Hydrogen Water Improves Blood Protein Health in Dialysis Patients
- Authors
- Kenji Maeda, Shigehito Yoshizaki, Toshiro Iida, Tomoyoshi Terada, Seiichi Era, Keiichiro Sakashita, Hajime Arikawa
- Journal
- Renal Replacement Therapy
- Year
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1186/s41100-016-0054-y
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- Body System
- Renal
TL;DR
Using hydrogen-enriched water for long-term hemodialysis treatment may improve the antioxidant status of patients' blood.
Key Finding
Patients treated with hydrogen-dissolved hemodialysis fluid for 6 months showed a significant increase in protective albumin levels, rising from 51% to 58% before dialysis and from 72% to 76% after dialysis, approaching the 79% levels seen in healthy subjects.
Summary
This study tested whether hemodialysis fluid containing dissolved hydrogen could improve a marker of oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules) in kidney dialysis patients. Twelve patients received hydrogen-enriched dialysis fluid for 6 months, and researchers measured a specific form of albumin (a blood protein) that indicates protection against oxidative stress. After 6 months, this protective form of albumin increased significantly in the hydrogen-treated group, approaching levels seen in healthy people.
Practical Takeaway
This small human study suggests that hydrogen-enriched dialysis fluid may help reduce oxidative stress markers in kidney dialysis patients over 6 months. However, the study included only 12 patients and did not measure whether this improvement actually reduces heart disease risk or improves patient outcomes—only that a specific blood marker improved. More research is needed to determine if these changes translate to real health benefits.
Abstract
Background Oxidative stress (OS) is said to increase in hemodialysis therapy, so that the electrolyzed water-hemodialysis (EW-HD) dissolving hydrogen in hemodialysis fluid has been tried for the reduction of OS. It is reported that the risk of cardiovascular disease events increased if the fraction of reduced albumin (human mercaptalbumin (f(HMA))) was low and that the f(HMA) rose at the dialyzer outlet on EW-HD. Therefore, we studied whether the f(HMA) of hemodialysis patients was improved when they received long-term EW-HD treatment. Methods We produced hydrogen-dissolved hemodialysis fluid with EW-C81-HD and carried out EW-HD treatment for 12 patients. The serum albumin redox states of pre- and post-HD were measured in the summer of 2014 (EWHD2014) and in the winter of 2015 (EWHD2015) after 6 months by high-performance liquid chromatography using Shodex-Asahipak ES-502N 7C column. For comparison, 38 conventional hemodialysis (C-HD) patients and 24 healthy subjects were selected. ResultsThe f(HMA) of EWHD2015 significantly increased from EWHD2014 on both pre- and post-HD (pre, 51.32 ± 5.63 % → 58.03 ± 7.43 %; post, 72.04 ± 5.73 % → 76.42 ± 4.67 %). The f(HMA) of C-HD at pre- and post-HD were 51.07 ± 9.07 and 70.53 ± 8.05 %, respectively. The f(HMA) of healthy subjects was 79.11 ± 5.46 %. The f(HMA) of EWHD2014 at pre-HD evidenced no significant difference with that of C-HD at pre-HD, but the f(HMA) of EWHD2015 at pre-HD was significantly higher than that of C-HD at pre-HD. The f(HMA) of C-HD at post-HD was significantly lower than that of both EWHD2015 at post-HD and healthy subjects, but the f(HMA) of EWHD2015 at post-HD showed no significant difference with that of healthy subjects. Conclusions Our data suggest that the f(HMA) may be raised with long-term hemodialysis treatment using hydrogen-dissolved hemodialysis fluid.