Hydrogen Water Protects Kidneys from Damage in Animal Study
- Authors
- Bo Chen, Dong Song, Juan Ma, Wanjun Zhu
- Journal
- Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques
- Year
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.4172/2155-9821.1000331
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- Body System
- Renal
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-enriched water helped reduce kidney damage in rats subjected to stress and injury.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich water reduced inflammatory markers and glomerular damage in rats with chronic kidney disease exposed to combined oxidative stress and reduced blood flow, though it did not affect blood pressure or urinary parameters.
Summary
Researchers gave rats with kidney disease either hydrogen-rich water or regular tap water for four weeks, then exposed them to conditions that stress the kidneys (high salt diet, a harmful chemical, and reduced blood flow). Hydrogen-rich water reduced some markers of kidney damage and inflammation compared to regular water, though it didn't affect blood pressure or urine output.
Practical Takeaway
This early animal study suggests hydrogen water may help protect kidney tissue under certain stress conditions, but the findings are limited to rats and don't yet translate to human health recommendations. More research in humans would be needed to determine if these protective effects occur in people with kidney disease.
Abstract
Background: Cathode side commercial hydrogen dissolved water (HW) exhibits low dissolved oxygen, high dissolved hydrogen and significant negative redox potential. Therapeutic applications of HW have recently been reported. Thus, the present study aimed to examine effects of HW consumption on renal injury in a rat model of chronic kidney disease.Methods: Twenty Dahl S rats were given HW and tap water (TW), over a 4-week period. Thereafter, they were allocated to either group; non stressed (NS), and oxi-carbonyl stressed (OC: 5% salt diet and 1% methylglyoxal in drinking water) group, respectively (HW, TW n=5 each group). OS groups were subjected to unilateral kidney ischemic reperfusion (IR) in the final week.Results: No differences were found in blood pressure and urinary parameters between HW and TW. Glomerular adhesion rates in the IR kidney and positive osteopontin of the non-IR kidney were significantly higher in OC rats on HW, respectively. ED-1 staining on HW was significantly lower than TW in both the IR and non-IR kidneys of the OC rats. Plasma MCP-1 was significantly lower on HW after IR.Conclusion: Drinking HW at least partly suppressed renal damage in rats with combination of oxidative, carbonyl and ischemic stimulus.