Hydrogen Baths Reduce Belly Fat and Dark Skin Spots in Small Study
- Authors
- Ryoko Asada, Yasukazu Saitoh, Nobuhiko Miwa
- Journal
- Medical Gas Research
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.4103/2045-9912.260647
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Visceral Obesity
- Body System
- Integumentary
TL;DR
Bathing in hydrogen-rich water may help reduce skin blotches and belly fat, and improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels, with the hydrogen remaining in the water even after boiling.
Key Finding
In this small trial of four adults, daily hydrogen-rich water baths were associated with reduced skin blotches, decreased visceral (belly) fat area, and improved cholesterol levels in some participants over 1-6 months.
Summary
This small study examined whether bathing in hydrogen-rich water (water infused with dissolved hydrogen gas) could improve skin appearance and reduce belly fat. Four adults took 10-minute warm baths in hydrogen-rich water daily for 1 to 6 months. Researchers found that skin spots became smaller and less noticeable, belly fat decreased in two female participants, and one woman's cholesterol levels improved. The study also confirmed that hydrogen remained in the water even after boiling it.
Practical Takeaway
While this early evidence suggests hydrogen-rich water baths may have cosmetic and metabolic effects, the study is very small (only 4 people) and lacks a control group for comparison, making it impossible to know if results were due to the hydrogen or other factors. Much larger and more rigorous studies would be needed before drawing firm conclusions about hydrogen water's benefits for skin or weight management.
Abstract
Hydrogen-dissolved water has been shown to improve diverse oxidation stress-related diseases, which drove us to examine effects of hydrogen-rich water on oxidation stress-related skin troubles and lipid-metabolism markers. The purpose of this study is whether the dissolved hydrogen in hydrogen-rich water was kept even after boiling, and whether hydrogen-bath utilization improves cosmetic effects such as skin-blotch repression and the visceral-fat-based slimming effects. The subjects were two men and two women, aged 48, 43, 42, and 41 years (n = 4). They took warm (41°C) water bath of dissolved hydrogen 300-310 μg/L (< 10 μg/L for normal water) for 10-minute once daily for 1-6 months, followed by examination of skin blotch, visceral fat, and cholesterol and glucose metabolisms. The dissolved hydrogen concentration was measured after 15-minute boiling and the subsequent cooling naturally. The wide-ranging, dense, and irregularly shaped skin blotches became markedly smaller and thinner, assumedly through reductive bleaching of melanin and lipofuscin and promotion of dermal cell renewal by the hydrogen-rich warm water. Ultrasonic resonance-based analysis on the abdominal cross-section revealed that the visceral fat area decreased from 47 to 36 cm[2], and the abdominal circumference decreased from 91 to 82 cm, in the two female subjects bathing in hydrogen-water. After 6-month hydrogen-water bathing, the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was decreased by 16.2% and the fasting blood glucose level increased by 13.6% in the blood of a female subject. Before boiling, the dissolved hydrogen and an oxidation-reduced potential were 300 μg/L and -115 mV, respectively. Dissolved hydrogen was retained at 300-175 μg/L and 200 μg/L, even 1-6 hours and 24 hours, respectively, after boiling. Therefore, a hydrogen-rich water-bath apparatus can electrolytically generate abundant boiling-resistant hydrogen bubbles, improving visceral fat and blotches on the skin. The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Japanese Center for Anti-Aging Medical Sciences and that was officially authenticated by the Hiroshima Prefecture Government of Japan (approval number 15C1) in 2016.