Penta Water - Controversy

Controversy

Advertising in the UK: The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints from the 2nd of March 2005 against claims made by Penta Water in a leaflet that:

1. the leaflet misleadingly implied the product had health benefits over and above those of ordinary water and
2. the claims "restructured" and "it might be just H2O, but it's no ordinary water" were misleading, because they believed that water could not be restructured.

Quoting from the ASA website:

"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. They said their local Trading Standards department had checked all their literature; they also sent a revised copy of their advertisement that they believed complied with the CAP Code.

The Authority considered that readers would be likely to interpret the claims made in the original leaflet and the revised leaflet to mean the molecular structure of water had been altered in the advertised product for improved hydration and physical performance. The Authority took expert advice and understood that the scientific evidence submitted did not prove that Penta had health benefits over and above those of ordinary water or had been restructured to form stable smaller clusters. It also understood that hydrogen-bonds in ordinary water were a weak type of chemical bonding that allowed the formation and reformation of temporary clusters of water molecules in liquid phase water many times per second. The Authority 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. The Authority 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. "