Hydrogen Water Boosts Athletic Performance in Trained Cyclists
- Authors
- Rafael Timón, Guillermo Olcina, Adrian González-Custodio, Marta Camacho-Cardenosa, Alba Camacho-Cardenosa, Ismael Guardado
- Journal
- Biology of Sport
- Year
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.5114/biolsport.2020.98625
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Spain
- Health Condition
- Exercise Fatigue
- Body System
- Muscular
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water for a week helped trained cyclists perform better in short, intense exercises but didn't affect untrained individuals.
Key Finding
Trained cyclists who drank hydrogen-rich water for 7 days showed significant improvements in anaerobic performance (short, intense exercise), with increases in peak power output and reductions in fatigue, while untrained individuals experienced no performance benefits.
Summary
Researchers gave 37 people either hydrogen-rich water or a placebo (fake water) for 7 days to see if it would improve their exercise performance. They tested both trained cyclists and untrained people using cycling tests that measure power output and endurance. Only the trained cyclists showed improvements after drinking hydrogen-rich water—they produced more power and had less fatigue during intense exercise—while untrained people saw no changes.
Practical Takeaway
This small study suggests hydrogen-rich water may help trained athletes with high-intensity exercise performance, but only if they have significant training experience. The benefits did not appear in untrained people, so it may not be useful for casual exercisers. More research is needed to confirm these findings and understand why training status matters.
Abstract
Hydrogen-rich water (HRW) is used as a supplement to improve performance and reduce fatigue in athletes. However, the potentially beneficial effects of HRW intake could be mediated by the training status of athletes. The purpose of the study was to analyse the ergogenic effect of intake of HRW for one week on aerobic and anaerobic performance, both in trained and untrained individuals. Thirty-seven volunteers participated in the study and were divided into two experimental groups: trained cyclists and untrained subjects. A double-blind crossover design was performed in which all subjects took a placebo (PW) and nano-bubble HRW (pH: 7.5; hydrogen concentration: 1.9 ppm; oxidation-reduction potential (ORP): -600 mV). At the end of 7-day intake, performance was assessed by an incremental VO2max test and by a maximum anaerobic test. After HRW intake, only trained cyclists improved their performance in the anaerobic test with an increase in peak power (from 766.2 ± 125.6 to 826.5 ± 143.4 W; d = .51) and mean power (from 350.0 ± 53.5 to 380.2 ± 71.3 W; d = .51), and a decrease in the fatigue index (from 77.6 ± 5.8 to 75.1 ± 5.9%; d = .45). The findings demonstrate that the ergogenic effect of HRW is mediated by the training status, and that 7-day intake of HRW would be an effective strategy for improving anaerobic performance in trained cyclists.