Hydrogen Water May Reduce Exercise Stress in Racehorses
- Authors
- Hirokazu Tsubone, Masakazu Hanafusa, Maiko Endo, Noboru Manabe, Atsushi Hiraga, Hajime Ohmura, Hiroko Aida
- Journal
- Journal of Equine Science
- Year
- 2013
- DOI
- 10.1294/jes.24.1
- Study Type
- Horse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Giving horses hydrogen-rich water before intense exercise might help reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress compared to regular water.
Key Finding
Intensive exercise in horses triggered simultaneous increases in both oxidative stress and antioxidative defense markers, with hydrogen-rich water showing a trend toward reducing oxidative stress compared to placebo.
Summary
Researchers gave five Thoroughbred horses either hydrogen-rich water or regular water, then had them run on a treadmill until exhaustion. They measured markers of oxidative stress (damage from intense activity) and the body's natural antioxidant defenses (protective systems) in blood samples taken before, during, and after exercise. Both stress markers and protective markers increased significantly after exercise in all horses, but horses given hydrogen-rich water showed a slight tendency toward lower stress markers compared to those given regular water.
Practical Takeaway
This small study in horses suggests hydrogen-rich water may help reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress, but the effect was modest and only a trend rather than a definitive finding. Because this is an animal study with only five subjects and no human trials, it's too early to draw conclusions about whether hydrogen water would have similar effects in people or athletes.
Abstract
The present study aimed to clarify changes of oxidative stress and antioxidative functions in treadmill-exercised Thoroughbred horses (n=5, 3 to 7 years old), using recently developed techniques for measurement of serum d-ROMs for oxidative stress, and BAP for antioxidative markers. Also, the effect of nasogastric administration of hydrogen-rich water (HW) or placebo water preceding the treadmill exercise on these parameters was examined. Each horse was subjected to a maximum level of treadmill exercise in which the horses were exhausted at an average speed of 13.2 ± 0.84 m/sec. Blood samples were taken 4 times, immediately before the intake of HW or placebo water at 30 min preceding the treadmill exercise, immediately before the exercise (pre-exercise), immediately after the exercise (post-exercise) and at 30 min following the exercise. In all horses, both d-ROMs and BAP values significantly increased at post-exercise. The increase in d-ROMs tended to be lower in the HW trial, as compared to the placebo trial at pre-exercise. The increase in BAP was considerable at approximately 150% of the pre-exercise values in both the HW and placebo treatment trials. The BAP/d-ROMs ratio was significantly elevated at post-exercise in both treatment trials, while a significant elevation was also observed at pre-exercise in the HW trial. BAP, d-ROM, and the BAP/d-ROM ratio tended to decline at 30 min after the exercise, except BAP and BAP/d-ROMs in the placebo trial. These results demonstrate that the marked elevation of oxidative stress and anitioxidative functions occurred simultaneously in the intensively exercised horses, and suggest a possibility that HW has some antioxidative efficacy.