Can hydrogen gas really "cure diseases"?

High blood pressure, depression, insomnia...even cancer, if someone tells you that there is a “hydrogen” therapy that can treat these symptoms, do you believe it? Hydrogen is a flammable gas. Does inhalation really have such a "magic" effect? What is the scientific principle behind it? Is hydrogen inhalation really effective or a psychological effect?

This "hydrogen therapy" is gradually being valued by the medical profession, and the selective antioxidant properties of hydrogen are the key to the so-called "treatment of all diseases".

Why are people sick?

The main cause is the imbalance of body redox

To understand why hydrogen can cure diseases, you have to start with why people get sick.

You must know that the human body is in a dynamic balance with the surrounding environment at all times. Under the action of pathogenic factors, such as bacteria, radiation, etc., the original balance is broken, the body is damaged, and tissue and organ functions appear. , Metabolism and pathological changes in mental structure, resulting in clinical symptoms and signs.

When the cells of the human body are oxidized, oxidative damage occurs. Medically speaking, it is due to internal and external factors that cause a large number of free radicals in the body to explode. This type of outbreak is called oxidative stress.

Free radicals are atoms, groups of atoms or molecules that contain unpaired electrons. Free radicals themselves are substances necessary to maintain normal life. Free radical reactions are the basis of energy metabolism. When a person inhales oxygen and eats food, energy substances and substances that promote energy conversion undergo oxidation reactions in the body, thereby generating a large number of free radicals. The free radicals in the body are constantly produced, and will be constantly eliminated, and are maintained at a normal physiological level. Once too much or too little free radicals will cause adverse effects or even damage to the body.

When the oxidation degree of the cell exceeds the antioxidant capacity of the cell itself to scavenging oxides, an imbalance between the oxidation system and the antioxidant system will be formed, that is, the redox imbalance. Too many free radicals, especially the toxic reactive oxygen species, will start to attack biological macromolecules and cause tissue cell damage. Therefore, oxidative damage is the root cause of various diseases and body aging. Taking the treatment of human inflammation as an example, it is generally believed that removing oxygen free radicals is the most fundamental way to alleviate inflammation.

Principles of treatment:

Hydrogen can scavenge toxic free radicals

Xu Kecheng, a domestic oncologist and honorary president of the Fuda Cancer Hospital affiliated to Jinan University, introduced to a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News that "hydrogen therapy" is a new therapy that is gradually being valued by the medical community. How many diseases can "inhalation of hydrogen" treat? The medical field has carried out more and more researches on the issues of effectiveness, to what extent it is effective, and whether there are side effects.

Xu Kecheng introduced that no matter what kind of disease the human body suffers from, there is a common factor, that is, the appearance of toxic free radicals in the body. Free radicals (reactive oxygen species) are divided into good and bad. Japanese scientists have discovered that hydrogen can specifically remove bad free radicals. Because one of the most typical and important chemical properties of hydrogen is its reducing properties, which can selectively neutralize toxic free radicals. From the analysis of disease mechanism, oxidative damage is almost the most basic pathophysiological process of all diseases. Therefore, since hydrogen is a selective antioxidant substance, it is likely to have a therapeutic effect on most human diseases.

Why does hydrogen have selective antioxidant properties? It turns out that the reducibility of hydrogen is very weak compared to various reducing agents in the process of cell metabolism. According to the law of redox priority: for the same oxidant, when there are multiple reducing agents, the reducing agent with the strongest reducing ability is usually first Therefore, during normal cell metabolism, hydrogen basically has no effect. However, if it is in abnormal cells, the situation is different. For example, in tumor tissue cells, due to the production of a large number of free radicals, the normal metabolic reaction cannot be carried out, so other reducing substances are insufficient, so hydrogen and free radicals are given the opportunity to chemically react, and the result is to offset the failure of free radicals. For electrons-most of the unpaired electrons of free radicals come from oxygen atoms-they can react with hydrogen to produce water, a stable substance, and free radicals that have lost oxygen atoms become stable in the process. Of the substance.

