Hydrogen Therapy Shows Promise for Treating Liver Diseases
- Authors
- Jian Shi, Brittany Duncan, Xuyuan Kuang
- Journal
- Clinical Medicine
- Year
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0370
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Body System
- Hepatic
TL;DR
Scientists found that hydrogen gas might be a safe and effective treatment for liver diseases because it reduces harmful molecules in your body, fights inflammation, and helps protect liver cells from damage—and they think it could help people with fatty liver disease, hepatitis B, and side effects from cancer treatment.
Key Finding
Hydrogen therapy may help protect the liver through multiple mechanisms including reducing harmful oxidative stress, controlling cell death processes, and reducing inflammation, though human clinical evidence remains limited.
Summary
This article reviews how hydrogen therapy might help treat liver diseases. Hydrogen is thought to work by reducing harmful molecules in cells, decreasing cell death, and lowering inflammation. The review discusses potential uses for fatty liver disease, hepatitis B, and liver damage from cancer treatment, but notes that most evidence comes from laboratory and animal studies rather than large human trials.
Practical Takeaway
While this review suggests hydrogen therapy has theoretical promise for liver health, it is primarily a summary of existing research rather than a report of new clinical findings. Most supporting evidence comes from laboratory and animal studies; larger human trials are needed before hydrogen can be recommended as a liver treatment.
Abstract (excerpt)
Hydrogen therapy is a very promising treatment against several diseases due to its mild attributes, high affinity and inherent biosafety. However, there is little elaboration about current hydrogen treatment in liver diseases. This article introduces the administration of hydrogen and mechanisms…