Science Experiment

Hydrogen-Infused Water

In the spirit of Taoist external alchemy, I’ve been experimenting with ways to create hydrogen-infused water – and having quite a lot of fun with it 🙂

Now typically I’m not one to be all that interested in chemistry experiments per se, but this has proven to be an exception. Using methods described here and here, I’ve been combining elemental magnesium and malic acid in water, to infuse the water with molecular hydrogen (H2) aka hydrogen gas – and then drinking the water.

Even if my method is still rather hackneyed – lots of room for refinement, LOL – ingesting the water is already feeling great. There’s a subtle increase in my energy level (which already was pretty good) and a low-grade sinus infection that had been lingering for several months was resolved within four days of beginning to drink the hydrogen-infused water. Yeah!

The Science Behind Hydrogen-Infused Water

This of course is just one person’s very preliminary and anecdotal evidence. But what’s cool is that there also is a fair amount of scientific evidence establishing the therapeutic potential of molecular hydrogen. Many of these are collected on the website of the Molecular Hydrogen Foundation, whose founder and director is a guy named Tyler Lebaron: a professional chemist with a genuine passion for the topic.

I recently listened to a rather technical talk given by Mr. Lebaron which presents the biochemical basics of how molecular hydrogen works in a human body, along with an overview of scientific studies to date. Since I’m not a chemist, I understood very little of what he said – but so much enjoyed the enthusiastic vibe that he was emitting that I stuck with it to the very end.

Challenges

The big challenge in administering H2 – i.e. getting it into a human body – has to do with the extremely small size and light weight of this gas. There’s very little of it in the earth’s atmosphere because it easily escapes the gravitational pull. And when infused in water its half-life is only around two hours – so commercially produced hydrogen-water really is not a legitimate option, since within a day or two a majority of the gas will have diffused out of the water (and easily through whatever bottle it was in).

So folks (in China and Japan more than in the US) have experimented with inhaling it directly, via special devices designed for this purpose. There also are hydrogen-water-making machines that can be purchased, allowing for the creation of the water immediately prior to drinking it. And tablets that when dissolved in water catalyze the creation of H2.  And then there are the DIY methods – such as those I’ve been experimenting with.

To Go Where No Molecule Has Gone Before …

And why exactly would one wish to create and then ingest hydrogen-infused water? Hydrogen gas is a powerful antioxidant, and its nano-size allows it easily to penetrate into every cell and even into the mitochondria and DNA – as well as to cross the blood-brain barrier. It’s been shown to have positive effects on pretty much every organ in the body – and to generate improvement in well over a hundred different disease conditions (actually closer to 180 as I recall). Though the specific mechanisms by which it works are not yet fully understood, the evidence of its effectiveness is (in my admittedly amateur opinion) quite convincing.

And hence my recent dive into chemistry experiments in the kitchen … with additional updates forthcoming.

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