here are many research studies that show Molecular Hydrogen is a powerful anti-inflammatory molecule. In this post we will discuss a particular study titled, “Consumption of water containing a high concentration of molecular hydrogen reduces oxidative stress and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis”. In this study, high concentration H2 water was used to see if H2 would improve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis patients. This was a pilot study that was conducted to show there’s some improvement in rheumatoid arthritis with H2. But in no case is this a definitive study.

• # of Patients: 20 Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, 5 of them in the very early stages of disease.
• Dosage: 530 ml of H2 enriched water at 5ppm. Patients were expected to drink the water within 1 hour once a day. Between 2.1 – 2.7 mg of H2 per dose.
• Duration of Study: 4 weeks drinking H2 water. 4 weeks “washout” period of normal water. Another 4 weeks of drinking H2 water. 12 weeks total.
• Measurements: Key measurements were 8-OHdG and DAS28

H2 Production: High concentration hydrogen water was produced using an acrylic resin tube inside of a plastic PET bottle. The PET bottle was filled entirely with water so that the concentration could reach above the normal saturation point of 1.6ppm. The hydrogen producing material consisted of 0.375 g of Aluminum grains and 0.125 g of calcium hydroxide. This material was wrapped in fabric and placed in the acrylic tube. Then 0.5 ml of water was added to the material and H2 gas was evolved from the following reaction.

2Al + Ca(OH)₂ + 2H₂O → Ca(AlO₂)₂ + 3H₂

The reactive material never touches the actual water, and instead the PET bottle fills with H2 gas. Then the bottle is shaken for 30 s to dissolve the H2 into the water.

8-OHdG: 8-hydroxydeoxyguanine is a defined marker for oxidative stress. It’s actually a building block of DNA, so when DNA is damaged by oxidative stress, 8-OHdG shows up in your urine. There are many research papers that show that elevated levels of 8-OHdG is linked with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, Auto-Immune disease, and more.

DAS28: Clinical response to H2 water was measured by changes in the disease activity score in 28 joints, or DAS28 for short. The specific measurement was using the C-reactive protein levels which is a measurement of inflammation and tends to be higher in patients with the disease. The DAS28 was measured before treatment (baseline), after 4 weeks of consuming H2 water, after 4 weeks of the “washout” period, and after the 2nd 4 weeks of consuming H2 water.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease of chronic inflammation which causes the destruction of bone and cartilage. There are many underlying factors, but research has shown that oxidative stress seems to play a big role. That’s why Molecular Hydrogen enriched water was used in this study to figure out if there would be any improvement.

The results certainly showed that Molecular Hydrogen reduced oxidative stress as shown by the decrease in levels of 8-OHdG in most of the patients throughout the study. Even during the “washout” period of 4 weeks when the patients were not drinking any H2 water, their 8-OHdG levels decreased. This is most likely caused by enhanced antioxidant activity in the cells even when no H2 water was consumed. However, during this washout period there was no significant improvement of the DAS28 in the patients. Meaning overall oxidative stress was decreasing but there was another mechanism by which H2 was helping patients with their rheumatoid arthritis.

At the end of the study, 14 of the 20 patients (70%) had significant improvement and 9 out of the 20 patients (45%) achieved remission, which means they no longer were considered to have rheumatoid arthritis based on their DAS28 measurements.

Molecular Hydrogen selectively targets only the harmful free radicals, hydroxyl radicals, and enhances antioxidant enzymes inside cells. The decrease in 8-OHdG in most of the patients is consistent with that fact. However, there may be another mechanism by which H2 helps with rheumatoid arthritis. H2 has been shown to down regulate TNF-α, an inflammatory pathway, so this may be something to look into further based on this study.

But overall, Molecular Hydrogen has a great potential to help people who are suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis as a safe, non-toxic substance.