Persistent oxidative stress is one of the major causes of most lifestyle-related diseases, cancer and the aging process. Acute oxidative stress directly causes serious damage to tissues.
Despite the clinical importance of oxidative damage, antioxidants have been of limited therapeutic success. Molecular hydrogen (H2) has potential as a “novel” antioxidant in preventive and therapeutic applications. H2 has a number of advantages as a potential antioxidant: H2 rapidly diffuses into tissues and cells, and it is mild enough neither to disturb metabolic redox reactions nor to affect reactive oxygen species (ROS) that function in cell signaling, thereby, there should be little adverse effects of consuming H2.
There are several methods to ingest or consume H2, including inhaling hydrogen gas, drinking H2-dissolved water (hydrogen water), taking a hydrogen bath, injecting H2-dissolved saline (hydrogen saline), dropping hydrogen saline onto the eye, and increasing the production of intestinal H2 by bacteria.
This is an excerpt from Potential of Molecular Hydrogen article
