Antioxidants and Cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute considerable laboratory, evidence from chemical, cell culture, and animal studies indicates that antioxidants may slow or possibly prevent the development of cancer. Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in your body that assist in chemical reactions). They are believed to play a role in preventing the development of such chronic diseases as cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, and cataracts.

The anti-oxidative stress effect of hydrogen was reported to be conferred by direct elimination of hydroxyl radical and peroxynitrite. Subsequent studies indicate that hydrogen activates the Nrf2-Keap1 system. Each molecule of H2 will neutralize 2 hydroxyl radicals into two molecules of H2O hydrating your cells in the process.

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. 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]

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 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 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.

[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.