Hydrogen Therapy Shows Promise for Severe Viral Infections and Organ Failure

TL;DR

Scientists think hydrogen gas might help sick people recover from severe flu and other viral infections by calming down the body's extreme inflammatory response, rather than by fighting the virus itself—which could be a totally new way to treat these dangerous conditions.

Key Finding

This is a hypothesis paper proposing hydrogen-rich saline as a potential treatment for viral infection complications, not a study with actual results from patients or clinical trials.

Summary

This paper proposes that hydrogen-rich saline (a salt solution containing hydrogen) could be a new treatment for multiple organ dysfunction caused by severe viral infections like influenza. The authors note that most damage from viral infections comes not from the virus itself, but from the body's inflammatory response and oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules). They suggest hydrogen may help by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, but they have not yet tested this idea in patients.

Practical Takeaway

While the theoretical reasoning about hydrogen's anti-inflammatory properties is based on existing research, this paper presents only a hypothesis—no clinical evidence yet exists that hydrogen water or hydrogen-rich saline helps with viral infections in humans. Anyone considering hydrogen therapy should wait for actual clinical trial results before expecting therapeutic benefits.

Abstract (excerpt)

Hydrogen, a non-cytotoxic molecule, is one of nature’s most simple elements [1,2]. Recent studies revealed that intraperitoneal injection of hydrogen-rich saline has surprising anti-inflammation, anti-oxidant, anti-apoptosis effects and protected organism against polymicrobial sepsis injury, acute…

Read the full abstract via DOI