Acute oxidative stress induced by ischemia-reperfusion or inflammation causes serious damage to tissues, and persistent oxidative stress is accepted as one of the causes of many common diseases including cancer. Hydrogen (H2) has great potential as an antioxidant in preventive and therapeutic applications. H2 selectively reduces the hydroxyl radical, the most cytotoxic of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and effectively protected cells; however, H2 does not react with other ROS, which possess physiological roles. The inhalation of H2 gas markedly suppressed brain injury by buffering the effects of oxidative stress. Thus, H2 can be used as an effective antioxidant therapy; owing to its ability to rapidly diffuse across membranes, it can reach and react with cytotoxic ROS and thus protect against oxidative damage.[1]
Hydrogen has an advantage over other antioxidants because it is such a tiny molecule: it is able to penetrate cell membranes, and can easily enter deep into cell components, such as mitochondria and the nucleus, where other antioxidants are not able to reach.
Since persistent oxidative stress is one of the major causes of most lifestyle-related diseases, cancer and the aging process molecular, hydrogen is one of the most basic medicines doctors can employ. Hydrogen protects cells by neutralizing hydroxyl radicals, while leaving other ROS alone to fulfill their necessary physiological roles.
ROS are involved in metastatic processes including invasion of cancer cells into surrounding primary tumor sites. Generated ROS regulates tumor progression, indicating that ROS is situated upstream in many signaling pathways including the pathway involved in metastasis. At the tumor sites, large amount of ROS are produced by activated neutrophils and macrophages in the inflammatory response.
Hydrogen water erases ROS indispensable for tumor cell growth. Scientists who have studied its antitumor effects used hydrogen in combination with hyperthermia at 42°C and platinum colloid and found it to be potent as an anti-tumor agent.[2] Therapeutic opportunities of hydrogen increases in the presence of specific catalysts or heat thus for cancer and other serious diseases it should be used in the context of a full protocol.
Benefits of drinking Hydrogen Enriched Water
Supplementation of hydrogen-rich water improves lipid and glucose metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. Consumption of water containing a high concentration of molecular hydrogen reduces oxidative stress and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Due to the large amount of research, over the past ten years, on the effects of H2 in water, we now know that the hydroxide ion (OH-) is NOT responsible for most of the positive effects observed when drinking alkaline ionized water. The active antioxidant in ionized water is dissolved molecular hydrogen (H2).
[1] Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals Ikuroh Ohsawa1, Masahiro Ishikawa1, Kumiko Takahashi1, Megumi Watanabe1,2, Kiyomi Nishimaki1, Kumi Yamagata1, Ken-ichiro Katsura2, Yasuo Katayama2, Sadamitsu Asoh1 & Shigeo Ohta1
[2] Oncol Rep. 2010 Dec;24(6):1463-70. Antitumor effects of nano-bubble hydrogen-dissolved water are enhanced by coexistent platinum colloid and the combined hyperthermia with apoptosis-like cell death. Asada R1, Kageyama K, Tanaka H, Matsui H, Kimura M, Saitoh Y, Miwa N.