Hydrogen to combat disease and aging

Wrinkles fading, joints regaining flexibility, mental acuity returning: hydrogen gas (H2) is emerging as an elixir of life. More and more studies suggest that not only can you use it to fight an impressive number of diseases of aging, but that hydrogen also tackles aging itself.

The statement that there will always be enough hydrogen gas (molecular hydrogen or H2) is an understatement of cosmic proportions. H2 is the most abundant molecule in the universe, makes up 75 percent of the matter in the universe and is the main building block of stars (and thus the sun). Far out in space float giant clouds of hydrogen gas with resounding names like the Orion Nebula, Carina Nebula and Crab Nebula in which stars are born. Closer to home, huge amounts of hydrogen are sloshing around in the oceans alone, as water (H2O) is made up of two molecules of hydrogen (H2) and one molecule of oxygen (O). An estimated 0.5 percent of our planet consists of H2. In short, we need not worry about a shortage.

Hydrogen gas as elixir of life

In recent years, hydrogen has been in the spotlight as a promising, inexhaustible carrier of clean energy. However, it is now also emerging in a completely different role: as a medicine and elixir of life.

Until recently, it was widely believed that hydrogen has no biological effects in our bodies [source]. That idea changed in 2007 with an influential publication by Japanese scientists who revealed that hydrogen gas performs antioxidant tasks in our cells. When a stroke occurs, much of the neurological damage is caused by a surge of free radicals released during the process. The Japanese managed to reduce brain damage after a stroke in laboratory rats by administering hydrogen gas. Since then, there have been more than 1,600 scientific papers on H2’s impact on health. The results are breathtaking. There is evidence that hydrogen has therapeutic potential in more than 170 different diseases and can alleviate conditions in all organs [source]. For example, H2 appears to have beneficial effects in type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, it appears that hydrogen gas can slow and even reverse a range of basic aging processes.

Soccer pros performed better thanks to water with hydrogen gas

Admittedly, the lion’s share of medical research with H2 has so far been done in petri dishes and with laboratory animals, but the number of studies testing hydrogen gas with human subjects is increasing rapidly.

Like carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas can be added to water. In patients with features of metabolic syndrome (such as dysregulated blood sugar, dysregulated blood fats and obesity) who drank one liter of water with hydrogen gas daily for 10 weeks, blood fats improved (total cholesterol and ldl cholesterol down, among others) and levels of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that scavenges free radicals, went up [source].

Patients with Parkinson’s disease who drank one liter of hydrogen gas-fueled water every day for 48 weeks scored better on a test measuring disease severity at the end of the experiment than Parkinson’s patients who had been drinking plain water [source].

Beneficial effects in immunity were observed in patients with lung cancer who inhaled a mixture of hydrogen gas and supplemental oxygen daily for two weeks [source].

In patients who inhaled hydrogen gas twice a day for an hour shortly after a cerebral infarction, neurological damage was reduced [source].

Positive effects of hydrogen gas have also been found in healthy volunteers. For example, soccer pros performed better with interval sprinting exercises if they drank water with H2 beforehand [source]; in healthy twenty-somethings who drank 300 ml of water with hydrogen gas daily for a month, the levels of the body’s own antioxidant glutathione and the antioxidant enzyme catalase were increased; signs of oxidative damage were reduced [source].

Due to these promising study results, hydrogen gas is now rapidly making its way into the wellness and anti-aging market. Japan is leading the way in this, with spas and clinics offering hydrogen gas-based anti-aging treatments and beauty products.

Hydrogen gas occurs naturally in our bodies

Let’s take a step back. Molecular hydrogen (H2) consists of two hydrogen atoms and is the smallest and lightest molecule we know. Precisely because it is so minuscule, it easily penetrates the body, cells and organelles. From the blood, it also quickly enters the brain through the blood-brain barrier. Although hydrogen might make you think of storage tanks with sinister warnings of explosion danger, or the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, when a zeppelin filled with hydrogen gas crashed in a sea of flames, the gas is safe under normal circumstances. In fact, it’s already in your body, where gut bacteria produce it as they ferment dietary fiber [source]. That amount can even reach gallons a day [source]. Presumably that’s one reason why high-fiber foods are so good for us.

As early as 1975, researchers showed the potential of hydrogen gas as a medicine: rats with skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) were put in a pressurized cabin filled with hydrogen gas. After two weeks, the tumors had shrunk [source]. This promising path came to an end until Japanese researchers put H2 back on the map as a potential drug in 2007.

H2 owes its greatest health effect to its direct and indirect antioxidant activity [source]. Oxidation is the work of free radicals and is a major cause of disease and aging. This is because free radicals damage important molecules and cell structures, such as DNA, cell membranes and telomeres (see below). Yet we now know that you can’t halt aging by pumping the body full of antioxidants. Indeed, although antioxidants are protective, you can also overdose on them and may even shorten your life in the process. That’s because while free radicals cause damage, in small amounts they perform essential signaling tasks in the cell. A powerful antioxidant, such as vitamin C, indiscriminately eliminates both destructive and beneficial free radicals. Japanese scientists saw that hydrogen gas acts as a selective antioxidant, one that targets destructive free radicals and leaves beneficial free radicals alone [source].

Hydrogen gas keeps free radicals in check in several ways

About ninety percent of all free radicals that threaten our health come from mitochondria, the power plants of our cells. Because hydrogen gas is so small, unlike common antioxidants, it can easily penetrate the membrane of mitochondria. Once inside the mitochondria, H2 can defuse some of the fiercest and most common free radicals (the hydroxy radical and peroxynitrite) on its own.

