Hydrogen Water Shows Promise for Multiple Health Conditions Review
- Authors
- Garth L. Nicolson, Gonzalo Ferreira de Mattos, Robert Settineri, Carlos Costa, Rita Ellithorpe, Steven Rosenblatt, James La Valle, Antonio Jimenez, Shigeo Ohta
- Journal
- International Journal of Clinical Medicine
- Year
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.4236/ijcm.2016.71005
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- United States
- Health Condition
- Metabolic Disorders
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Scientists found that drinking water with extra hydrogen gas in it might help treat lots of different diseases and help people stay healthier, because it fights harmful stuff in your body called oxidative stress—and the best part is it's super safe and cheap to use.
Key Finding
Molecular hydrogen has been studied across multiple human disease states and shows no reported safety concerns or adverse effects, making hydrogen-enriched water a potentially accessible and low-cost option for clinical use.
Summary
This review examined published research on how molecular hydrogen (H2)—a gas that can be dissolved in water or administered other ways—affects human health. Researchers looked at studies involving people with various conditions including metabolic disorders, heart disease, neurological problems, and infections, as well as studies on aging and exercise performance. The review found that hydrogen appears to work by reducing oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules) and may influence how genes are expressed, with no safety concerns reported from its use.
Practical Takeaway
This is a literature review rather than a new study with specific results, so it summarizes existing research rather than providing new evidence. While the review suggests hydrogen may have therapeutic potential for various conditions, most of the underlying studies appear to be animal-based or preliminary human research. Anyone considering hydrogen water should note that this review does not provide definitive proof of health benefits for specific conditions in humans.
Abstract
Here we review the literature on the effects of molecular hydrogen (H2) on normal human subjects and patients with a variety of diagnoses, such as metabolic, rheumatic, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative and other diseases, infections and physical and radiation damage as well as effects on aging and exercise. Although the effects of H2 have been studied in multiple animal models of human disease, such studies will not be reviewed in depth here. H2 can be administered as a gas, in saline implants or infusions, as topical solutions or baths or by drinking H2-enriched water. This latter method is the easiest and least costly method of administration. There are no safety issues with hydrogen; it has been used for years in gas mixtures for deep diving and in numerous clinical trials without adverse events, and there are no warnings in the literature of its toxicity or longterm exposure effects. Molecular hydrogen has proven useful and convenient as a novel antioxidant and modifier of gene expression in many conditions where oxidative stress and changes in gene expression result in cellular damage.