Hydrogen Water: One of the Best Ways to Reduce Oxidative Stress in Minutes - Dr Mercola

Good health is not all about supplements, but I have to tell you that I have never been so excited about any supplement as I am about H₂ Molecular Hydrogen gas.

I have been taking it every day since I first found out about it over three years ago. I view it as simply the finest way to reduce oxidative stress in your body.

You might wonder why it took so long for us to carry it in our store. Well, the only H₂-generating tablets on the market had not gone through the FDA’s New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) application process.

It took years and a lot of dedication for the H₂ tablet inventor to develop and then obtain NDI status from the FDA.

Our H₂ Molecular Hydrogen is the FIRST H₂-producing tablet with an FDA NDI#. And it provides an extraordinary dose of H₂ gas – up to 8 ppm in 480 mL of water.

We’ve designed it for general health and longevity, including heart health, athletic performance, sleep, mood, brain health, cell health, joint comfort and much more.*

Why We’re Excited About H₂ Molecular Hydrogen

My team and I are very excited about our H₂ Molecular Hydrogen because oxidative stress is one of the biggest factors that destroys human health and speeds up aging.

Oxidation-reduction reactions are a natural process that happens constantly within your cells. Many factors can increase oxidative stress and the formation of free radicals in your body.

Here are just a few:

• Sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Processed foods
• Cigarette smoking
• Alcohol
• Air pollutants
• Environmental toxins
• Cell phone radiation and electromagnetic fields (EMFs)

Most people believe all free radicals are bad, but that is not true. You need a certain amount of free radicals for health as they serve as important signaling molecules, or messengers.

One example of a beneficial free radical is nitric oxide, which promotes healthy blood flow and blood pressure.

However, forming too many free radicals from eating a poor diet or being exposed to toxins or EMFs can harm you.

Excess free radicals and the wrong types can damage your stem cells, mitochondria, cell membranes, proteins and DNA, and can hasten your body’s cellular aging.

I want to share some exciting information about one of the best ways to reduce oxidative stress in your body, but first let’s delve into an important topic known as redox.

Understanding Redox

Redox, as in “oxidation reduction,” refers to the balance of oxidation and reduction of oxidation in your body.

Because reduction and oxidation happen side-by-side, we call it a redox reaction. Oxidation and reduction of oxidation always occur together.

Many important biological processes in your body involve redox reactions. Cellular respiration and the formation of cellular energy in the form of ATP is a classic example.

Hydrogen plays an important role in improving the oxidative stress of your cells and helps bring everything back into homeostasis by effectively reducing excess oxidative stress.

One of the ways hydrogen improves redox is through the production of antioxidants that your body normally makes, like glutathione. With healthy levels of oxidation, glutathione sufficiently protects your cells and helps keep oxidation in balance.

How Antioxidants Can Save the Day... Or Make Matters Worse

There’s no question antioxidants are valuable for health. Vegetables and fruits are rich sources of antioxidants, and studies show that the individuals consuming the highest levels tend to enjoy better overall health.

However, taking high doses of many supplemental antioxidants may be problematic.

Take vitamin E for example... In its complete, balanced form, with all four of its naturally occurring tocopherol and tocotrienol compounds, it’s an important nutrient.

High doses of synthetic alpha-tocopherol without balanced tocopherols and tocotrienols, like what’s found in most vitamin E supplements, may interfere with health.

Certain antioxidants are essential. That is, your body can’t make the nutrient or enough of it, so you need an external source. Vitamin C is an essential vitamin and antioxidant.

Free radicals can harm your body and cause cellular damage if they aren’t effectively neutralized by an antioxidant.

Antioxidants work by neutralizing free radicals that grab any convenient electrons they can find. When they indiscriminately rob electrons from stable molecules, they create unstable molecules that can lead to oxidative stress.

This can happen with athletes when they mega-dose with high levels of antioxidants on a regular basis. The antioxidants can negate many of the benefits of exercise training because they neutralize some of the beneficial biologically-signaling free radicals, even the ones that your body needs for proper functioning and healthy blood flow.

How Hydrogen Works Its Metabolic Magic to Support Your Health

While hydrogen has long been recognized for its value in promoting health, the first major study was published in Nature Medicine in 2007 and is only recently becoming known to Americans. Japanese researchers have been studying the potential of hydrogen for the last decade.

