Hydrogen water consumption prevents osteopenia in ovariectomized rats
Guo JD, Li L, Shi YM, Wang HD, Hou SX. · British Journal of Pharmacology. 2013;168(6):1412-1420.
Study at a glance
Preclinical
Female Sprague-Dawley rats undergoing sham surgery or ovariectomy and receiving ordinary or hydrogen-rich drinking water.
Hydrogen-rich water was provided as drinking water for three months after sham surgery or ovariectomy. · Water was saturated at 0.4 MPa for four hours to 1.3±0.2 mg/L, prepared weekly and kept above 0.8 mg/L during daily use.
Three months of ad-libitum drinking-water exposure.
H₂ water preserved multiple femoral and vertebral bone-mass, strength and structural measures after ovariectomy and changed oxidative/inflammatory markers. It did not change body weight, estrogen or plasma pH; vertebral bone area, mechanical energy and trabecular thickness were not reduced by ovariectomy, and several sham-plus-H₂ outcomes were unchanged. Femoral p22phox and serum IL-6 were notable non-significant findings.
Large nominal cohort but individual assays used only n=10-12 per group, preclinical estrogen-depletion model, many surrogate endpoints and no fracture outcome. No funding statement was identified in the article; the authors declared no conflict of interest.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Four-group controlled ovariectomy experiment
Musculoskeletal and pain research
H₂-rich water
Information not yet classified
Some editorial classification fields are still pending. The source-reported outcomes and result are shown below; Hydrogenology does not infer a positive or negative signal from prose automatically.
Methods
Female Sprague-Dawley rats undergoing sham surgery or ovariectomy and receiving ordinary or hydrogen-rich drinking water.
240 rats divided into four groups of 60. Outcome tables report n=10-12 per group, indicating that prespecified subsets were used for individual assays.
Three months of ad-libitum drinking-water exposure.
Hydrogen-rich water was provided as drinking water for three months after sham surgery or ovariectomy.
H₂ dissolved in drinking water — H₂ only, not Brown's gas.
Water was saturated at 0.4 MPa for four hours to 1.3±0.2 mg/L, prepared weekly and kept above 0.8 mg/L during daily use.
Sham-operated and ovariectomized rats drinking ordinary water, plus sham-operated rats drinking H₂-rich water.
Outcomes and reported result
Bone mineral content/density, mechanical strength, trabecular morphology, osteoblast/osteoclast surfaces, estrogen, osteocalcin, urinary DPD, oxidative markers, cytokines, NF-κB signalling and NO/eNOS.
H₂ water preserved multiple femoral and vertebral bone-mass, strength and structural measures after ovariectomy and changed oxidative/inflammatory markers. It did not change body weight, estrogen or plasma pH; vertebral bone area, mechanical energy and trabecular thickness were not reduced by ovariectomy, and several sham-plus-H₂ outcomes were unchanged. Femoral p22phox and serum IL-6 were notable non-significant findings.
The complete free PMC article was checked for all four groups, sample accounting, H₂ concentration and preparation, bone and mechanistic outcomes, positive and null findings, funding and conflict declaration.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit.
Limitations and applicability
Large nominal cohort but individual assays used only n=10-12 per group, preclinical estrogen-depletion model, many surrogate endpoints and no fracture outcome. No funding statement was identified in the article; the authors declared no conflict of interest.
Ovariectomy-associated osteopenia in rats; it does not establish osteoporosis prevention or fracture reduction in people.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Read how records and evidence assessments are prepared.
Sources and record status
PMID: 23121335 · DOI: 10.1111/bph.12036
Free full article in PubMed Central.
Complete PMC article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
10 August 2026
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