Hydrogen Water Shows No Benefit for Kidney Cysts in Rat Study
- Authors
- Masatora Yamasaki, Motoaki Miyazono, Maki Yoshihara, Atsuhiko Suenaga, Masato Mizuta, Makoto Fukuda, Shuichi Rikitake, Yuji Ikeda
- Journal
- PLoS One
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0215766
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Neutral
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Polycystic Kidney Disease
- Body System
- Urinary System
TL;DR
Drinking large amounts of hydrogen-rich water did not prevent the growth of kidney cysts in rats with a condition similar to human polycystic kidney disease.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich water showed no significant advantage over regular water in slowing cyst growth in rats with polycystic kidney disease, despite its known antioxidant properties.
Summary
Researchers gave hydrogen-rich water (water infused with hydrogen gas) to rats with polycystic kidney disease—a condition where cysts grow in the kidneys—to see if it could slow cyst growth. The rats drank either regular water, water with added sugar, hydrogen-rich water, or hydrogen-rich water with sugar for 10 weeks. While hydrogen-rich water is known to reduce oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules), it did not perform better than regular water at preventing the cysts from getting larger.
Practical Takeaway
This rat study suggests that simply drinking hydrogen-rich water may not be an effective strategy for managing polycystic kidney disease progression, at least under the conditions tested. However, this is early-stage animal research, and the authors note that different delivery methods or longer treatment periods might yield different results. More research, particularly in humans, would be needed before drawing any conclusions about hydrogen water's usefulness for kidney disease.
Abstract (excerpt)
Various factors are considered to be mechanisms of the increase in the sizes of cysts in patients with polycystic kidney disease. Vasopressin is one of the causes, and drinking large volumes of water shows an effect of suppressing an increase in cysts. On the other hand, it is known that…