Because hydrogen is the smallest molecule in the universe, it can easily penetrate every tissue in your body, including your brain and cellular parts like your mitochondria and nucleus.

With more than 1,200 peer-reviewed scientific publications on molecular hydrogen, researchers report that hydrogen may benefit every organ in your body. And it does this by targeting excess oxidation and supporting an already healthy inflammatory response.

One of the most distinguishing features of H₂, besides its particle size and bioavailability, is its selectivity as an antioxidant.

Molecular hydrogen selectively reduces excessive harmful free radicals in your body.

A prime example of this is right inside your cells...

During normal energy production, your mitochondria are a major source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Molecular hydrogen directly protects mitochondria from the damaging effects of ROS.

H₂ gas fights excessive oxidative stress, specifically from hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite, which are very destructive molecules that damage your DNA and ones that are amplified by EMFs.

Best of all, hydrogen accomplishes this without decreasing levels of some of the beneficial reactive oxygen species, like hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide or superoxide.

Meet Your Body’s Antioxidant Needs with Molecular Hydrogen Gas

Glutathione is one of your body’s key internal antioxidants. Your levels can drop with poor nutrition, environmental toxins and stress. Glutathione levels also decline with age.

I believe it’s far better for your body to make its own supply rather than taking glutathione supplements.

Not only is this less expensive and more convenient, but molecules like glutathione are very difficult to get into your blood stream intact, let alone inside of the cells.

One of the ways molecular hydrogen performs its metabolic magic is by activating the important Nrf2 pathway that signals your body to make its own antioxidants, including glutathione.

What exactly is Nrf2? It’s a transcription factor that, when activated, goes into your cell's nucleus and binds to the antioxidant response element in the DNA.

It then signals your body to produce beneficial cell-protecting enzymes such as glutathione, superoxide dismutase catalase, glutathione peroxidase, phase II enzymes, heme-1 oxygenase and many others.

This is clearly the most ideal way to create the antioxidants your body requires so you can avoid too high of levels of damaging oxidative stress. Molecular hydrogen tells your body to make additional antioxidants only when excess oxidative stress is present.

These two important functions of H₂ – its antioxidant selectivity and the activation of the Nrf2 pathway – help to powerfully limit the oxidative damage that can lead to accelerated cellular aging and changes in your cells and organs.

Let’s take a look at the easiest way to get this remarkable gas into your body...

An Easy and Effective Way to Get Molecular Hydrogen Gas Into Your Body

While there are different ways to get hydrogen gas into your body, such as intravenous applications and by inhalation, drinking molecular hydrogen-rich water is not only very effective – but also the easiest and most convenient approach.

Human studies in Japan have shown a link between drinking hydrogen water and various biological functions, including:

• An already healthy inflammatory response.*
• Improved cellular health.*
• Optimal and faster muscle recovery in elite athletes.*
• Improved sleep quality and mood.*
• Greater comfort and flexibility.*
• Improved skin appearance.*
• Increased energy and mental clarity.*
• Improved metabolism.*
• Maintaining cholesterol and glucose levels already in the normal range.*

Molecular hydrogen gas is tasteless and odorless, so there’s no harsh taste or smell when you consume it dissolved in water. And it doesn’t change the pH of the water or your body.

When you add H₂ gas to water, you create a beverage with potent properties for fighting the most damaging free radicals and supporting an already healthy inflammatory response throughout your body and brain.*

Setting the Record Straight: Why Alkaline Water Is Not Molecular Hydrogen Water

Unlike alkaline water, H₂ has nothing to do with pH – pH is a measurement of hydrogen ion concentration, not molecular hydrogen.

Alkaline water is water that has been separated into alkaline and acid fractions using electrolysis. Although its proponents claim alkaline water can make your tissues more alkaline to prevent or reverse disease, these claims aren’t supported by science.

Researchers have found that these claims can’t be true because you cannot alter the pH of your blood and body simply by consuming alkaline water.

Rather, your body regulates its blood pH within a very narrow range because all of your enzymes are designed to work at pH 7.4. You couldn’t survive if your blood pH varied too far from that number.

