Oxidative stress causes neurodegeneration, including dementia and Parkinson's disease.
Hydrogen rich water reduces oxidative stress and prevents cognitive impairment. Inaddition, it significantly reduces the progression of neuronal degeneration distinctive in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. In Alzheimer's disease, hydrogen water intake improves spatial recognition and memory.
First clinical trial that studied hydrogen water effect in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. It showed in 9 patients that hydrogen rich water intake (1 litre a day) reduces oxidative stress and improves the symptomatology of the disease. This was assessed thanks to the improvement in the UPDRS results (Total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale), observed in most of the patients who drank hydrogen water for 48 weeks.
Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are also pathologies associated with oxidative stress. Moreover lithium, used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and valproic acid and some atypical antipsychotics used in schizophrenia, have effects on oxidative stress. Therefore, hydrogen rich water intake may have potential benefits as a new therapy in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
It has been shown that molecular hydrogen (H2) acts as a therapeutic antioxidant and inhibits brain damage mitigating the effects of oxidative stress. This study showed that drinking hydrogen rich water significantly reduced the loss of dopaminergic neurons in an experimental model of mice suffering from Parkinson's disease. Those mice drinking hydrogen water showed a reduction in DNA damage markers (8-oxoG) and lipid peroxidation markers (4-HNE) in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway, without altering the production of superoxide anion (O2-)
It therefore follows that drinking hydrogen water may reduce oxidative stress in the brain even at low concentration. In addition, it can prevent or minimize the risk of the oxidative stress caused by our life style and neuronal degeneration.