Japanese Hydrogen Water Improves Blood Sugar and Diabetes Symptoms
- Authors
- Kazuhiro Osada, Yuping Li, Takeki Hamasaki, Masumi Abe, Noboru Nakamichi, Kiichiro Teruya, Yoshitoki Ishii, Ying Wang, Yoshinori Katakura, Sanetaka Shirahata
- Journal
- Basic and Applied Aspects
- Year
- 2010
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-90-481-3892-0_51
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Body System
- Endocrine
TL;DR
Drinking a special type of water from Japan may help lower blood sugar and improve diabetes by protecting cells and enhancing insulin activity.
Key Finding
In a 2-month human study of 115 people with high blood sugar or cholesterol, Hita Tenryousui water® produced statistically significant improvements in blood glucose, triglyceride, and total cholesterol levels.
Summary
Researchers tested a naturally reduced water from Japan (Hita Tenryousui water®) to see if it could help with diabetes. In laboratory and animal studies, the water reduced harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species and protected insulin-producing cells. In a small human study of 115 people with high blood sugar or high cholesterol, those who drank this water for 2 months showed improvements in blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol levels.
Practical Takeaway
While this study shows promising early results in humans, the trial was small, open-label (not blinded), and lacked a control group, which limits how much we can conclude. The mechanism appears related to reducing harmful molecules in cells and improving insulin function, but more rigorous human studies would be needed to confirm whether this water truly helps prevent or manage diabetes in the general population.
Abstract
It has been reported that a natural reduced water derived from a deep well in Japan (trademark, Hita Tenryousui water®; Nakanoshima, Hita city, Oita, Japan) scavenged intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and protected a hamster pancreas β cell line HIT-T15 from oxidative damage by alloxan, a type 1 diabetes inducer. Here we demonstrated that the water also suppressed the fasted blood glucose levels of the alloxan-induced type 1-diabetes mice. Protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) is a redox-regulatable signal enzyme and activation of PTP in Type 2-diabetes patients is noted to be responsible to inactivation of insulin receptor. Hita Tenryousui water® suppressed the PTP activity, leading the activation of insulin receptor. This water stimulated glucose uptake into myotubes and showed a tendency to improve the impaired sugar tolerance of Type 2-diabetes model mice. An open clinical test of Hita Tenryousui water® against 65 patients with hyperglycemia and 50 patients with hyperlipemia for 2 months resulted in significant improvement of impaired blood sugar, plasma triglycerol and total cholesterol levels (P<0.05). These facts suggest that daily intake of natural reduced water will be beneficial to prevent and improve diabetes mellitus.