Sunday, October 21, 2018

27 Surprising Hydrogen Water Health Benefits

27 Surprising Hydrogen Water Health Benefits

When I first heard about hydrogen water, scam bells started to go off in my brain.  But then I started to read and realized that hydrogen water has serious potential and some interesting studies.

Hydrogen water contains hydrogen molecules that act as powerful antioxidants. These molecules help neutralize oxygen free radicals that contribute to disease development, inflammation, and aging. Read more to learn about the miraculous benefits of hydrogen water!


Introduction 

Hydrogen water is loaded with hydrogen molecules that can extinguish free radicals and cross the blood-brain barrier, cell membrane, mitochondria, and even the nucleus.

Because of its unique properties, molecular hydrogen has therapeutic benefits in virtually every organ in the body where it exerts antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and anti-allergy actions with no known side effects [R,R2].

Hydrogen Water Snapshot

Pros

  • Neuroprotective
  • Excellent antioxidant
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Protects organs
  • Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar
  • Improves a wide variety of diseases
  • Is non-toxic at high concentrations

Cons

  • Although it has no reported side effects, more research is needed for negative effects in the long-term

The Health Benefits of Hydrogen Water

1) Hydrogen Water is an Antioxidant and Prevents Brain Damage

Molecular hydrogen (H2) can protect cells and tissues from oxidative damage by selectively reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) [R,R2].

Unlike other antioxidants, H2 has the unique capability of crossing cell membranes and targeting organelles such as the mitochondria and nucleus [R].

Drinking hydrogen water prevented the development of Parkinson's disease in an experiment on rats. Hydrogen water reduced oxidative stress and prevented cognitive impairment associated with dementia and Parkinson's disease [R].

Hydrogen water prevented both the development and progression of neural degeneration, and also suppressed neuronal loss in another Parkinson's disease mice study [R].

Additionally, in a study on patients with Parkinson's disease, it was found that the intake of hydrogen water reduces neurotoxic damage, which agrees with previous studies on animals. There were also no adverse effects from the hydrogen water at high doses (1000 mL/day) [R].

2) Hydrogen Water May Improve Mood Disorders

Hydrogen water restored the natural growth of brain cells in mice. Because antidepressants increase adult neurogenesis, hydrogen water may be used for improving depression and some mental disorders [R,R2].

3) Hydrogen Water Suppresses Inflammation

Molecular hydrogen (H2) exhibits anti-inflammatory effects in many animal studies [R,R2].

In a study, patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease, drank .5 L/day of hydrogen water for 4 weeks. By the end of the study, all patients with early rheumatoid arthritis achieved remission and 20% became symptom-free [R,R2].

4) Hydrogen Water Reduces Muscle Fatigue, Motor Deficits, and Muscle Degeneration

In an experiment with young athletes, drinking hydrogen water reduced lactic acid build-up during heavy exercise and decreased muscle fatigue [R].

In a study on mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a devastating muscle disease, hydrogen water prevented abnormal body mass gain and increased the production of the antioxidant glutathione peroxidase. It was found that hydrogen water can potentially improve muscular dystrophy in DMD patients [R].

5) Hydrogen Water Prevents Metabolic Syndrome

Hydrogen water significantly reduced fatty liver in mice with type 2 diabetes and obesity as well as in mice with a high–fat-diet-induced fatty liver. Also, levels of glucose, insulin, and triglycerides were decreased by stimulating energy metabolism [R].

A study in rats showed that hydrogen water was able to prevent atherosclerosis(hardening of the arteries) [R].

In a study on patients with the potential for metabolic syndrome, drinking hydrogen water (1.5 – 2 L/day) for 8 weeks showed an increase in HDL-cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) and a decrease in total cholesterol [R].

6) Hydrogen Water May Help in Weight Loss

Long-term drinking of hydrogen water controlled body fat and weight in rats, despite no change in food and water intake [R].

7) Hydrogen Water Enhances Mitochondrial Function

Clinical studies have shown that drinking hydrogen water directly protects the mitochondria and improves the outcome of mitochondrial disorders [R].

Drinking hydrogen water also stimulates energy metabolism (as measured by oxygen consumption and CO2 production) [R].

8) Hydrogen Water Treats Diabetes

A clinical trial in patients with type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance showed that drinking hydrogen water (900 mL) for 8 weeks decreased cholesterol, normalized glucose tolerance and improved insulin resistance in a majority of the treated patients [R].

