Effects of the long-term consumption of hydrogen-rich water on the antioxidant activity and the gut flora in female juvenile soccer players from Suzhou, China
Sha JB, Zhang SS, Lu YM, Gong WJ, Jiang XP, Wang JJ, Qiao TL, Zhang HH, Zhao MQ, Wang DP, Xia H, Li ZW, Chen JL, Zhang L, Zhang CG. · Medical Gas Research. 2018;8(4):135–143.
Study at a glance
Human
Healthy juvenile female football players at the Suzhou Sports School in China, without current sports injury and without reported nutritional-supplement or antibiotic use during the preceding three months.
For two months, the intervention group replaced its usual drinking water with hydrogen-rich water in an amount described only as equivalent to each athlete's previous daily water consumption. · The complete article does not report a measured dissolved-H₂ concentration or a standardized daily water volume, so neither concentration nor ingested H₂ dose can be calculated.
Eight weeks, with measurements at baseline, four weeks and eight weeks.
The article reports between-group differences over time for hemoglobin, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α. Creatine kinase (p=0.061) and blood urea nitrogen (p=0.887) were not significant. At eight weeks, the reported microbiota richness/diversity comparisons were also not significant (sobs p=0.479, ace p=0.710, chao p=0.369 and Shannon p=0.369), despite favorable wording in the discussion.
Small, highly unequal groups, no placebo or reported blinding, no standardized or measured H₂ dose, many outcomes and baseline differences in training history and microbiota. Several microbiota comparisons were explicitly non-significant. Adverse events were not systematically reported. No dedicated funding or conflict-of-interest declaration was identified in the article text, so absence of funding or conflicts is not inferred.
What kind of evidence is this?
Human
Randomized, open-label, two-group exploratory study
Exercise and recovery
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
Healthy juvenile female football players at the Suzhou Sports School in China, without current sports injury and without reported nutritional-supplement or antibiotic use during the preceding three months.
38 athletes: hydrogen-rich-water group n=28 and ordinary-water control n=10.
Eight weeks, with measurements at baseline, four weeks and eight weeks.
For two months, the intervention group replaced its usual drinking water with hydrogen-rich water in an amount described only as equivalent to each athlete's previous daily water consumption.
H₂ dissolved in drinking water — H₂ only, not Brown's gas.
The complete article does not report a measured dissolved-H₂ concentration or a standardized daily water volume, so neither concentration nor ingested H₂ dose can be calculated.
Ten athletes continued ordinary water in amounts consistent with their previous habits.
Outcomes and reported result
Hemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen, creatine kinase, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α and stool 16S-rDNA measures of gut-microbiota composition, richness and diversity.
The article reports between-group differences over time for hemoglobin, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α. Creatine kinase (p=0.061) and blood urea nitrogen (p=0.887) were not significant. At eight weeks, the reported microbiota richness/diversity comparisons were also not significant (sobs p=0.479, ace p=0.710, chao p=0.369 and Shannon p=0.369), despite favorable wording in the discussion.
The complete free article, allocation, water description, laboratory and microbiota results, positive and null findings, ethics information and article disclosures were checked.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit.
Limitations and applicability
Small, highly unequal groups, no placebo or reported blinding, no standardized or measured H₂ dose, many outcomes and baseline differences in training history and microbiota. Several microbiota comparisons were explicitly non-significant. Adverse events were not systematically reported. No dedicated funding or conflict-of-interest declaration was identified in the article text, so absence of funding or conflicts is not inferred.
Exploratory biomarker and microbiota findings in juvenile female athletes; not evidence of improved sports performance or a clinical treatment effect.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Read how records and evidence assessments are prepared.
Sources and record status
PMID: 30713665 · DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.248263
Open-access PubMed Central article.
Complete PubMed Central article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
10 August 2026
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