Contrary to the long-standing belief, a group of American researchers reported in 1975 that hydrogen gas could scavenge free radicals and lead to the regression of skin tumours in mice (Dole et al., 1975). In their study, mice were exposed to a mixture of 2.5 % oxygen and 97.5 % hydrogen at a total pressure of 8 atmospheres for periods of up to 2 weeks.

Nearly half the century since the discovery, more than 1,000 articles on the potential therapeutic benefit of molecular hydrogen have been published in medical journals around the world. The editors of the international journal, Medical Gas Research, expressed their wonderment in the following sentence (Dixon & Zhang, 2016).

“Have you ever wondered how the simplest and smallest element in the known universe could lead to “a brighter, more intellectual, and healthier way of living?”

Literatures

1.     Abraini, J.H. et al., 1994. Psychophysiological reactions in humans during an open sea dive to 500 m with a hydrogen-helium-oxygen mixture. Journal of Applied Physiology, American Physiological Society, 76: 1113-1118.

2.     Dixon, B.J. & Zhang, J.H., 2016. An innovative collection in hydrogen molecular biology and medicine research. Medical Gas Research, 6: 55-56.

Dole, M. et al., 1975. Hyperbaric hydrogen therapy: a possible treatment for cancer. Science, 190: 152-154.