Archive for category: Science

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is affecting an estimated 63 million people worldwide. The disease is heterogeneous, meaning the disease is a result of multiple causes. Given the obvious complexities there currently are no cures. COPD is characterized as incompletely reversible and manageable. Acute exacerbation COPD, AECOPD, is the frequent cause of hospital admission; intensive care unit; and mortality. Thus therapies are primarily palliative and administered at serious illness stage of disease. The standard management mainly includes bronchodilators, non-invasive ventilation (NIV), and oxygen therapy.

A recent, first of it’s kind; double-blind randomized, controlled trial research study comparing efficacy of hydrogen/oxygen therapy to oxygen alone therapy has surfaced. The primary purpose of study is to compare the efficacy of hydrogen/ oxygen mixture therapy to an oxygen alone therapy in patients enduring AECOPD. The secondary purpose was to assess its safety and tolerability. The study included 108 patients over 40 years of age that met specific criteria and BCSS score of at least 6 points. (Breathlessness, Cough, and Sputum Scale) Double blind requires that participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment; thus reducing and preventing bias in results and placebo effect. Hydrogen/ oxygen mixture is the new intervention group trial and oxygen is the control group trial. Control trials simply involve previously known medical efficacies, in this case, oxygen therapy for AECOPD. The control trial is the standard basis that a new intervention treatment is compared to; thus creating efficacy endpoints for decision.

The primary efficacy endpoint, is the change in baseline BCSS score at day 7; higher scores indicated greater severity (0-12). The new intervention group treatment was given hydrogen/ oxygen gas, through nasal mask, at a flow rate of 3.0 L/min and a hydrogen/oxygen volume ratio of 2:1. The control group treatment was given air/ oxygen, through nasal mask, at a flow rate of 3.0 L/min and air/ oxygen ratio of 2:1. The secondary endpoints were the change in Cough Assessment Test (CAT). Higher scores (0-40) indicated greater severity and a change in noninvasive oxygen saturation. Exploratory endpoints were also investigated; change in pulmonary function, change in arterial blood gas, and oxygen inhalation / NIV evaluations. Both treatment therapies were performed for 7 consecutive days at a minimum of 6 h/ day and to a maximum of 8 h/ day. Throughout the seven day trial no plateau period was observed in the tendency of symptom improvement; especially in the hydrogen/ oxygen therapy.

The change of BCSS score in Hydrogen/oxygen group was larger than that in Oxygen group and thus met the criteria for superiority. FAS population (-5.3 vs. 2.4; difference: -2.75). PPS population (-5.2 vs. -2.69; difference: -2.69). FAS and PPS are simply methods of calculating stats within the experiment based on real time subject variable changes and subject experiment violations. There was significant reduction of Cough Assessment Test score in hydrogen/oxygen group compared to oxygen group; FAS population (-11 vs. -6, p<0.001). The therapies did not elicit significant changes in pulmonary function, arterial blood gas, and non invasive oxygen between groups as well as other endpoints/ points of evaluation.

Both trial group regimens presented acceptable safety and tolerability profiles. The adverse events, AE, in both groups were mild and moderate in severity. Note, most if not all, of the AEs were known to be frequently reported in all COPD treatments in or out of study. All the AEs were controllable and tolerable; all resolved soon with interruption treatment and symptomatic treatment. Also, Hydrogen/ Oxygen intervention group had no notable changes in laboratory test and physical examinations; thus no interference with the vital organs and bodily functions. Also, Device related adverse events were infrequent and only a few occurrences in each group, indicating that both the two devices were safe.

Hydrogen/ oxygen mixture resulted in more significant improvements of AECOPD symptoms of breathlessness, cough, and sputum. The secondary purpose was met as a safe and tolerable profile was indicated. Given the favourable results of hydrogen/ oxygen therapy more and larger studies are warranted. Scientists speculate that its superiority are attributable to hydrogens physical properties; anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and rapid cellular diffusion. The imbalance between oxidative stress and anti-oxidative capacity is thought to play an important role with the development and favourable progression of COPD. Thus hydrogens systemic healing properties are thought to be advantageous during AECOPD. Not only for emergency management, research scientists boldly speculate that hydrogen/ oxygen therapy may be an alternative to at home long-term oxygen therapy. Considering the COPD characterizations, new and improved therapies are welcomed as the medical industry continues to advance the reversal progression of COPD. All this to say, Hydrogen/Oxygen therapy for home use is boldly considered beneficial for management and healing of COPD.

https://respiratory-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12931-021-01740-w

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the U.S. Strokes affect almost 800,000 Americans each year, killing more than 140,000. This makes stroke the fifth leading cause of death in the country. Chances are, you or someone you know has been affected by this condition. Fortunately, new studies have found that Hydrogen gas inhalation may help to augment the primary treatment for strokes and significantly improve a stroke sufferer’s recovery and prognosis after care.