Side effects are small, because hydrogen itself is not active. In the Xu Kecheng Care and Health Studio in Guangdong Province, the reporter saw that the seats next to the 15 “hydrogen suction machines” set up here are full of seats with a trachea inserted in the nose to suck hydrogen. "People. The staff told reporters that this machine only needs to add purified water or distilled water to electrolyze the water into a mixture of 66% hydrogen and 33% oxygen. The patient only needs to take a deep breath and inhale the gas to complete a course of treatment. , The treatment time of each "inhalation of hydrogen" is at least one and a half hours. A 62-year-old Aunt Chen told reporters that she was diagnosed with gastric cancer a few years ago. After a series of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, her whole body became extremely weak. After taking hydrogen in early August this year, she found that she was in good health. Significantly improved.

"After the first time I inhaled hydrogen, I was sweating profusely when I got home. After insisting on inhaling for three times, I found that the sleep that I used to wake up once an hour has improved, and my black complexion has also improved, and my physical strength has gradually recovered. I went for a walk in the community every day.” Another Aber also told reporters that he had liver cancer four years ago, and then had a resection operation, but he did not expect to relapse last year. After being recommended to inhale hydrogen, the most obvious change is that my sleep has improved and my spirits have improved a lot.

It turns out that in terms of anti-tumor, tumor cell walls produce more reactive oxygen species than normal cells, which affect cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, and angiogenesis. Oxygen free radicals act as "second messengers" to signal intracellular signals. It plays an important role in inducing and maintaining the cancer-causing ability of cancer cells. At this time, hydrogen, as an antioxidant, has the potential to treat tumor diseases. And scientists have found that compared with other antioxidants, hydrogen can easily pass through cell membranes and organelle membranes to reach the required sites for reduction reactions, selectively scavenging oxygen free radicals, and because hydrogen itself is inactive, it will not Cause damage to the body's physiological functions and metabolic disorders.

The progress is rapid, but the biological safety needs to be verified on the role of hydrogen on human health, which can be traced back to 1975. At that time, someone published a paper in the "Science" magazine, claiming that continuous breathing of 8 atmospheres of 97.5% hydrogen for 14 days, high-pressure hydrogen can effectively treat animal skin malignant tumors, and that this is the effect obtained through antioxidant effects.

In addition, in 2001, French diving physicians also proved that breathing 8 atmospheres of high-pressure hydrogen can also treat the inflammatory response caused by Schistosoma mansonii infection. It was the first to prove that hydrogen has an anti-inflammatory effect and proposed that the direct reaction between hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals is a treatment. The basis of inflammatory damage.

However, the above-mentioned research has not attracted widespread attention, mainly because high-pressure hydrogen is difficult to be used as a general clinical treatment.

It was not until 2007 that Professor Naruo Ota of the Japanese Medical University succeeded in using 2% hydrogen to treat cerebral ischemia in animals, and published it in the journal "Natural Medicine" that "hydrogen therapy" finally attracted worldwide attention. . Therefore, 2007 was recognized as the first year of "hydrogen medicine".

Since then, hydrogen biology research has begun to emerge. The United States, Japan, and China are currently the countries that study the biological effects of hydrogen medicine the most. Each country has dozens of research institutions participating.

In my country, Sun Xuejun, a professor at Shanghai Second Military Medical University, is considered to be the first person to introduce hydrogen therapy and is also known as the "first person in China's hydrogen medicine." Professor Sun Xuejun said that he has been engaged in gas effects research for a long time, but he also started to study the medical effects of hydrogen after seeing the research results of Ota Nairoo in 2007, and gradually discovered that this therapy is indeed useful.

Nowadays, the domestic medical field has made more and more achievements in hydrogen biology research. Take the number of topics related to "hydrogen medicine" included in CNKI as an example. In 2007, topics related to "hydrogen" were all related to energy, and after 2007, the number of papers on the medical effects of "hydrogen" and various diseases A large number of them, involving mental illness, heart disease, cancer and other fields. Some academicians have also begun to study "hydrogen medicine". Among them, Wang Hongyang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the National Liver Cancer Science Center, also led the research team to complete the "Research on Hydrogen Treatment of Liver Injury", which was published in the internationally renowned journal of hepatology "Journal of Hepatology".

In 2014, Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, discovered that hydrogen has a curative effect on COPD. When he participated in the World Thoracic Congress, he pointed out that “hydrogen molecules are mainly targeted at chronic diseases, and the most basic is the strengthening effect of anti-oxidative stress. The repairing effect is conducive to the recovery of the body. The idea is to treat the cause rather than the symptomatic treatment."