9) Hydrogen Water May Treat Metabolic Acidosis

Metabolic acidosis is a condition characterized by an increase in blood acidity, which can be exacerbated with exercise. A study in healthy physically active males found that a daily intake of hydrogen-rich water for 14 days increased the pH of the blood before and after exercise with no side effects. The study concluded that drinking hydrogen water is safe and may have an alkalizing effect in the blood [R].

10) Hydrogen Water May Prevent Cancer

Heated hydrogen water was found to be an effective anti-tumor agent [R].

In human tongue and connective tissue cancer cells, hydrogen water suppressed tumor colony growth by reducing oxidative stress [R].

Hydrogen water also inhibited angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) in cultured human lung cancer cells [R].

11) Hydrogen Water Reduces Side Effects of Cancer Treatments

Drinking hydrogen water improved mortality and body weight loss caused by an anti-cancer drug, cisplatin, and reduced kidney toxicity in mice [R].

In a study on patients receiving radiation therapy for malignant liver tumors, drinking hydrogen water (1.5 – 2 L/day) suppressed oxidative stress (as measured by elevation of total hydroperoxide levels) and prevented the loss of appetite [R].

12) Hydrogen Water Boosts Skin Health

Hydrogen water administered intravenously (into the vein) to patients with acute erythematous skin diseases caused the erythema (redness) and associated symptoms to significantly improve [R].

Bathing in hydrogen water for 3 months significantly improved wrinkles in the skin in a human study [R].

Hydrogen water also reduced human skin cell damage from ultraviolet (UV) rays [R].

13) Hydrogen Water Enhances Wound Healing

Hydrogen water intake via tube feeding in elderly patients reduced the wound size of pressure ulcers and enhanced recovery [R].

14) Hydrogen Water Limits Damage of Transplant Organs

Hydrogen water in the form of a preservation solution reduced the damage of a variety of organs during transplantation [R].

15)  Hydrogen Water May Improve Bladder Dysfunction

In a study on rats that were surgically induced with a bladder obstruction, drinking hydrogen water significantly suppressed bladder weight increase and oxidative stress. Also, hydrogen water reversed the decreased responses to muscles and electric field stimulation. These results suggest that hydrogen water could help patients with a bladder obstruction by decreasing oxidative stress [R].

16) Hydrogen Water May Protect The Heart

Treating diabetic mice with hydrogen water significantly improved heart muscle function, indicating that molecular hydrogen could be useful for diabetic heart muscle disease [R].

17) Hydrogen Water Protects the Eye

H2-loaded eye drops facilitated the recovery process after retinal injury in rats [R].

Treating the cornea with hydrogen solution significantly reduced angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) after alkali-burn injury in mice, indicating that hydrogen therapy may prevent blindness caused by chemical burns of the eye [R].

18) Hydrogen Water Prevents Hearing Loss

Molecular hydrogen protects auditory hair cells from oxidative damage [R].

Studies in guinea pigs found that hydrogen-rich saline and water prevented the death of cochlear hair cells after noise exposure,  indicating that hydrogen water may protect against noise-induced hearing loss [R,R2,R3].

19) Hydrogen Water Combats Allergy

Drinking hydrogen water eliminated an immediate-type allergic reaction in mice [R].

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an allergic inflammatory skin disorder characterized by red, scaly rashes on the skin. In mice with AD-like skin, hydrogen water was able to improve symptoms by suppressing inflammation (through manipulation of Th1and Th2 responses) [R].

20) Hydrogen Water Ameliorates Kidney Disease

A study in rats found that hydrogen-rich water was able to improve kidney dysfunction from toxic damage by reducing oxidative stress and chemical waste products (creatinine (Cr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN)) [R].

Drinking hydrogen water also reduced inflammation and blood pressure in hemodialysis patients [R].

21) Hydrogen Water Protects the Liver

Drinking hydrogen water suppressed liver fibrogenesis in mice by protecting liver cells from free-radical damage [R].

Hydrogen water also significantly improved liver function and reduced oxidative stress in patients with chronic hepatitis B [R].

22) Hydrogen Water Promotes Gut Health

Hydrogen-rich water alleviated stomach mucosal injury induced by aspirinin rats (by suppressing oxidative stress and inflammation), indicating that hydrogen water may protect healthy individuals from gut damage caused by oxidative stress [R,R2].

