Hydrogen Supplement Prevents Fatty Liver Disease in High-Fat Diet Study
- Authors
- Chen Hou, Yongyao Wang, Erkang Zhu, Chunhong Yan, Lin Zhao, Xiaojie Wang, Yingfeng Qiu, Hui Shen, Xuejun Sun, Zhihui Feng, Jiankang Liu, Jiangang Long
- Journal
- Biochemical Pharmacology
- Year
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.bcp.2015.12.020
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
- Body System
- Hepatic
TL;DR
Coral calcium hydride (CCH), a new type of hydrogen-releasing compound, was shown to reduce fat accumulation in the liver and improve overall metabolism in rats on a high-fat diet.
Key Finding
Coral calcium hydride reduced liver fat accumulation and improved metabolic health in rats with diet-induced fatty liver disease by releasing molecular hydrogen that reduced oxidative stress and improved mitochondrial function.
Summary
Researchers tested a new form of coral calcium that releases molecular hydrogen in the body on rats fed a high-fat diet that causes fatty liver disease. The treatment reduced weight gain, improved blood sugar and fat levels, and decreased fat buildup in the liver. It also reduced harmful molecules (oxidative stress) in liver cells and improved how their energy-producing structures (mitochondria) worked.
Practical Takeaway
This early-stage animal study suggests coral calcium hydride may help prevent fatty liver disease through hydrogen release, but results are limited to rats fed a high-fat diet. Human studies would be needed to determine if these benefits apply to people, and the study does not establish whether this approach is more effective than other interventions.
Abstract
Diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by profound lipid accumulation and associated with an inflammatory response, oxidative stress and hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction. We previously demonstrated that some mitochondrial nutrients effectively ameliorated high fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic steatosis and metabolic disorders. Molecular hydrogen in hydrogen-rich liquid or inhaling gas, which has been confirmed in scavenging reactive oxygen species and preventing mitochondrial decay, improved metabolic syndrome in patients and animal models. Coral calcium hydride (CCH) is a new solid molecular hydrogen carrier made of coral calcium. However, whether and how CCH impacts HFD-induced hepatic steatosis remains uninvestigated. In the present study, we applied CCH to a HFD-induced NAFLD rat model for 13 weeks. We found that CCH durably generated hydrogen in vivo and in vitro. CCH treatment significantly reduced body weight gain, improved glucose and lipid metabolism and attenuated hepatic steatosis in HFD-induced obese rats with no influence on food and water intake. Moreover, CCH effectively improved HFD-induced hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced oxidative stress, and activated phase II enzymes. Our results suggest that CCH is an efficient hydrogen-rich agent, which could prevent HFD-induced NAFLD via activating phase II enzymes and improving mitochondrial function.