As we’ve already seen, molecular hydrogen is a gas with very unique and selective antioxidant properties that selectively target the most cell-damaging free radicals.

Unfortunately, some of the benefits of molecular hydrogen have been inappropriately transferred over to alkaline water.

Researchers have uncovered that the primary agent responsible for the noted health benefits of alkaline water was actually due to the presence of molecular hydrogen produced in the water during hydrolysis.

It has nothing to do with the pH of the water.

Molecular Hydrogen Mimics the Effects of Fasting and May Offer Protective Benefits for Your Brain

When you drink water with high concentrations of molecular hydrogen gas, it goes into your stomach and quickly reaches your blood, attaining a peak within minutes.

The hydrogen-rich blood then circulates through your heart and lungs. Although it leaves your system within an hour, its residual effects can last for hours, days and even weeks.

Additionally, it will take a few hours for it to reach its antioxidant function as it works through the Nrf2 pathway and it takes some time for these genes to be expressed and produce antioxidants.

Researchers have discovered drinking H₂-rich water:

• Helps reduce oxidative stress, or damage from free radicals, caused by a high-sugar diet.*
• Mimics the effects of fasting or restricting calories by up to 20%.*
• Promotes the secretion of gastric ghrelin, a hormone that offers protective benefits for your brain.*
• Supports healthy plasma glucose, insulin and triglyceride levels, similar to the effects seen with diet restriction.*
• Suppresses body-weight gain in mice, suggesting it may rev up energy metabolism in humans.*

Could Molecular Hydrogen Improve Your Workout Performance?

Athletic performance and recovery are two areas that have been of great interest to researchers. And we’re not only talking about athletes and super-fit individuals...

In one double-blind study of middle-aged overweight women, a group of women consumed hydrogen-rich water for 28 days.

The variables researchers looked at included cardiorespiratory endurance (VO_2max), work capacity, impact of weight on quality of life and hematological biomarkers.

Participants were asked to maintain their usual lifestyle, dietary intake and to avoid all other dietary supplements during the study.

At the end of the 28 days, compared to placebo, VO_2max significantly improved. Improvement was also seen in time to exhaustion and total work completed during an incremental exercise.

The researchers concluded that hydrogen-rich water could be useful as an alternative hydration formulation to “positively affect exercise performance in middle-aged overweight women.”

Other studies highlight overall benefits of H₂ water on exercise and performance:

• Promotes rejuvenation by reducing exercise-induced oxidative stress*
• Increases overall peak exercise performance in athletes*
• Reduces post-exercise soreness*
• Lowers blood lactate levels to help delay fatigue*

The effects of molecular hydrogen are much like the benefits gained from exercise. Exercise also helps maintain or increase glutathione levels.

In fact, in an article published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, the authors state in the abstract:

“Beneficial exercise and H₂ administration promote cytoprotective hormesis, mitochondrial biogenesis, ATP production, increased NAD+/NADH ratio, cytoprotective phase II enzymes, heat-shock proteins, sirtuins, etc.

We reviewed the biomedical effects of exercise and those of H₂, and we propose that hydrogen may act as an exercise mimetic and redox adaptogen, potentiate the benefits from beneficial exercise and reduce the harm from noxious exercise.”

Your Body Produces Gallons of Hydrogen Gas Every Day, so Why Drink It?

There’s no question hydrogen gas is a safe substance. It’s been used with deep sea divers since the 1940s to prevent decompression sickness.

You’ve been exposed to hydrogen throughout your entire life. Depending on your diet and gut health, the beneficial bacteria in your intestines that ferment fiber can produce about 2.5 gallons of molecular hydrogen per day.

So why would you want to drink H₂ water if your body may be producing plenty of it?

A Japanese study suggests the answer lies in the way it’s produced in your body...

When it’s produced continually in your body, as it normally is, your body becomes habituated to the constant exposure.

Because hydrogen gas is a so-called ‘signal modulator,’ researchers have found it works best when it is taken intermittently or “pulsed.”

When you drink a tall glass of high-concentration molecular hydrogen water all at once, you allow it to deliver optimal benefits.

Most hydrogen water that is sold is low-concentration, especially hydrogen generating machines. This is nowhere near as beneficial because H₂ needs to be pulsed. It is far better to drink a glass of high-concentration H₂ water once or twice a day than drinking low-concentration H₂ water all day long.

