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What to know about hydrogen water

What to know about hydrogen water

Hydrogen-rich water, or simply 'hydrogen water,' is water infused with pressurized hydrogen gas. Some limited research suggests that drinking hydrogen water may have health benefits. This article describes what hydrogen water is in more detail. It also explores the possible health benefits and safety of hydrogen water. Finally, it answers some common questions about hydrogen water.What is hydrogen water?As a 2024 review explains, hydrogen water is regular water infused with pressurized hydrogen gas. Because the hydrogen molecules are very small, they easily dissolve in the water, creating a hydrogen-rich solution. Research into the effects of hydrogen water on health is still in its early stages. However, early research suggests that hydrogen water has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may prove beneficial to health.»Learn more:The pH of water: What to knowPossible health benefits Below are some of the potential health benefits of hydrogen water:Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory propertiesA 2020 randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of hydrogen water consumption on oxidative stress and immune functioning in healthy adults.The term 'oxidative stress' refers to a state in which the body contains too many free radicals and too few antioxidants. Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage cells, whereas antioxidants are substances that neutralize free radicals and help protect against cell damage.In this 4-week trial, hydrogen water consumption decreased activity in an inflammatory pathway called the 'NF‑κB–pathway', reduced programmed cell death or 'apoptosis' in immune cells, and increased antioxidant levels in participants over 30 years of age. Improved exercise performance and recoveryA 2019 randomized controlled trial found that drinking hydrogen-rich water 10 minutes before exercise was associated with reduced fatigue and an increase in exercise endurance.The authors concluded that hydrogen has antioxidant properties that appear to reduce oxidative damage and inflammation, both of which are ordinarily responsible for exercise-induced muscle fatigue.Improved metabolic healthEarly human trials suggest hydrogen water may modestly improve markers linked to metabolic health. A 2022 clinical trial investigated the effects of hydrogen water consumption on people with non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Compared to placebo, drinking hydrogen water for 8 weeks was associated with reduced liver fat and improvements in body weight and body mass index (BMI). However, more research is needed.Similarly, a 2023 meta-analysis of seven clinical trials reported that hydrogen water consumption was associated with small but significant improvements in levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides. The study authors concluded that drinking hydrogen water can significantly improve lipid levels, though further studies are needed to confirm these effects.Protecting against the effects of aging A 2021 randomized controlled pilot trial investigated the effects of a 6-month intake of hydrogen water on markers of aging in adults ages 70 years or above. The experimental group received hydrogen water, while the placebo group received regular water.Compared to placebo, hydrogen water consumption was associated with an increase in telomere length. Telomeres are protective structures that sit at the end of chromosomes, and they shorten with each cell division. This shortening is associated with aging and age-related diseases.Is hydrogen water safe?Hydrogen water is one type of molecular hydrogen therapy (MHT), with other examples including inhalation of hydrogen gas and injections of hydrogen-rich saline.A 2023 review of more than 80 clinical trials on MHT reports good tolerability and notes that serious adverse effects are rare.Since 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has listed hydrogen gas on its Generally Recognized as Safe list. The listing indicates that hydrogen is safe as an ingredient in beverages with a volume of up to 2.14%.Frequently asked questions How do people make hydrogen water?A person can make hydrogen water by dissolving hydrogen-rich tablets in regular water, or by using a device called a hydrogen water generator to infuse regular water with hydrogen gas.A person can make hydrogen water by dissolving hydrogen-rich tablets in regular water, or by using a device called a hydrogen water generator to infuse regular water with hydrogen gas.Is regular water healthier than hydrogen water?Some research suggests that hydrogen water may have greater health benefits than regular water. However, much of the research is still in its infancy, and further large-scale clinical trials are necessary to confirm these effects.Some research suggests that hydrogen water may have greater health benefits than regular water. However, much of the research is still in its infancy, and further large-scale clinical trials are necessary to confirm these effects.Is hydrogen water good for weight loss?A 2020 study investigated whether consumption of high-concentration hydrogen water over the course of 24 weeks would affect body composition, blood lipid profiles, and inflammatory markers in participants with metabolic syndrome.In this study, consumption of high-concentration hydrogen water was associated with a mild reduction in BMI and waist-to-hip ratio, among other benefits. However, further research is necessary.A 2020 study investigated whether consumption of high-concentration hydrogen water over the course of 24 weeks would affect body composition, blood lipid profiles, and inflammatory markers in participants with metabolic syndrome.In this study, consumption of