and several works in preparation, including studies from UK universities, that they believed showed increased performance and recovery levels after exercise with Penta when compared with ordinary water. The advertisers argued that, because Penta could hydrate more efficiently than tap water, it was better for health; they said they had not, however, made any medicinal claims for the product. 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, investigating for his "Bad Science" column in The Guardian, 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 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". The company later apologized for this remark. Penta Water claimed that seeds could germinate in half the time in Penta Water, compared to normal water. Because of this testable claim they were encouraged to attempt James Randi'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.

See also List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Hexagonal water aka "Structured Water"

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Penta Water

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Penta Water claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Penta Water before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Penta Water ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Penta Water

In research: Penta Water appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Penta Water in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Penta Water is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bottled water brands, Pseudoscience, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Penta Water outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Penta Water in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Penta Water means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Penta Water out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Penta Water in simple terms?

Penta Water is a brand of bottled water produced by United Beverage, based in Southern California. Penta Water undergoes a patented process which the company claims to result in specific health benefits.

Why does Penta Water matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Penta Water?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Penta Water.