23) Hydrogen Water Protects the Lung

Hydrogen water consumption in rats had a protective effect against lung tissue injury by suppressing inflammation and oxidative stress (through reduction of NF-κB activity) [R].

 24) Hydrogen Water is Radioprotective

A study found that pre-treating mice with hydrogen water before irradiation exposure increased survival rates and protected the heart from radiation-induced damage [R].

Hydrogen treatment also inhibited irradiation-induced death in cultured human white blood cells, suggesting that hydrogen may be used as an effective radioprotective agent [R].

25) Hydrogen Water Relieves Pain

In mice, oral hydrogen water intake was found to alleviate common symptoms of neuropathic pain (allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia). The study concluded that hydrogen water may be helpful for relieving nerve pain in a clinical setting [R].

26) Hydrogen Water May Prolong Lifespan

The ability of molecular hydrogen to protect nuclear DNA and the mitochondria from oxidative damage is thought to have beneficial effects on chronic diseases like cancer and the aging process [R,R2].

H2 treatment delayed the replicative lifespan of bone marrow stem cellsby reducing oxidative stress [R].

When human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were grown in a hydrogen-rich medium, both oxidative stress and cellular aging were suppressed. The study concluded that drinking hydrogen water may increase longevity in humans [R].

27) Hydrogen Water is Antibacterial and May Promote Oral Health

A study found that hydrogen water may improve oral hygiene because of its antibacterial effect against cavity and gum disease-causing bacteria [R].

In patients with gum infection, drinking hydrogen-rich water improved disease symptoms and enhanced the effects of non-surgical gum disease treatment [R].

Technical

Safety, Dosage, Side effects, Caution

 Molecular hydrogen (H2) is reported to have no known side effects and is not toxic even at high concentrations [R].

Health Tools I Wish I Had When I Was Sick

At SelfHacked, it's our goal to offer our readers all the tools possible to get optimally healthy. When I was struggling with chronic health issues I felt stuck because I didn't have any tools to help me get better. I had to spend literally thousands of hours trying to read through studies on pubmed to figure out how the body worked and how to fix it.

That's why I decided to create tools that will help others cut down the guesswork:

  • Lab Test Analyzer – a software tool that will analyze your labs and tell you what the optimal values are for each marker — as well as provide you with actionable tips and personalized health and lifestyle recommendations to help you get there.
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  • SelfHacked Secrets – an ebook where we examine and explain the biggest overlooked environmental factors that cause disease. This ebook is a great place to start your journey if you want to learn the essential steps to optimizing your health.
  • SelfHacked Elimination Diet course – a video course that will help you figure out which diet works best for you
  • Selfhacked Inflammation course – a video course on inflammation and how to bring it down
  • Biohacking insomnia – an ebook on how to get great sleep
  • Lectin Avoidance Cookbook – an e-cookbook for people with food sensitivities
  • BrainGauge – a device that detects subtle brain changes and allows you to test what's working for you
  • SelfHacked VIP – an area where you can ask me (Joe) questions about health topics

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Gov. Malloy, you can grant parolees the right to vote | CT Viewpoints



https://ctviewpoints.org/2018/10/18/gov-malloy-you-can-grant-parolees-the-right-to-vote/?utm_source=Connecticut+Mirror+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=ebce2bbbc8-DAILY_BRIEFING_MORNING&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_571d22f8e4-ebce2bbbc8-68205401

Gov. Malloy, you can grant parolees the right to vote

October 18, 2018

Six months ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order that provisionally pardoned the people on parole in the state – 35,000 in all.

[See a response from the Malloy administration below — Ed]

It was the fact that the New York State Assembly had just refused to refranchise paroled would-be voters that motivated Cuomo to take bold action.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy needs to follow Cuomo's example and take action by himself to restore voting rights to people who are currently on parole in Connecticut.

A almost identical situation played out here in Connecticut around the same time as the parolee voting rights tussle in New York. House Bill 5418, "An Act Restoring Electoral Privileges to Felony Convicts who Are on Parole" was introduced in March. The bill had notable support, including from Malloy himself and members of his cabinet.

Yet HB 5418 was debated in the House of Representatives and tabled; it didn't even get a vote.

The debate, though, was telling. In arguing that refranchising parolees was a bad idea, one state representative, a criminal defense attorney, made a speech on the floor of the House that voting is a privilege and not an "absolute right."

