Dr Mami Noda is Associate Professor, in the laboratory of Pathophysiology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan.
She has been witness to the rise of the electric water ionizer and of molecular hydrogen. Her comments here come with real authority. If you are still wondering whether you should go the ‘old’ way of an electric water ionizer or the ‘new’ way of a molecular hydrogen water system, her comments have great relevancy.
“I have been involved with pharmacology for over 30 years. After my postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, I continued my research at Kyushu University, where “alkaline ionized water” was initially studied in 1997. Although there was a significant amount of false information contained in the marketing, and it became quite popular in Japan, I remained skeptical. However, in 2005, a colleague shared some interesting data from a Parkinson’s disease patient who had been drinking this type of water, which prompted me to investigate its effects.
We knew that H2 gas was being produced during the process, but we did not think that H2 could have any biological effects, especially given hydrogen’s extremely low solubility in water (0.8 mM at SATP). However, by testing every variable of the water (e.g. minerals, pH, H2, etc.), it was clear that only H2 was exerting the benefit.
This became more believable once we saw the 2007 Nature Medicine publication, which demonstrated H2’s therapeutic effects. Our 2009 publication of an MPTP-induced mouse model of Parkinson’s disease also showed beneficial effects from H2. We later discovered that the benefits in this model were mediated by H2-induced gastric ghrelin secretion via a ß1 adrenergic receptor-dependent pathway.
Although hydrogen’s effect in Parkinson’s disease has now been confirmed in a human clinical trial, more research is necessary to reveal the molecular mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic benefits of H2. Because of hydrogen’s high safety profile, ease of administration, and its promising medical effects, I feel obligated as a pharmacologist to continue my investigations of H2 as a novel medical gas.”
Thank you Dr Noda! Dr Noda has recently become senior advisor at the Molecular Hydrogen Foundation