high-concentration hydrogen water was associated with a mild reduction in BMI and waist-to-hip ratio, among other benefits. However, further research is necessary.SummaryHydrogen water is water infused with pressurized hydrogen gas. Early research suggests that hydrogen water consumption may be associated with a range of health benefits, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, improvements in exercise performance and recovery, metabolic health, and even protecting against the effects of aging.However, further studies are necessary to confirm the current findings.The FDA considers hydrogen gas safe as an ingredient in beverages at a volume of up to 2.14%. Most research studies into hydrogen water and other types of molecular hydrogen therapy also report good tolerability, and few studies report serious adverse health effects.A person can make hydrogen water by dissolving hydrogen-rich tablets in regular water, or by using a hydrogen water generator to infuse regular water with hydrogen gas.
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He refused to dumb down the most complex aspects of neuroscience into sweeping simplifications, and one of the most common phrases in his book The 21st-Century Brain: Explaining, Mending and Manipulating the Mind (2005) was: 'We just don't know.' Steven Peter Russell Rose was born into an Orthodox Jewish community in north London in 1938. His father Lionel Rose (formerly Rosenberg) was a chemistry teacher who became an intelligence officer during the Second World War. He later worked as an organiser for the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women before founding an advertising agency. His mother Ruth (née Waxman) gave up her career to look after her children but later became co-director of her husband's agency and ran it single-handedly after he died in 1959. Rose's dual interest in socialism and science could be traced back to the events of his childhood. He described how one of his earliest memories was a violent demonstration by the Blackshirts while his father was speaking against the fascists, and said that after being given a chemistry set for his eighth birthday he set up a chemistry lab in his garden. After attending Haberdashers' Aske's boys' school in Hertfordshire on a scholarship, he won another one to study at King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a double first in biochemistry in 1959. Evidently talented, but young and ambitious, Rose decided he did not want to continue in a field where there was less scope to make science-altering discoveries. 'I thought, 'The genetic code has been solved; protein synthesis has been done. What's the big next thing to understand? The brain. So where can I go to understand the brain?'' he recalled. The sentiment went down as well as you might expect with his department, and he was 'exiled' to complete a PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry in London in 1961. 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After periods of postdoctoral research at Oxford, Rome and with the Medical Research Council in London, Rose became a professor of biology at the newly formed Open University in 1968. Aged only 30, he became one of the UK's youngest professors. While at the university he established its brain and behaviour research group and remained as a professor there until 1999, though he continued to conduct research at the university for more than a decade afterwards. Rose also took up visiting appointments in the United States, China and Australia and continued to write prolifically alongside his teaching. He penned an enormous number of papers on learning and memory and wrote several highly successful books, including The Making of Memory: From Molecules to Mind (1992), which received the Royal Society science book prize. He wrote several of these publications with his wife Hilary, who was appointed professor of social policy at the University of Bradford in 1975. She survives him with their two sons, the farmer Simon, from Hilary's first marriage, and the criminal defence lawyer Ben. Together, the couple wrote Alas, Poor Darwin: Arguments against Evolutionary Psychology (2000), Genes, Cells and Brains: Bioscience's Promethean Promises (2012) and Can Neuroscience Change Our Minds? (2016). They shared a keen interest in the social and legal aspects of science, and advocated for greater public engagement with ethics. They decried the shift towards an entrepreneurial focus — 'wealth creation is now unabashedly formalised as the chief objective of science and technology policy' — and were among the founders of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science in 1969. Rose also appeared as a panel member on BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze for several years, and was awarded the Biochemical Society medal for excellence in public communication of science in 2002. 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In it, he warned of the ways in which his colleagues were overreaching with their offers to 'explain, mend and manipulate the mind'. He was wary of the role of the state and big pharmaceutical companies in research and showed particular concern about the disputed borderlines between being undesirable and being ill. Rose called on his audience to question intolerant attitudes towards age-associated memory impairment, ADHD, compliance disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, disruptive behaviour and conduct disorder. 'All of which I suspect I could have been prosecuted for or psychiatrically diagnosed with over the course of my career,' he said. 'If I hadn't been, I'd have been rather sorry that I'd failed.' Steven Rose, neuroscientist and author, was born on July 4, 1938. He died of undisclosed causes on July 9, 2025, aged 87

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