Hydrogen Water Improves Gut Health and Recovery in Young Female Athletes
- Authors
- Ji-Bin Sha, Shuang-Shuang Zhang, Yi-Ming Lu, Wen-Jing Gong, Xiao-Ping Jiang, Jian-Jun Wang, Tong-Ling Qiao, Hong-Hong Zhang, Min-Qian Zhao, Da-Peng Wang, Hua Xia, Zhong-Wei Li, Jian-Liang Chen, Lin Zhang, Cheng-Gang Zhang
- Journal
- Medical Gas Research
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.4103/2045-9912.248263
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Exercise-Induced Fatigue
- Body System
- Digestive
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water for two months helped reduce stress and inflammation markers in the blood and improved gut health in young female soccer players.
Key Finding
Two months of hydrogen-rich water consumption reduced oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in young female soccer players while increasing antioxidant enzyme levels and improving gut bacteria diversity.
Summary
This study looked at whether drinking hydrogen-rich water for two months could help young female soccer players recover from training. Researchers measured markers of cellular damage (oxidative stress) and inflammation in the athletes' blood, and analyzed their gut bacteria from stool samples. The athletes who drank hydrogen-rich water showed lower levels of harmful inflammatory molecules, higher levels of protective antioxidant enzymes, and improved diversity of beneficial gut bacteria compared to a control group.
Practical Takeaway
This small human study suggests hydrogen-rich water may help athletes manage exercise-related oxidative stress and support gut health, though the sample size was not reported and the study lasted only two months. More research with larger groups and longer follow-up periods would be needed to confirm whether these changes translate to meaningful improvements in athletic performance or recovery.
Abstract
Expending a considerable amount of physical energy inevitably leads to fatigue during both training and competition in football. An increasing number of experimental findings have confirmed the relationship between the generation and clearance of free radicals, fatigue, and exercise injury. Recently, hydrogen was identified as a new selective antioxidant with potential beneficial applications in sports. The present study evaluated the effect of 2-month consumption of hydrogen-rich water on the gut flora in juvenile female soccer players from Suzhou. As demonstrated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and 16S rDNA sequence analysis of stool samples, the consumption of hydrogen-rich water for two months significantly reduced serum malondialdehyde, interleukin-1, interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-α levels; then significantly increased serum superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity levels and haemoglobin levels of whole blood. Furthermore, the consumption of hydrogen-rich water improved the diversity and abundance of the gut flora in athletes. All examined indices, including the shannon, sobs, ace, and chao indices, were higher in the control group than those proposed to result from hydrogen-rich water consumption prior to the trial, but these indices were all reversed and were higher than those in the controls after the 2-month intervention. Nevertheless, there were some differences in the gut flora components of these two groups before the trial, whereas there were no significant changes in the gut flora composition during the trial period. Thus, the consumption of hydrogen-rich water for two months might play a role modulating in the gut flora of athletes based on its selective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Suzhou Sports School (approved number: SSS-EC150903).