Hydrogen-rich water reduces inflammatory responses and prevents apoptosis of peripheral blood cells in healthy adults: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial
Sim M et al. · Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):12130.
What kind of evidence is this?
Human
Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel trial
Immune and inflammatory conditions
H₂-rich water
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Healthy adults aged 20–59 years
41 randomized; 38 completed and were analyzed: H₂ water n=20, plain water n=18
4 weeks
Three 500 mL bottles of hydrogen-rich water daily; 1.5 L/day
H₂ dissolved in water — H₂ only, not Brown’s gas.
0.753 ± 0.012 mg/L dissolved H₂.
Not applicable — oral water, not gas inhalation.
No O₂ was co-delivered as part of the intervention.
1.5 L/day plain water
Outcomes and reported result
Antioxidant and oxidative-stress markers, PBMC apoptosis and immune-cell subsets, exploratory RNA sequencing
Whole-group changes in BAP, d-ROMs and 8-OHdG did not differ. BAP improved only in an age subgroup; PBMC apoptosis and CD14 frequency were lower. RNA sequencing used only three participants per group.
Methods, main results, funding and conflict statement checked in the free full text; independent appraisal remains incomplete.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit. Null findings, outcome type, study design and precision all matter.
Cautions and applicability
Short study in healthy adults; the age result was subgroup-based and omics involved three people per arm. Coway and a Korean public grant supported the study; authors declared no competing interests.
Healthy adults aged 20–59 under this four-week protocol, not patients with inflammatory disease.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Certainty is assessed by important outcome across a complete eligible evidence set, not by attaching a final grade to one source.
Sources and record status
PMID: 32699287 · DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68930-2
Open-access article.
Free full text on PMC; identifiers cross-checked in PubMed.
2026-08-10