For patients who suffer from a stroke, early intervention can literally be the difference between life and death. The sooner treatment comes, the more fully patients are expected to recover. The CDC has found that patients who arrive at a medical facility and begin receiving care within three hours of their first symptoms often have less disability post-stroke than those whose care was delayed.

Stroke treatment varies according to the stroke type and cause. For ischemic stroke, which involves a blockage in the artery that carries blood to the brain, the medical team’s primary goal is to restore blood flow to the brain using clot-busting medications and procedures. A new study, published in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases found that the addition of hydrogen gas inhalation to the initial treatment plan significantly increased and improved a patient’s recovery after stroke.

For the study, researchers evaluated 50 stroke patients who were brought to a medical facility within 24 hours from the onset of symptoms. Half of the patients were sorted into a control group and received standard medical treatment while the other half inhaled hydrogen gas for one hour twice daily in addition to the traditional care. Daily observations were recorded on each participant’s vital signs, blood chemistry, physical therapy indices, MRI imaging and NIHSS, or National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, scores over a 2-week period. NIHSS scores offer a standardized tool for diagnosing neurological impairment in stroke patients. These scores evaluate parameters such as vision, facial paralysis, major motor skills, speech, and attention.

Researchers found that the patients who inhaled hydrogen-rich gas in addition to receiving standard medical care had MRI imaging that showed pathological changes that were less severe and more quickly normalized than the participants in the control group. In addition, patients in the H₂ group showed significant improvement in NIHSS scores and physical therapy indices over the 2-week study period compared to the control patients. These parameters indicated that the patients in the H₂ group were more likely than their counterparts in the control group to return to activities of daily living within 2-weeks after having a stroke.

The study’s authors concluded, “[t]he inhalation of H₂ gas was safe and effective in patients with acute cerebral infarction. Thus, H₂-gas therapy has a potential for actual application in acute cerebral infarction as a novel and safe therapeutic treatment.”

This study found that the inhalation of H₂ gas immediately after a stroke and in addition to standard medical care significantly improved and accelerated a patient’s recovery. That’s good news for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who may be affected by stroke this year.

For most of us, our vision and eye health is something we take for granted. If our eyes hurt or our vision becomes blurry, we may seek treatment, but we rarely think about the diseases that could be affecting our ocular health each day. Yet from cataracts to diabetic retinopathy, many of these eye diseases have no early symptoms and progress without pain or vision loss until they reach an advanced stage.

Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to protect your eyes and ward off ocular diseases. A recent medical review, published in Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, took a closer look at some common ocular conditions and how treatment with hydrogen gas and hydrogen-rich saline can help keep eyes healthy.

Cataracts

More than 24 million Americans over the age of 40 are affected by cataracts. The condition, which is characterized by a clouding of the eye’s natural lens, is the most common cause of blindness around the world. At present, the only treatment for cataracts involves surgery. But new research published in the journal Ophthalmic Research shows that hydrogen gas may help to delay the development of cataracts.

In the study, researchers found that exposure to molecular oxygen accelerated the development of cataracts. But molecular hydrogen neutralizes these reactive oxygen species (ROS) and prevents cataract development.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is an ocular disease that affects roughly 45 percent of adults with diabetes, although according to the National Eye Institute, only half are aware they have the condition. In its early stages, the disease has few, if any, symptoms. But as it progresses, diabetic retinopathy can cause floaters, blurred vision, and vision loss.

Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by the leakage of blood and fluid into the retina as a result of blockages caused by the excess sugar in the blood. Studies have confirmed that ROS play a role in the development of this condition. So it’s not surprising that molecular hydrogen, thanks to its ability to neutralize ROS, may also help in the treatment of diabetes and subsequently, diabetic retinopathy.

According to the review, several studies, including this one published in Nutrition Research, have found that treatment with hydrogen-rich saline “improved lipid and glucose metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance,” and served as a “valid candidate in further clinical treatment of [diabetic retinopathy.]”

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a disease that affects the optic nerve, also known as the central control system for your vision. Glaucoma develops when the fluid in the eye becomes blocked and the fluid pressure in ocular tissues increases. The resulting damage can cause vision loss and blindness.