In March 2014, the Hydrogen Molecular Biomedicine Professional Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of International Healthcare Exchanges also announced the establishment.

However, at present, "hydrogen medicine" is still in the basic and clinical research stage. Xu Kecheng told reporters that he hopes to collect as many clinical cases as possible through public welfare studios. Some experts pointed out that although hydrogen has been found to be effective for many diseases, the biological mechanism of this effect still needs further research, and its clinical effects need to be supported by sufficient evidence. For example, Dong Wenbin and Zheng Gaoli from the Institute of Materia Medica, Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences, once pointed out that the biological safety of hydrogen cannot be fully proved at present, and further research is needed for many problems of hydrogen treatment.

Important reminder:

It is not recommended to "hydrogen therapy" by yourself

At this point in the article, there is one point worth reminding: the use of hydrogen to treat diseases should still be operated under the guidance of a professional doctor, and it must not be used casually.

For example, the hydrogen that is used daily in hydrogen balloons is not recommended for treatment. In response, Lin Xinyong, president of Shanghai Huamei Medical Technology Co., Ltd., said that the gas normally inhaled by the human body must pass safety tests such as toxicology and biocompatibility before being used. Even though water electrolysis can produce hydrogen, if the relevant equipment parts are of non-medical grade, there will be risks.

Wei Youzhen, a professor at the Dongfang Hospital of Tongji University, also said that the hydrogen used in the hydrogen balloon is usually industrial hydrogen, and its source is not necessarily produced by water electrolysis. It may be mixed with other gases and the purity is not enough, so it is not suitable for human inhalation. It is not conducive to treatment.

Secret

Chinese biology teachers published "Hydrogen Medicine" paper 8 years earlier than Japan

At present, the medical community believes that the Japanese Ota and his team pioneered "hydrogen medicine." In fact, as early as 1996, a middle school biology teacher in Linzi, Shandong Province, began to publish articles stating that hydrogen has the medical effects of anti-oxidation and scavenging free radicals.

Professor Xu Kecheng went to Shandong to find this biology teacher Du Yuanwei. Xu Kecheng believes that "hydrogen medicine" is a major discovery that can reach the Nobel Prize level. If hydrogen medicine can be recognized by the academic community, then the Chinese should receive this honor.

Du Yuanwei graduated from the Department of Biology of Shandong Normal University and taught biology at a middle school in Linzi, Shandong. In an interview with a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News, he said that in his spare time he likes to do some biological research, and he also likes Chinese medicine and Taijiquan. Therefore, he often thinks about a question, what does "qi" in traditional Chinese culture mean? ? In the process of thinking, he adopted the method of elimination and found that among the gaseous elements in the periodic table, only hydrogen has energy and is chemically flammable. Oxygen only has a combustion-supporting effect, and it has no energy. The process of human energy metabolism and the release of energy substances such as glucose are achieved through gradual dehydrogenation, because the combination of hydrogen and oxygen generates water and releases a large amount of energy. Water and oxygen are both indispensable substances for life. It can be seen that the relationship between hydrogen, oxygen, and water is inseparable. Therefore, hydrogen should also play an important role in human life.

In order to verify his ideas, he used his spare time to do a series of experiments, and in the article "Experimental Verification of the Role of Hydrogen on the Meaning of Life", he discussed the production of tritium gas by electrolyzing tritium water (tritium is one of the isotopes of hydrogen). One, also known as "super-heavy hydrogen"), using tritium instead of hydrogen to pass into the environment where mice live, and finally the presence of tritium was measured in various tissues and organs in the mice, thus proving that tritium is involved in the life of organisms It is active and transformed into tritium ions, which are universally present in organisms. This experiment also indirectly proved that hydrogen in the air is both a constituent material and an energy material for life.

In 1999, the Journal of Shandong Normal University published "New Scientific Topics—A Preliminary Study on the Significance of Hydrogen in Life Activities" written by Du Yuanwei, which clearly stated: "Man produces and accumulates excessive peroxides during metabolism. Many diseases and aging are caused by these peroxides. The human body must have a certain life mechanism to combat these peroxides. Hydrogen is a strong reducing agent, which naturally eliminates peroxides without side effects and achieves a balance in the sense of redox. "

This article should be the first article to describe the antioxidant effect of hydrogen, which is different from "high-pressure hydrogen treatment". The publication of this research result was 8 years earlier than Ota's research.

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