Hydrogen Gas Alone Responsible for Alkaline Water Health Benefits
- Authors
- Tyler W. LeBaron, Randy Sharpe, Kinji Ohno
- Journal
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3390/ijms232314750
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- United States
- Health Condition
- General Health
- Body System
- Cellular
TL;DR
Scientists figured out that the special healing power of electrolyzed water comes from just one thing: a gas called hydrogen (H2), not from magic water properties like people claimed. This matters because now doctors and researchers know exactly what to look for and measure when testing if this water actually helps people feel better.
Key Finding
Molecular hydrogen (H2) is the exclusive therapeutic agent in electrolyzed-reduced water; other proposed mechanisms like altered water structure and microclusters are not supported by evidence.
Summary
This review article examined claims about alkaline electrolyzed water and determined that molecular hydrogen (H2 gas) is the only component responsible for any observed health effects. The authors reviewed previous studies and rejected other proposed explanations—like special water structure, negative charge, or alkaline pH—by showing they don't match the scientific evidence. The review concludes that hydrogen's benefits can be explained through standard chemistry without invoking unproven concepts.
Practical Takeaway
This is a review article rather than new research, so it doesn't test hydrogen water on people. It does clarify that if electrolyzed-reduced water has benefits, they come from the hydrogen gas content—not from other properties often marketed. For consumers, this suggests checking whether a hydrogen water product actually contains measurable amounts of H2, since that's what the scientific evidence points to.
Abstract
Numerous benefits have been attributed to alkaline-electrolyzed-reduced water (ERW). Sometimes these claims are associated with easily debunked concepts. The observed benefits have been conjectured to be due to the intrinsic properties of ERW (e.g., negative oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), alkaline pH, H2 gas), as well enigmatic characteristics (e.g., altered water structure, microclusters, free electrons, active hydrogen, mineral hydrides). The associated pseudoscientific marketing has contributed to the reluctance of mainstream science to accept ERW as having biological effects. Finally, through many in vitro and in vivo studies, each one of these propositions was examined and refuted one-by-one until it was conclusively demonstrated that H2 was the exclusive agent responsible for both the negative ORP and the observed therapeutic effects of ERW. This article briefly apprised the history of ERW and comprehensively reviewed the sequential research demonstrating the importance of H2. We illustrated that the effects of ERW could be readily explained by the known biological effects of H2 and by utilizing conventional chemistry without requiring any metaphysical conjecture (e.g., microclustering, free electrons, etc.) or reliance on implausible notions (e.g., alkaline water neutralizes acidic waste). The H2 concentration of ERW should be measured to ensure it is comparable to those used in clinical studies. Keywords: alkali ion water; alkaline water; alkaline-ionized water; alkaline-reduced water; electrolyzed–reduced water; functional water; hydrogen water; ionized water.