Unfortunately, glaucoma often goes undetected until it has progressed to the point at which irreversible impairment is caused. However, a slew of recent studies (such as this one published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science or this one from Molecular Medicine Reports), have found that treatment with hydrogen-rich saline protected the optic nerve and prevented the development of glaucoma.

The Eyes Have It

Don’t wait until you have issues with your vision to find out if your eyes are healthy. Get regular checkups and take a look at how molecular hydrogen can help protect your whole body, including your eyes, from disease.

Do you regularly feel exhausted, even after a full night’s sleep? Do you fall asleep easily whenever you are sedentary throughout the day? Has your partner complained about your nightly snoring?

It’s possible that you might have sleep apnea, and it might be harming more than just your night’s sleep. Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing stops and starts repeatedly throughout the night. It may happens a few times a night or multiple times per minute. In either case, the disorder hinders your ability to achieve a deep, restful night’s sleep.

Sleep apnea causes fatigue, headaches, irritability, and slowed reflexes. But it can also lead to potentially serious health consequences such as cardiac dysfunction (hypertension, heart failure, and atherosclerosis), type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and kidney disorders due to iron overload.

The most common treatment for sleep apnea is the use of a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine at night to keep airway passages open. New studies have also found promising results in the use of hydrogen to ameliorate some of the potential side effects of this condition.

A study published just a few months ago in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity looked at how the inhalation of hydrogen gas might help protect cardiac function in patients with sleep apnea. When oxygen levels are reduced due to sleep apnea, reactive oxygen species (or ROS) are generated within cells, causing oxidative stress. When this happens in the cells within the heart, the result is cardiac dysfunction in the form of hypertension, heart failure, and atherosclerosis.

Hydrogen is an anti-oxidant that is particularly effecivet at neutralizing ROS molecules. And due to its extremely small size, hydrogen can penetrate areas of the cell that other anti-oxidants cannot, providing protection from oxidative stress at all levels.

In this study, researchers concluded that hydrogen gas inhalation “could protect against the cardiac dysfunction and structural disorders,” induced by sleep apnea, noting that it was the specific ability of molecular hydrogen molecules to decrease ROS levels that was responsible for its protective effect on the heart.

In another study published in the journal Molecules, researchers looked at the effect of hydrogen gas inhalation on the kidneys, specifically kidneys that have been damaged by sleep apnea. Previous studies have shown elevated levels of iron in patients with sleep apnea. Researchers noted that this iron overload then causes oxidative stress which in turn leads to kidney damage. But in this study, researchers found that hydrogen gas inhalation protected the kidneys by preventing the buildup of iron and reducing oxidative stress.

If you have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor about the treatments that might help prevent this condition. And it’s worth taking a closer look at molecular hydrogen and how it might protect your body from this diseases’ damaging side effects.

Fancy waters are all the rage these days and many claim to have health benefits above and beyond what you would get from the tap. Two that are often confused with one another are alkaline water and hydrogen water. But only one of these waters can actually benefit your health. Here’s everything you need to know about alkaline water and hydrogen water and which one you should be drinking to live your best life.

What is alkaline water?

Alkaline water is water that has been specially formulated to increase its alkalinity, giving it a higher, less acidic pH. The theory behind alkaline water is that it can neutralize acids in the bloodstream and make the body less hospitable to the viruses and bacteria that could lead to disease.

The human body is designed to operate within a very tight blood pH range of 7.36 to 7.44. Remember that pH is measured on a scale of 0 (acidic) to 14 (alkaline.) A pH of 7 is neutral. Thus the blood pH for humans is slightly alkaline. So it would make sense that drinking alkaline water would help promote this alkaline environment, right?

It’s an interesting premise, but the theory doesn’t really hold water (excuse the pun.) Here’s why. You cannot alter the pH of your blood by consuming liquids that enter the digestive system. The second alkaline water hits the acidic environment of the stomach, it is neutralized and sent on its way. Alkaline water may affect the pH of your urine, but it cannot alter the pH of your blood; therefore it does not in any way affect what’s going on in your cells.

Also, it should be noted that the human body is designed to rigorously maintain blood pH within this narrow window. Even the slightest variation would signal the release of biological systems designed to restore balance. And a failure of the body to maintain blood pH would indicate health issues which could not be aided by the consumption of alkaline water.

Alkaline water can’t hurt, but it also can’t help. If you enjoy drinking it, great. But you’re better off saving your money.

