Special Milk Boosts Body's Natural Hydrogen Gas Production for Health
- Authors
- Mitsuharu Matsumoto, Ayako Fujita, Ayano Yamashita, Shoichiro Kameoka, Yumi Shimomura, Yusuke Kitada, Hazuki Tamada, Shigeru Nakamura, Kazuo Tsubota
- Journal
- Journal of Functional Foods
- Year
- 2017
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jff.2017.05.013
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Oxidative Stress-Related Diseases
- Body System
- Digestive System
TL;DR
Researchers developed a special milk that increases hydrogen gas production in the body, which could be beneficial for various diseases.
Key Finding
Functional milk containing galactooligosaccharide, maltitol, and glucomannan produced significantly higher breath hydrogen concentrations in human volunteers compared to hydrogen water or plain milk.
Summary
Researchers created a special milk drink containing three ingredients (galactooligosaccharide, maltitol, and glucomannan) designed to help the bacteria in your intestines produce more hydrogen gas. In a human study, people who drank this milk produced significantly more hydrogen gas (measured in their breath) compared to drinking regular hydrogen water or plain milk. The study suggests this functional milk could be a practical way to increase hydrogen gas in the body through natural intestinal fermentation.
Practical Takeaway
This early human evidence suggests that specially formulated milk may be more effective than hydrogen water at stimulating intestinal hydrogen production. However, the study did not report sample size or duration details, and no health outcomes were measured—only hydrogen gas levels. More research is needed to determine whether increased hydrogen production from this milk actually provides health benefits.
Abstract
Hydrogen gas (H2) reacts with strong oxidants, and the effectiveness of H2 inhalation or ingestion of H2 water has been demonstrated for many diseases. H2 produced by the intestinal microbiome from indigestible components is the major source of exogenous H2. In this study, we screened a wide variety of indigestible components that induce H2 production by the intestinal microbiome, which exhibits large diversity, and developed a beverage composed of cows’ milk with galactooligosaccharide, maltitol, and glucomannan (H2-producing milk). In clinical trials, the breath H2 concentration of most volunteers was increased by consumption of H2-producing milk 1 (each material: 1%) and H2-producing milk 2 (galactooligosaccharide: 1.5%, maltitol: 1%, and glucomannan: 0.1%). The total range of H2 production (area under the curve) increased and a higher peak concentration was observed compared with consumption of H2 water or pure cows’ milk. Thus, this material may be a desirable functional milk.