The effect of hydrogen-rich water consumption on premenstrual symptoms and quality of life: a randomized controlled trial
Aker MN et al. · BMC Womens Health. 2024;24:197.
What kind of evidence is this?
Human
Single-center stratified blocked randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel trial
Women’s health
H₂-rich water
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
University nursing and midwifery students with premenstrual syndrome
72 randomized; 65 completed: H₂ water n=33 and placebo n=32
From approximately cycle day 16 through day 2 of the next cycle, repeated for 3 menstrual cycles
Freshly generated hydrogen-rich water, 1.5–2.0 L/day during the late luteal and early menstrual phase
H₂ dissolved in water — H₂ only, not Brown’s gas.
A 500 mL generator was run for 5 minutes to reach saturation; the article does not report a numeric dissolved-H₂ concentration.
Not applicable — oral water, not gas inhalation.
No O₂ was co-delivered as part of the intervention.
The same bottled water placed in a visually similar non-hydrogen-generating flask
Outcomes and reported result
Premenstrual Syndrome Scale and WHOQOL-BREF domains
Premenstrual symptom scores favored H₂ water at both follow-ups. Some first-follow-up quality-of-life domains differed, but the overall group-by-time interaction for WHOQOL-BREF was not significant.
Intervention, full methods, results, registration, funding and conflict statements checked in the open-access publisher article.
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
Single-center student sample, questionnaire outcomes, seven randomized participants absent from the completed sample and no numeric dissolved-H₂ concentration. Public university funding was reported and authors declared no competing interests.
University students with PMS meeting the study criteria; generalizability to other ages or clinical populations is uncertain.
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: 38532373 · DOI: 10.1186/s12905-024-03029-8
Open-access full text is available through PMC and the publisher.
Open-access publisher and PMC full texts plus PubMed record.
2026-08-10