Hydrogen Water: The Ultimate Guide to Home Healing Benefits

Following my 3-part series of articles on deuterium-depleted water (DDW), by far the most common question I received was “Is DDW the same/similar to hydrogenated water?” The short answer is no, the two are not similar. DDW is produced by taking an isotope of hydrogen out of the water, while hydrogenated water is produced by putting additional hydrogen into the water.

Hydrogenated water, though, is a very powerful and well-researched therapy on its own, one that anyone can incorporate into their daily routine with minimal investment. First, a brief background.

Hydrogenated water is produced by bubbling hydrogen gas through water. There are two “retail-level” ways to do this: one is by purchasing tablets that typically consist of elemental magnesium, which chemically reacts with water to generate hydrogen gas. In addition, these tablets usually contain other additives to facilitate the reaction such as malic acid, and/or sugars or sugar alcohols to improve the taste. Some also include stabilizers, trace amounts of vitamins, or other additives. Manufacturers of these tablets commonly claim they produce water containing 5-12 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen in the water.

The other way to produce hydrogenated water is with a countertop device that uses electrolysis. A small electrical charge passes from the anode (positively charged) to the cathode (negatively charged).* At the cathode excess hydrogens react with water to produce hydrogen gas that bubbles through, dissolving into the water. These devices generally state that they produce water at 2-6ppm (which is 2000-6000 parts per billion). Studies generally agree that a minimum of 0.5ppm is needed to achieve health benefits, and most studies find that around 1.6-2ppm is optimal. Several studies note, though, that more seems to be better when it comes to hydrogen content. Several studies noted that the most benefit was obtained when subjects drank water with the highest hydrogen concentration.

You can click to read a review of a wide range (but certainly not a comprehensive list) of health benefits documented on the consumption of hydrogen-enriched water. That link doesn’t review the multiple studies showing that drinking hydrogenated water can improve gastrointestinal pain and inflammatory bowel disease, for example.

Now, back to deuterium (because I can bring almost any health topic back to deuterium). Since deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen, is the hydrogen gas generated by these generators either enriched or depleted in deuterium? The answer is no, that gas has the same concentration of deuterium as the water it was generated from.

However, you have another hydrogen generator that you carry around with you 24/7: your gut microbiome. A significant majority of those several trillion bacteria produce hydrogen gas. When they do, that gas they produce is depleted in deuterium! Why the difference? Because the countertop generator uses electricity to create H2, while the bacteria use enzymes to do it. Surely you recall from my previous articles on DDW that those enzymes have a high KIE with respect to deuterium. That means when they pluck hydrogens from the food and especially the fiber you’ve eaten, they are highly selective. They strongly prefer hydrogen and exclude deuterium from their reactions.

There are other therapies that deliver excess hydrogen to your body, including both inhalation and bathing in hydrogenated water. Both have their limitations as an easily accessible home therapy. And as with any therapy, drinking hydrogenated water can be implemented for general wellness and health maintenance, or used in a more intensive and therapeutic way as part of a larger treatment plan to address a wide range of acute and chronic diseases.

Here is the countertop H2 water generator I have: https://ionbottles.com/products/atom-hydrogen-bottle. I’m not claiming it’s the best one and I’m not necessarily recommending it, I’m just giving you a place to start looking if you want to start looking. It holds 265mL (10 ounces) of water, producing hydrogenated water that is 5ppm.

As a final note, I have been familiar with hydrogenated water as a therapy for over a decade. My knowledge of it has been cursory; I had never read deeply into the peer-reviewed studies. In preparation for writing this article I finally took the time to read several published studies and reviews of this therapy and I have been quite shocked to discover how versatile it is, with studies showing benefit in treating everything from Parkinson’s disease and cancers, to gut problems and even autonomic nervous system regulation and depression. I will be making this therapy a more consistent component of many of my treatment protocols going forward.

If you would like to have a conversation about whether and how hydrogenated water might best fit into your overall treatment plan, schedule at https://gregnigh.com/schedule, email Lisa at drnigh_info@gregnigh.com, or leave a message at 503-719-4806. Mention this article when scheduling to get a 10% discount, whether you are a new or returning patient.

* My memory from chemistry was that the anode is negatively charged and the cathode is positively charged. I was surprised to learn, while researching these devices, that the nodes are not defined by their charge but by the type of reaction taking place, whether oxidation (anode) or reduction (cathode). It didn’t flip my world upside down or anything, but it’s always satisfying to learn something new.