This lawyer may need to brush up on his constitutional law. As others have noted, the U.S. Constitution describes the ability to vote as a right five times throughout the document. Free speech, bearing arms and due process are mentioned as rights only one time each.

Voting might be the biggest constitutional right that we have in this country because it's essential to freedom and to citizenship.

Malloy has established himself as a trailblazer, even a visionary, on criminal policy reform and was once named "the Second Chance Governor" for the progressive justice measures enacted here during his tenure, including allowing a conference to be live-streamed from one of the state's prisons.

Leaving office as Connecticut remains the last state on the east coast that continues to deny the vote to parolees doesn't jibe with the leader Malloy has become.

To make his legacy complete, he needs to do what's within his power to make elections fair in this state and stop stripping people who've earned a second chance of their rights to participate in democracy.

Granted, the pardon system in New York is different than it is in Connecticut because Gov. Cuomo has pardon authority through the New York state constitution. The Connecticut Constitution doesn't allow our governor to pardon anyone, even provisionally. Pardons, which are formal acts of forgiveness of crimes that include expungement of records, are the province of the Board of Pardons and Paroles alone.

But Malloy is still fully capable of issuing an executive order that grants people on parole the right to vote — the right to be fully free citizens — in Connecticut. The Connecticut Constitution did retain for the governor the executive authority to issue reprieves — (Article Four, Section 13) temporary stays of sentence — to anyone convicted of a crime.

The reason why parolees are disallowed from voting is that they're technically still serving a sentence, unlike people on probation, who've been restored the right to vote in Connecticut since 2002 because they've been deemed to have completed their sentences.

Malloy can issue a reprieve for every person serving a parole sentence in the state and make them eligible to vote under Connecticut General Statutes. His reprieve power is perfectly suited to accomplishing for parolees what the General Assembly refused to do.

It's not like Malloy is skittish about using his executive power. He did it just recently when the General Assembly refused to vote on several bills which would have authorized the study and implementation of tolls. In the absence of statutes, and in the face of public and political opposition, Malloy ordered a $10 million study all by himself.

And it's not a situation where Malloy would be removing parolees from all supervision or restitution orders. Just as Gov. Cuomo did with his conditional pardon for parolees in his state, Malloy can tailor his reprieve order so that it doesn't let parolees completely off the hook. Parolees' sentences can be stayed only with respect to registering to vote. That's the beauty of executive power; it's all up to Malloy.

Any type of felony disenfranchisement is detrimental to more than just the people it makes ineligible to vote; it affects elections by restricting turnout. Disenfranchisement suppresses a larger electorate than just those who've lost their rights. A study published in Probation Journal revealed that many returning citizens don't understand that they are eligible to vote even when they are. Whenever one sector of a criminal justice-involved population loses its vote, other sectors assume it applies to them, too. It's one of the downsides of creating awareness of the unfairness of felon disenfranchisement; efforts have backfired and convinced eligible voters that they're still sidelined.

As he prepares to leave office, Malloy shouldn't be hamstrung by a legislature that doesn't get it. He needs keep up with the Cuomo's and create voting rights for parolees — all by himself.

Chandra Bozelko lives in Orange and is a former inmate at York Correctional Institution. Prison Diaries, the column she wrote in prison, won a Webby Award on May 14, 2018.

[Editor's note: The Malloy administration says it does not have the authority to grant reprieves allowing parolees to vote, citing the following statute:

Sec. 9-46a. Restoration or granting of electoral privileges. (a) A person who has been convicted of a felony and committed to confinement in a federal or other state correctional institution or facility or community residence shall have such person's electoral privileges restored upon the payment of all fines in conjunction with the conviction and once such person has been discharged from confinement, and, if applicable, parole. ]

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Adrienne L den Tex



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How to Treat Chronic Kidney Disease with Food | NutritionFacts.org

Vegetarians beat the odds...

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How to Treat Chronic Kidney Disease with Food

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"In the United States, approximately one in three adults aged 65 years and older has chronic kidney disease (CKD)," as I note in my video Treating Chronic Kidney Disease with Food, but the "majority of patients with CKD do not progress to advanced stages of CKD because death precedes the progression to end-stage renal disease…" Following about a thousand folks 65 years or older with chronic kidney disease for about a decade, only a few had to go on dialysis because most died. The scariest thing for many kidney patients is the fear of dialysis, but they may be 13 times more likely to die than go on dialysis. With heart disease killing more than nearly all other causes combined, decreasing kidney function can set one up for heart attacks, strokes, and death.