What about hydrogen water?

Hydrogen water is water that is infused with extra hydrogen molecules. The theory here is that these extra hydrogen molecules can bond with free radicals and neutralize them before they wreak havoc within the cells. And due to their extremely small size, hydrogen molecules can enter parts of the cells that most anti-oxidants can’t, making them efficient at preventing disease and improving health.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not.

Researchers have begun studying the effects of hydrogen water on everything from improving athletic performance to controlling diabetes, to treating Alzheimer’s disease, and the results are overwhelmingly clear that hydrogen water delivers on its promises. By removing free radicals from the body, hydrogen water helps to reduce the inflammation that can harm overall health and eventually lead to disease.

The takeaway here is that drinking water is good for you. Drinking water that has been infused with hydrogen is even better.

Image By David Dewitt https://thecozycoffee.com/

Are you ready to do some math? Don’t worry, you won’t need to break out the pencil and calculator. But if you’re interested in learning more about how hydrogen water and hydrogen gas can improve your health, it’s important to know a but more about the numbers used in their production.

If you’re shopping for hydrogen products, you’ll notice that many list their hydrogen concentration production in ppm, or Parts Per Million. This means that for every million parts of a solution (in this case, water), there is one part hydrogen. This number tells you the hydrogen concentration, but you also need to know the amount of water you consumed in order to understand how much hydrogen you are ingesting each day.

Current research suggests that ingesting 1-3 mg (milligrams) of hydrogen may help to produce health benefits. So if you are in the market for a hydrogen product, you may see that it produces 3 ppm of hydrogen and think you are all set. But 3 ppm is not the same as 3 mg. In order to know how many milligrams of hydrogen you are consuming, you also need to know the volume of water that the product produces.

Let’s look at the H2 Life Hydrogen Water Bottle with PEM Dual chamber Technology, our best in its class hydrogen water bottle. This product produces 2.7 ppm of hydrogen per 300 ml of water. If you want to do the math, the formula looks like this:

1 PPM = 1mg ⁄ 1 Liter (Remember that 300 ml = .3 Liters)

You can also use the calculators at H2 Hubb to calculate how much hydrogen you would ingest from each bottle. In this case, that would be 0.81 mg of hydrogen per 300 ml of water. That’s pretty good! You could drink anywhere from 1-4 bottles of water from this product each day to get the suggested 1 -3 mg of hydrogen. Compare that to a hydrogen water bottle that produces only 1 ppm of hydrogen and you could wind up drinking 10 bottles of water each day to ingest the recommended amount.

It’s important to note here that researchers don’t agree on the exact amount of hydrogen that will produce therapeutic benefits. Some studies have found that doses between 1.8-7.2 mg might be necessary, depending upon the disease that is targeted and the body chemistry of the patient.

The method of hydrogen ingestion may also play a role. You can breathe much more hydrogen via inhalation of hydrogen gas than you could ingest via drinking hydrogen water. But researchers are still trying to determine if (and why) certain diseases respond better to hydrogen gas inhalation while others respond better to hydrogen ingested in the form of hydrogen water.

Want more information on the math behind hydrogen water and hydrogen gas? Check out this video:

Video by Tywon Hubbard and H2Hubb.

The bottom line is that if you want to understand the role that hydrogen can play in your health, you need to look beyond the ppm on a product so that you can understand how much you are ingesting each day.

NAFLD, or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is rapidly becoming the most common liver disease throughout the world. With 3 million new cases identified each year in the U.S. alone, experts estimate that the disease affects 30 percent of American adults and that number is only expected to rise.

This disease is characterized by fatty deposits that accumulate in the liver. These deposits often don’t cause any immediate symptoms on their own which is why NAFLD may remain undetected until internal imaging is conducted for other reasons. It is linked to conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.

NAFLD is an umbrella term used to describe any kind of fatty deposits that occur in the liver for reasons other than alcohol use. The deposits themselves may not cause problems on their own, but it is possible that they may lead to a more serious condition called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, that is responsible for damage to the liver such as fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis, or liver cancer.

A study published just this month in the journal Clinics and Research in Hepatology and Gastroenterology looked at the effect of hydrogen water consumption on fatty deposits in the liver.

For the study, researchers followed 12 overweight patients with NAFLD who drank one liter of either hydrogen rich water or placebo water every day for 28 days.

At the end of the study period, researchers evaluated the patents using MRIs and blood tests and found that those who drank hydrogen water had “significantly reduced liver fat accumulation in individual liver regions-of-interest.”