Up until now, there hasn’t been an option that met my expectations. Most options don’t taste good, are too complicated to prepare or require a special closed container. And the amounts of molecular hydrogen you actually receive are way too low for the time or effort.

But that’s all changed...

Pulse Your Body with Our High-Concentration H₂-Producing Tablets

Unfortunately, a large number of hydrogen devices and products are unable to create high concentrations of molecular hydrogen.

After many years of research, we’ve found a pioneer who has developed a convenient tablet that creates high-concentration molecular hydrogen gas when dropped into a glass of filtered water.

Most other hydrogen tablets and devices create hydrogen concentrations of 1 toH₂ ppm, and the tablets must be used in a closed container or they don’t work properly.

Our H₂ Molecular Hydrogen tablets create far higher concentrations of up to 8 ppm in 480 mL of water.

And the best part – it does it in an open container without the need for a cap or lid.

Using a special clinically validated process, our manufacturer creates the hydrogen gas, which is then suspended in a “hydrogen nano bubble cloud.”

All you need to do to create this nano bubble cloud of molecular hydrogen gas is drop one of our H₂ Molecular Hydrogen tablets into a 16-oz. glass of room-temperature, filtered water. At the right temperature, you create molecular hydrogen water in about 90 seconds at a truly biologically meaningful concentration of up to 8 ppm of HH₂.

As soon as the tablet finishes dissolving, drink the entire glass of water, ideally within one minute. The white “cloud” diminishes as the concentration of molecular hydrogen drops and escapes into the air. The sooner you consume it, the greater the dose of H₂ gas you’ll receive.

The process couldn’t be simpler... In less than three minutes, you’ve “pulsed” your body with a substantial dose of molecular hydrogen gas, and for the next day or even week, you get to enjoy its many benefits.

The Added Benefit of Magnesium – One of the Most Overlooked Nutrient Deficiencies

Magnesium is important for cognitive function, mood and stress reduction.

Magnesium is critically important for health. Your body requires this mineral for more than 600 different biochemical reactions and functions.

Unfortunately, nearly everyone is deficient in magnesium. It is estimated that as many as 90% of North Americans do not receive adequate magnesium from their diets.

Having adequate levels of magnesium is crucial for:

• The healthy function of most of your cells, especially your heart, kidneys and muscles.
• Cognitive function and brain plasticity.
• Activating and regulating vitamin D in your body.
• Mental and physical relaxation.
• Cardiovascular health and healthy blood flow.
• Normal blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity.
• Protecting your body against damage from EMFs.
• The production of neurotransmitters for mood and sleep.
• Detoxification support and the synthesis of glutathione.

Our H₂ Molecular Hydrogen uses a special grade of pure elemental magnesium as its carrier and provides you with approximately 80 mg of magnesium per tablet.

That may not sound like much, but keep in mind, once the pure elemental magnesium reacts with water and produces the H₂, the magnesium is converted into highly bioavailable ionic magnesium.

When you add the H₂ Molecular Hydrogen tablet to water, the elemental magnesium reacts to form magnesium hydroxide. The buffering acids in the tablet reduce the hydroxide and separate it from the magnesium to create free magnesium ions that your body can readily use.

In contrast, many magnesium supplements offer poor bioavailability, especially the most commonly used form, magnesium oxide. One study suggests the average availability of magnesium oxide is as low as 4%, and depending on the strength of your stomach acid, that number could be even lower – as low as zero.

FAQs

1. Because H2 Molecular Hydrogen contains a significant amount of magnesium, do I still need to take Magnesium L-Threonate?

Both forms of magnesium – the elemental magnesium in H2 Molecular Hydrogen and Magnesium L-Threonate offer high bioavailability for your health. Because the vast majority of people in the U.S. may have low levels, we recommend taking Magnesium L-Threonate as well for its exceptional ability to cross your blood-brain barrier and to help protect your body against EMFs and other stressors.

2. Is there any difference between H2 Molecular Hydrogen and H2-2-Go™?

H2-2-Go™ uses the same formula of H2 Molecular Hydrogen in 60 individually wrapped tablets for easy travel convenience, as its name suggests. H2 Molecular Hydrogen comes in 30- and 90-day supplies.