That's why it's critical that any diet chosen to help the kidneys must also help the heart. A plant-based diet fits the bill, providing protection against kidney stones, kidney inflammation, and acidosis, as well as heart disease. (See below for links to my videos covering these very topics.) That is, "blood pressure control may be favored by the reduction of sodium intake and by the vegetarian nature of the diet, which is very important also for lowering serum cholesterol," which may not only help the heart but also the kidneys themselves.

In 1858, Rudolf Virchow, the father of modern pathology, was the first to describe the fatty degeneration of the kidney. In 1982, this idea of lipid nephrotoxicity—the possibility that fat and cholesterol in the bloodstream could be toxic to the kidneys directly, based on data showing plugs of fat literally clogging up the works in autopsied kidneys—was formalized.

Since the notion was put forth, it has gained momentum. It appears high cholesterol and fat in the bloodstream may accelerate the progression of chronic kidney disease through direct toxic effects on the kidney cells themselves. Given the connection between cholesterol and kidney decline, the use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs has been recommended to slow the progression of kidney disease. Of course, "[s]erious adverse effects on muscle and liver must be kept in mind." This is why plant-based diets could offer the best of both worlds, protecting the heart and the kidneys without drug side effects.

The two potential drawbacks are the amount of phosphorus and potassium in plant foods, which ailing kidneys can sometimes have a problem getting rid of. It turns out, however, that the phosphorus in meat is absorbed at about twice the rate, not to mention the phosphate additives that are injected into meat. So, eating plant-based can significantly lower phosphorus levels in the blood. The concern about potassium is largely theoretical because the alkalinizing effects of plant foods help the body excrete potassium, but it is not theoretical for those on dialysis or with end-stage disease who need to be closely followed by a dietician kidney specialist.

Special protein-restricted vegan diets have been used successfully to slow or stop the progression of kidney failure. One study showed the declining kidney function of eight diabetics for one to two years before switching to the plant-based diet, which appeared to stop the inexorable decline in most of the patients. This led the researchers to proclaim it as the treatment of choice for diabetic kidney failure.

Strictly plant-based diets may also help delay dialysis by one to two years and, after kidney transplant, may improve the survival of the kidney and improve the survival of the patient. Most of the papers, though, are just pilot feasibility studies. It doesn't matter if it's effective if we can't get people to stick to the diet. But while we're waiting for more definitive studies, existing data support offering these kinds of plant-based diets as an option to all patients with advanced or progressive chronic kidney disease.

"[E]ven if the effects of such diets on the progression of renal failure are still debatable, the unquestionably favorable effects [of plant-based diets] on some of the most deleterious cardiovascular and metabolic disorders usually associated with renal failure," such as hypertension and diabetes, "provide rationale for recommending a predominance of proteins from a vegetable source" for patients with failing kidneys.

Yet, diet is still underutilized, in part because some people find changing their diet is difficult. Yet, we know foods rich in animal protein lead to metabolic acidosis. Our diets "are largely acid-producing because they are deficient in fruits and vegetables and contain large amounts of animal products." So, what did doctors do? They gave people baking soda. Instead of treating the cause––the dietary acid load from too many animal products and too few fruits and vegetables––they treated the consequence by saying, "Oh, too much acid? We'll just give you some base: sodium bicarbonate." And it works. Neutralization of dietary acid with sodium bicarbonate decreases kidney injury and slows kidney function decline, but sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) has sodium, so doctors may be just adding another problem.

If patients are not going to cut back on animal products, they should at least be eating more fruits and vegetables. They tried that, and it worked, too, and did so without leading to too much potassium in the blood. In fact, it may even work better because fruits and vegetables have the additional advantage of helping to lower blood pressure. The study that examined this is important because it illustrated a simple and safe way to treat metabolic acidosis: with fruits and vegetables. So, the key to halting the progression of chronic kidney disease might be in the produce market or the farmer's market, not in the pharmacy.

This is the last in an extended six-part series on the latest science on diet and kidney health. Check out the rest of the series:

You may also be interested in my videos How Not to Die from Kidney Disease and How to Prevent Kidney Stones with Diet.

You have to have functioning kidneys to keep you in balance. The problem for most people is not getting enough potassium, which I discuss in my video 98% of American Diets Potassium Deficient, but too much phosphorus in the blood can also be a problem. Thus, phosphate additives are something we should try to avoid. For more on this, see:

In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.

PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations:




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