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 (excerpt)
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…