Reductions were noted in both baseline liver fat levels as well as levels of serum aspartate transaminase, an enzyme that is released by the body when liver damage is detected.

If you have been diagnosed with NAFLD, experts agree that it’s important to take precautions to keep your liver healthy. Avoiding alcohol and certain medications, such as acetaminophen, that are known to cause liver damage can help. Talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated for the viruses that affect the liver, Hepatitis A and B. And consider adding hydrogen rich water to your diet to help promote liver health and reduce the buildup of fatty deposits.

What do you think of when you hear the word, “inflammation?” If you’re like most, you think of inflammation as a harmful process within the body that leads to disease. While that is partially true, it’s not the whole story. To better understand your health, it’s important to understand the role that inflammation plays in your body and how and why it may become a problem.

Inflammation is your body’s natural response to infection and injury. When a part of the body becomes wounded or infected, the immune system floods the area with blood – specifically, white blood cells – to fend off viruses and bacteria and begin the healing process. This is what we feel as inflammation and it’s actually a healthy and crucial phase of recovery.

However, sometimes the immune system gets stuck in the inflammation phase. This is known as chronic inflammation and it is this condition that can lead to disease. Chronic inflammation has been linked to heart disease, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, and even some cancers.

Unlike the swelling and redness often associated with acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is a less-intense but longer lasting condition, so it often does not cause any noticeable symptoms. Instead, the body is constantly signaling the immune system to respond to a threat, even when one does not exist. White blood cells are released but they have nowhere to go and as a result they start attacking healthy cells and tissues.

So how can you make sure your body’s inflammatory process doesn’t get out of control? One way is to reduce your overall exposure to components that trigger inflammation such as pollution, chemicals, fried foods, processed sugar, and red meat. Including anti-inflammatory foods in your diet such as olive oil, leafy greens, fish, nuts, and fruit can help keep inflammation in check as can increasing levels of molecular hydrogen within your body via the consumption of hydrogen rich water or the inhalation of hydrogen gas via a hydrogen breathing machine.

Hydrogen is a natural element that can help reduce chronic inflammation by neutralizing those rogue white blood cells before they become a problem. Hydrogen also helps reduce the production of enzymes that cause inflammation while increasing the level of enzymes that keep inflammation in check. For more details about how hydrogen works to reduce inflammation, check out this quick yet informative video:

Molecular hydrogen is a safe and effective anti-inflammatory that can help keep healthy levels of inflammation in your body from becoming a chronic condition.

Video courtesy of Tywon Hubbard.

In 1520, Swiss physician and chemist Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus discovered hydrogen gas when he burned metal and acid and unwittingly collected a gas as a by-product of the reaction. At the time, Paracelsus had no idea what this new gas was or how important it would become. Today, 500 years after its first discovery, researchers are finally beginning to unwrap the secrets of molecular hydrogen and in particular, how it can be used to alleviate a host of symptoms and conditions.

What is molecular hydrogen? Hydrogen is a naturally occurring element that bonds easily with oxygen to form water, or H₂0. And that’s a good thing because it is unstable oxygen molecules, also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) or free radicals, that are responsible for so much damage within the body. By bonding with these unstable oxygen molecules, hydrogen neutralizes them and converts damaging free radicals into inert water.

So molecular hydrogen is essentially an antioxidant. But it’s not just any antioxidant.

A recent review of the history and potential uses for molecular hydrogen, published in the journal Medical Gas Research noted that of molecular hydrogen’s many advantageous characteristics, perhaps its greatest advantage is that it can diffuse through membranes and enter the cytosol, mitochondria, and nucleus of cells. This makes it more effective than most antioxidants because many free radicals target these organelles and most antioxidants cannot access these areas of the cell.

By reducing the levels of free radicals within the body, molecular hydrogen can help to reduce inflammation, slow cell aging, relieve pain, and prevent and alleviate the symptoms of a number of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, allergies, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

In their review on molecular hydrogen, the authors, physicians in physiology and neuroscience from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California noted, “[t]he future looks very bright and promising; hopefully hydrogen will be at the forefront of medicine and will make surging strides as simple treatments to the top ailments such as neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and numerous other diseases.”

“Consumption of water containing a high concentration of molecular hydrogen reduces oxidative stress and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an open-label pilot study”

Full study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3563451/?fbclid=IwAR1weXaWiEZo2nJ0sthNZPwfJBdzZFIY7kD9Yzq0-IHq6thmERF_RfE37vY