Another notorious free radical is also produced in our cells: nitric oxide (NO), typically a molecule with a Jekyll and Hyde profile. In small amounts, NO is vital as a signalling molecule that regulates blood pressure, vasodilation and the immune system, among other things, but in larger amounts it can stimulate inflammatory processes associated with type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s and aging [source]. Hydrogen gas leaves NO itself alone, but does inhibit the enzyme that produces a pro-inflammatory form of NO [source].

Our cells defend themselves against free radicals with the powerful antioxidant glutathione and the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase. Hydrogen gas activates a kind of alarm button (Nrf2) in cells, which causes the production of these defenses to go up [source].

Partly due to this versatile antioxidant effect, hydrogen gas has a beneficial impact on a series of fundamental aging processes. A recent overview article lists a number:

• Hydrogen gas protects DNA. As we age, more errors accumulate in our genetic material, partly due to harmful substances (such as cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes), UV radiation, and free radicals from the mitochondria. H2 helps counteract the increase in this DNA damage.
• Hydrogen gas inhibits the proliferation of senescent cells. As we age, more cells appear that can no longer divide and, instead of being cleared away, persist and secrete harmful substances. H2 inhibits the growth of these ‘zombie cells’.
• Hydrogen gas counteracts unfavorable epigenetic changes. As we age, the behavior of our genes changes, with some genes unintentionally becoming active while others are unintentionally turned off. H2 counteracts this epigenetic decay.
• Hydrogen gas inhibits telomere shortening. Telomeres are a kind of wear zones at the end of the chromosomes, which become a little shorter with each cell division. Short telomeres are a sign of cell aging. H2 counteracts this process. There are indications that drinking water infused with hydrogen gas can increase average telomere length.
• Hydrogen gas counteracts the chronic inflammatory process that is considered a driving force behind aging.
• Hydrogen gas promotes autophagy, a process that clears waste from cells. The decline of autophagy is considered a major cause of aging.
• Hydrogen gas improves the functioning of mitochondria. As we get older, the cells’ power plants function worse, producing more free radicals and less energy. H2 makes them function better again.

As part of a scientific experiment, forty people over 70 (m/f) were given water infused with hydrogen gas or plain water (placebo) every day for six months. Subsequently, the researchers found that drinking water infused with hydrogen gas had no adverse effects but did have a beneficial impact on a number of biomarkers associated with the aging process. For example, the average length of the telomeres had increased, favorable changes in brain metabolism were visible on MRI scans and favorable epigenetic changes had taken place. In addition, the elderly who drank water ingfused with hydrogen gas performed better on the classic Timed-Chair-Stand-Test in which they had to get up from a chair as often as possible within a limited time.

This is how you benefit from hydrogen gas

It is currently uncertain which method of taking H2 works best and what the ideal dose is. It’s a matter of experiment (and budget). The fact is that ingesting hydrogen gas is completely safe. Since 1943, it has been used in deep-sea diving in very high concentrations to prevent decompression sickness and numerous studies have confirmed that this has no adverse effect whatsoever [source]. Studies conducted in patients and healthy volunteers since 2007 have also revealed no serious side effects of H2.

– Let your intestines produce more H2. There are several types of dietary fiber that can increase the amount of hydrogen gas (H2) in the colon. This happens because these fibers are fermented by intestinal bacteria, releasing hydrogen gas and other gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. The advantage of stimulating H2 in the colon with fiber is that the hydrogen gas circulates in your body longer than when you drink water infused with hydrogen gas [source]. Several studies have shown that hydrogen gas produced in the intestines has protective and even therapeutic effects – including in hepatitis and in muscle recovery after exercise [source, source, source]. Dietary fibers that intestinal bacteria love: fructo-oligosaccharides (bananas, onions, garlic, asparagus, whole grains), inulin (chicory root, artichokes, garlic, onions), alactooligosaccharides (legumes, soy products) and resistant starch (green bananas, rice , beans, lentils).

It is advisable to gradually increase the intake of these fibers to allow the body to get used to them. There are also indications that consuming turmeric, for example by eating curry, increases the amount of H2 in the intestines [source].

–Take a bath in H2 water. This is primarily available at some wellness spas. Although the hydrogen gas in the water penetrates every corner of your body within ten minutes, bathing in H2 water is mainly seen as a benefit for the skin. There are indications that H2 water prevents skin damage from the sun [source], fades wrinkles and increases collagen [source].

-Inhale hydrogen gas. There are various devices for home use on the market for this purpose. Inhaling H2 is considered a very efficient and precise method, saturating the blood and tissues with hydrogen gas within two to three minutes [source]. While inhaling H2 has beneficial effects from head to toe, it is also a promising method for tackling respiratory diseases such as COPD and perhaps even pulmonary fibrosis. The devices also offer options for local treatments. For example, the H2 gas can be directed to a facial mask to treat skin aging. The gas can also be directed to glasses for treating eye ailments.

-Drink water with hydrogen gas (hydrogenated water, H2 water, hydrogen-rich water) daily. This is the most commonly used method due to its convenience. Hydrogen gas that you drink only stays in the body for twenty to thirty minutes [source, source] and it is therefore often recommended to drink it in several portions throughout the day.

There are H2 supplements that you can dissolve in water, but I prefer a device that creates hydrogen in water using electrolysis. Beware, there are many poor quality H2 generators on the market that generate little H2 and also contain potentially harmful materials (such as aluminum).

You can find a lot of good information about the medical applications of hydrogen gas on the website of the Molecular Hydrogen Institute. Scientific publications on medical applications of H2 are clearly collected on Hydrogen Studies.

Text Pim Christiaans | Life Unlimited